Review: The Roar of Ordinary by J.C. Foster

A sibling’s love embraces those he has lost, most especially the brother with whom he grew up and shared ambitions, dreams, and a remarkably mature philosophy in The Roar of Ordinary: Brothers, Sisters, War, and Fate, an emotive memoir by J.C. Foster.

The saga of Foster’s family could begin when his father Chuck, in mid-adolescence, rebelled against his overbearing father and struck out on his own as America was struggling under the deprivations of the Great Depression. That independent spirit undoubtedly influenced both Foster and his younger brother Steve. Two tragic deaths left Chuck alone with an invalid daughter who suffered from the then little understood effects of spina bifida. Chuck was fortunate to wed Edie, the courageous woman he and his children truly needed.

A powerful model for Jack and his younger brother Steve, Edie seemed fearless in handling numerous crises, from clambering up a tree to keep one of her sons from falling, to handily guiding a rowboat through a raging storm. Together, Chuck and Edie gave Foster the determination and perseverance that took him far. Steve and Jack were good-natured pals growing up, but in their early twenties they were confronted with a national cataclysm: the war in Vietnam. Steve decided to join the military when the war began to rage, while his older brother’s move toward serving his country would take different, but equally dedicated, directions.

Foster writes as a well-schooled professional who has brought to his work a colorful family saga, with large concepts and small – credible incidents that will transport his readers back to their childhoods, their family connections with all the quirks, hilarity, and sentimentality that goes with such reminiscences. He records with faithfulness some conversations with Steve on the subject of love and its pitfalls as seen through the eyes of two starry-eyed young men, and reveals a last message from his younger brother that has the power to bring tears to the reader’s eye. Steve’s loss in service in Vietnam was a major turning point for Foster, as he states so vividly, “My brother’s departure never lost its sting.”

Over the years, Foster began to long for reconnection, possibly for closure, though realizing that Steve’s disappearance from his life could never be forgotten, and that sense of purpose permeates this book. Impelled by his feelings, in his sixties he took a tour of Vietnam, described here in poignant detail. That visit, which comprises the final segment of his recollections, will be educational for many readers, and for those who lived through that era, it will be emotionally stirring, perhaps even inciting old sorrows and bitter hindsight.

The account of the tour is laced with well-researched history from the headlines and examination of political thinking then and now. In doing so, Foster has added and amplified the wisdom of survivors to the printed annals. His family memories, his brotherly devotion, and his well-constructed analysis of how Americans – rightly or wrongly – often view the controversial Vietnam years, merit the thoughtful reader’s serious consideration.