BOOK
REVIEW
If you’re looking for a story filled with
intrigue, history and perseverance in
the Vietnam War, check out “Peace of
Ourselves” by Ken Visser. He fills every
page of this surreal novel with succinct
prose about a pivotal time in our history
he knows well.
Inspired by a true story, Peace of
Ourselves shows the effects the Vietnam
War had on our country and conversely
brings us inside the Canadian landscape
and closer to the people that make it such a
welcoming place to live.
Kevin Fischer, a Missouri boy growing up in the
1960s and ’70s, meets John, a Vietnam veteran.
Two unlikely souls converge during a time of
national unrest and an unexpected outcome
plays out in this coming-of-age novel about a
young man’s evolving objection to the Vietnam
War and his subsequent move from the US to
Canada.
During the lottery draft Kevin cheered with
those who had escaped selection for the
moment, and watched the troubled reaction of
those who were not so lucky. However, when the
42nd capsule was picked and they read his
birthday – July 13 – there was no need to watch
the television any longer. Kevin knew that number
42 almost assured he would be going to Vietnam
as soon as he finished school or lost his school
deferment, unless the war ended before then.
The descriptive voice throughout represents
the setting well. When Kevin first saw Kalamalka
Lake’s sparkling hues of blue, green, and
turquoise, it reminded him of the colors of the
Gulf of Mexico. For some reason, the brown, dry
landscape that ran down to the lake brought to
mind impressions of Israel that he remembered
from biblical movies. Realizing that both of these
stray thoughts were at complete odds to what he
was experiencing, he settled into his first awareness
that British Columbia was quickly becoming
the Canada he had never expected.
A Book Review
- By Jonathan Herbert