This is In Country was a bit disappointing for me. I read and really enjoyed Shiloh and Other Mason Stories, so my hopes were high. And while I enjoyed the novel, I struggled to relate to the characters and setting of the story, which might have been helpful on Mason's part. It seems to suggest the impossibility of reconquering a historical event through narrative. All of his references to temporal and regional aspects of culture, such as song titles and K-Marts and McDonald's, prohibit Sam and the reader from immersing themselves in the experience of another era. Mason's message in the novel is quite obvious: wars may end but their effects never diminish. Several recurring images in the novel underline this theme: the “new” song by the Beatles, a group dissolved in 1970, which appeared on the airwaves in 1984; information about Sam's father is revealed, such as the fact that he chose his name; references to the veteran whose daughter was affected by Agent Orange even though she had never been to war. Even Sam's observations like this: "At the end of the hall, Emmett burped. It was the tomato ketchup in the lasagna,” are also similar images. All the veterans in the novel seem to be haunted by the war in one way or another, even those who deny thinking about it. These men reminded me of a study that found men who fought in Vietnam had difficulty reintegrating into American society upon their return. In Vietnam, they adopted a “warrior” version of masculinity and lost that status upon their return. They didn't know how to reconnect with normal male roles. Pete seems to be the best example of this observation, with his inability to hold down a job and his supposed keeping his ears to the middle of paper......more embracing the feminine roles of wife and mother. , which disgusts Sam. But thanks to his quest, Sam seems to become more comfortable with his body. After meeting Tom, she has a different understanding of her body: “She imagined it happening now. “I came to play with your tits,” he might say. Dawn's pregnancy, which precludes Dawn's desire to "play dad" because she is "sick of playing mom", and Sam's mother's home life, with her boring partner and baby, pushes back Sam at first, but by the end of the novel she seems more at ease. with her half-sister. She reconnects with her mother by giving her the cat statue. His quest for the extreme masculine manifested in war leads him to achieve a balance between masculine and feminine. Emmett also finds this balance as he is able to smile when looking at the names of his friends at the Vietnam Memorial..