There It Is — Ken Harper

A picaresque novel following a young soldier entering and surviving the Vietnam War

There It Is by Ken Harper is a quintessential American coming-of-age novel in the vein of Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March

Young Farragut Birdwell enlists in the army during the later years of the Vietnam War. He is the black sheep of his family; his dad is a decorated submarine officer from WWII and does not have much confidence in his young son. Farragut's attempts to fit in are often both humorous and heart-wrenching, from the opening story of how he fakes being a boxer to escape the dreaded cleaning duty as a grunt to his catch-22 escape from joining the 101th Airborne Division when he lands in Vietnam. Farragut is very clever and funny, but at other times he really messes up. But meeting the beautiful Yarel sweetens him.

There It Is is a funny and compelling novel about integrity, survival, and courage.