Exiles
In an historic move American president Herbert Hoover sends army troops to gun down impoverished veterans and their families, gathered more than 30,000-strong to march on Washington to claim a promised bonus. It’s 1932, the worst days of the Great Depression. Millions of Americans are hungry; worst off are the veterans of World War I and their impoverished families. The troops kill a few veterans, injure many, then burn the shanties in which they have been living with their displaced families. The veterans and their families are driven away from the capitol. Most have nowhere to go.
In my novel, the leader of the veterans, Medal of Honor winner George William Blair, is slashed by a saber wielded by the man whose life he saved in 1918 in the death-trap trenches of France. An action for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor, which he comes to call “his badge.”
“Exiles: a curveball called destiny,” tracks the lingering effects of that fateful day on several generations of the family of George Blair, and the lives of many others, especially the veterans of that “war to end all wars.”
The novel follows the life of Billy Blair, youngest child of the World War I hero, whose father’s past has been hidden from him. As a youth Billy Blair is surrounded by failure and low expectations. When he unexpectedly achieves great success in business as an adult, he finds that success uncomfortable. He longs, instead, for a long-ago life he imagines he enjoyed, but never really lived.
Late in his life Billy Blair learns of his father’s heroism, strives to find a way to avenge the betrayal of his father. Compromised by his important position as president of a computer company, he seeks, then finds, an unusual solution to his dilemma. In doing so, he convinces himself there will always be war as generation after generation is infected by an always fatal, contagious disease. He calls it “disease of war.” He applies the term to victims — and perpetrators, those who profit from war.
Read a review of Exiles:
War, wounded veterans. Repeat. Repeat.
March 2, 2019
Gripping. How a shameful event in American history illuminates the shameful way we treat our veterans, and how America seems, as the author puts it, "spring-loaded for war," as a way to create more veterans, and to mistreat them. The frustrations of troubled youth are portrayed entertainingly, with hilarious links to another era's brilliant writer, Stephan Potter, who's oddball humor caricatured many troubling aspects of life. So does Exiles.
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read for Jet Pilots, Anti-war Buffs and Romantics
March 12, 2019
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
“Exile: A Curveball Called Destiny,” is a deeply personal ode to disappointments that were emerging even as America’s Mid-Century, post-WW-II celebration was in full bloom.
Like Kildow’s excellent “Fallout: Remains of an Atomic War,” “Exile” is quasi-biographical, taking place in Kildow’s old haunts as he grew from boy to man: Youthful poverty in Southern California. A precocious, short-but–harrowing military career in Southeast Asia. Eastern corporate life. All punctuated by personal misadventures, civil disobedience and never getting caught.
The story’s hero, Billy Blair (and his co-star, a penis named, “Tobias”) move from scene to scene through the course of a life with lingering lows and fleeting, nearly compensatory triumphs. It is a path, sometimes barely survived, culminating in wisdom that only the most fortunate of us finally extract from our granted lifetimes.
The writing is consistently very good, but rises at times to superior. “I’m just going for a short walk. I’ll be back before I’m gone.”
The author has perhaps unwittingly channeled his Portuguese ancestors. Although he doesn’t call it out by name, Kildow has written a book that could have been titled, “Saudade,” Portugal’s most soulful word. Saudade means a deep emotional state of profound nostalgic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Gulp. Indeed.
For older readers, “Exile” will remind you of earlier, sweeter times in America. A time when getting to third base was a transformative innocence lost. When near-criminal high school mischief led to neither expulsion or jail. When cars broke down all the time but could actually be worked on by their owners.
Younger, sensitive readers will recognize the scratchy roots of today’s allergy to the slightest sexual, social, cultural, verbal or visual improprieties. Buckle up.
“Exile” is a must-read for current and former military pilots. For contemporary anti-war buffs looking for new material. For hang-by-a-thread hopeless romantics. For melancholics seeking validation of their worry. And for the sons, daughters, wives and sweethearts of Korean War vets. Thanks, Kildow. Love’s labor has not been lost.