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The Home Front

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

The Barrons like to think of themselves as a typical American family. Never mind the fact that Todd drops bombs on Afghan targets one minute and sits down to dinner with his wife and kids the next. A drone pilot stationed in Nevada, he manages to compartmentalize the conflicting demands of combat and family life—until their son, Max, is diagnosed with autism.

His wife, Rose, deploys an army of specialists, surfing the outer limits of the web for a miracle cure. Meanwhile, Max clings to compulsive isolation and order—wearing the same tan clothes, eating the same round foods, lining up trucks or Legos or whatever else needs to be lined up—to fend off the chaos of normalcy.

Unhinged by their son's prognosis, Rose resorts to New Age magical thinking to cope with her own sense of losing control. Todd feels curiously indifferent, watching his wife and son retreat further and further into la-la land. It's a familiar feeling, symptomatic of his "Chair Force" job waging virtual war. The Barrons continue to drift apart until a gifted behavioral therapist intervenes, reviving the dream of discovering a common language.

The Home Front is both deeply personal and culturally relevant, a family portrait of the uncanny connection between autism, drone warfare, and virtual reality. Without a real diagnosis of the problem, the prognosis isn't good.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 1, 2014
      In Vandenburg’s novel, Todd Barron is a military officer who pilots drones in Afghanistan from his trailer in Nevada. Though he acknowledges the horrors of combat, he misses fighting face-to-face, where he felt connected to the reality of war. At home, his wife, Rose, is busy caring for their autistic son, Max. No amount of therapy seems to work, and she resorts to New Age solutions to cope with her feelings of helplessness. These solutions come at a price: Todd drifts further away from his wife, seeking to re-enlist in active deployment just to get away from home. Things change when Max tries art therapy, which shows the Barrons how much Max wants his family to stay together. Renewed by this breakthrough, the couple recommit to each other. Vandenburg has a clear understanding of both modern warfare and autism, and her depiction of the Barrons’ coping mechanisms is touching and realistic. Though the plot drags in the middle, Vandenburg eventually regains her stride and delivers a satisfying ending.

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  • English

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