Web Book Report

The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty

Ellen Emerson White

Introduction

Summary

Setting and Characters

Author Information

Book Review

Danny 37

November 12, 2004

Language Arts

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Introduction

Have you ever wondered about what it was like in the Vietnam. Patrick Seamus Flaherty explains what it was like. Take a ride along with him in this great book.

Summary

This story is about a young man that is in the Vietnam War. America was at war with South Vietnam because they were killing the people in northern Vietnam. The solders in Vietnam were there to stop the killings in the north. This story tells about every-day life in the army. This story also tells about the tuff conditions. For example one night one of Patrick’s friends got bit by a jungle rat and it was the size of a cat.

Patrick was a star football player in high school and had received three different scholarships. On his eighteenth birthday he told his parents that he was going to war with the military. His parents were mad at them because they thought he was throwing away his future.

Patrick was assigned to the Khe Sanh Base, which was located in South Vietnam. The other army was attacking constantly. Patrick soon found out that war was very glory and bloody. Patrick wrote down what happened every day in a journal that his father had given him, before he went to war. For example on January 22, 1968 he was hit on his left leg.

Patrick almost had to amputate his left leg. He spent eight months recuperating at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. He finally could walk on it again.

Setting

This story took place in Khe Sanh, Vietnam.  This story was in the year 1968.  Khe Sanh is in South Vietnam.

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Characters

Patrick was the main character in the story. He had a great attitude and never gave up. At the beginning of the story he was a star football player in high school. He had received three scholarships to some great colleges. His parents got mad at him for entering the military. They thought he was throwing away his career. At the end of the story he was shot in his left leg and couldn’t play any sports for the rest of the year.

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Patrick’s friends were also characters. They were also in the war. Through out the war most of them died. They helped him to get through the war. These characters didn’t have enough time to change during the story because they died.

About the Author

Ellen Emerson White grew up in Narragansett, Rhode Island. She graduated from Tufts University in 1983. She likes to be a private person and does not want to be famous. She likes to spend time in Fenway Park. She spends most of her time writing. She has written many novels that include Long Live the Queen, Voyage On the Great Titanic, Kaiulani, and Where Have the Flowers Gone?. She also has written many series in which include: “President’s Daughter”, “Dear America, and Royal Diaries”.

Book review

This book was very exciting. It was exciting because there is constant action and there were few boring moments. This book was also very exciting because of the powerful emotions of the marines dying and trying to win the war. Finally this book kept me on the edge of my seat.