Glory for Me
by MacKinlay Kantor
Glory for Me is not a novel one would just happen across while browsing on Amazon, or even perusing the shelves at your local bookstore. Out of print and incredibly obscure, MacKinlay Kantor’s book was written as a tribute to Word War Two veterans and to show readers the different struggles they go through when they come home. It was groundbreaking at the time. Ernest Hemingway may have had the market cornered in angsty, veteran stories, but he didn’t write his novels entirely in prose. Kantor’s entire novel, 268 pages, are stanzas of poetry.
If you don’t get tears pricking your eyes, goosebumps on your arm, or some other sort of physical reaction when you read the first line, “Fred Derry, twenty-one, and killer of a hundred men. . .” I’d venture a guess that The Best Years of Our Lives isn’t one of your favorite movies of all time. Hollywood snatched up the rights to the novel, and William Wyler requested a change to the story: instead of a disfigured, shell-shocked veteran who can’t even walk or talk properly, Wyler wanted the character written for real veteran Harold Russell, who lost his hands. Screenwriter Robert E. Sherwood has his work cut out for him; although Kantor’s work is beautiful and full of talent, it’s about as dissimilar to a screenplay as you can get. The end result was an Oscar for both Wyler and Sherwood, as well as two Oscars for Harold Russell!
This is the kind of book you’ll want to savor. The language is lovely and flows as beautifully as any romantic poem. The characters are real and go through heartbreaking struggles as they find out the best years of their lives are behind them. How do you cope when children are frightened of your face and no one can understand your speech? What’s left for you when your greatest talent is dropping bombs and you can’t find work? How do you go back to a comfortable bank job when you’ve lived through horrors on the battlefield?
I can’t recommend this novel highly enough, especially if you’re like me and my family and are in love with The Best Years of Our Lives. While I had to search far and wide to find an old copy for a pretty price, it’s been reissued in the past year and is now available on Amazon for a much more affordable price. Kantor’s words are so moving, so thoughtful, and so true. Some passages are very sad and difficult to read, but it is an overwhelmingly hopeful story, like the film. Keep a tissue box handy, though, and close the book often so you can absorb the beautiful words.
Be sure and check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of the 1946 film adaptation The Best Years of Our Lives here!
If you don’t get tears pricking your eyes, goosebumps on your arm, or some other sort of physical reaction when you read the first line, “Fred Derry, twenty-one, and killer of a hundred men. . .” I’d venture a guess that The Best Years of Our Lives isn’t one of your favorite movies of all time. Hollywood snatched up the rights to the novel, and William Wyler requested a change to the story: instead of a disfigured, shell-shocked veteran who can’t even walk or talk properly, Wyler wanted the character written for real veteran Harold Russell, who lost his hands. Screenwriter Robert E. Sherwood has his work cut out for him; although Kantor’s work is beautiful and full of talent, it’s about as dissimilar to a screenplay as you can get. The end result was an Oscar for both Wyler and Sherwood, as well as two Oscars for Harold Russell!
This is the kind of book you’ll want to savor. The language is lovely and flows as beautifully as any romantic poem. The characters are real and go through heartbreaking struggles as they find out the best years of their lives are behind them. How do you cope when children are frightened of your face and no one can understand your speech? What’s left for you when your greatest talent is dropping bombs and you can’t find work? How do you go back to a comfortable bank job when you’ve lived through horrors on the battlefield?
I can’t recommend this novel highly enough, especially if you’re like me and my family and are in love with The Best Years of Our Lives. While I had to search far and wide to find an old copy for a pretty price, it’s been reissued in the past year and is now available on Amazon for a much more affordable price. Kantor’s words are so moving, so thoughtful, and so true. Some passages are very sad and difficult to read, but it is an overwhelmingly hopeful story, like the film. Keep a tissue box handy, though, and close the book often so you can absorb the beautiful words.
Be sure and check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of the 1946 film adaptation The Best Years of Our Lives here!