Christopher Whisperings sits down with author J. Shep to discuss his thoughts on war, appreciation for the United States military, and the references to World War II in his latest novel.
J. Shep, author of The December Issue and the award-winning novel After Me, shares a few reflections in honor of Military Appreciation Month.
CW: Do you have any personal connections to the military or past wars?
JS: Yes, especially through my grandfather who, years after World War II, organized reunions and wrote newsletters for his General Hospital unit. I remember stories he told and admired that he kept up with so many for years afterwards. I can even recall stories my Grandma shared about being home without him while he was overseas. To this day, I am close to veterans of more recent wars and conflicts, ones who have served in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force.
CW: Can you share your feelings about the military?
JS: They are hard to express because the military has done and is doing something for which I feel deep admiration, awe, and gratitude. Those words come the closest to expressing my feelings about these men and women who take on so much, physically, psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually, to defend peace and people and to uphold values.
CW: Your book After Me was recently listed by Chanticleer Reviews in their Hemingway Award Spotlight. Since your book takes place in 1958, were you surprised by being included?
JS: At first I was. After Me is a post-war Normandy story, but I thought it took place too many years beyond the war to constitute war or post-war fiction. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it could fit the category. Chanticleer reviewers have a good eye! Not only is one of Ellande and Madeleine-Grace's deceased uncles referred to multiple times for his participation in the war, their Uncle Roul also discusses the effects of the war with the two inquisitive children. I incorporated references to the war to parallel the day-to-day battles Aunt Adèle endures; the scales are different, as is so much else, but the parallels reveal connections.
CW: While Roul is driving Ellande and Madeleine-Grace to Paris to visit their grandmother, they have to pull over outside of Rouen because of a temporary road obstruction. While they wait in the bocage, Ellande speculates about some of the ruins he sees, prompting a question:
I think because Uncle Roul had proffered the cigarette, I felt at ease enough to say, "Maman says I should never ask a soldier about the war. Why must I never ask?" I regretted asking as soon as I had uttered it.
Uncle Roul had just inhaled and responded without a pause, the smoke pouring out with his soft-spoken words, "The war, it changes a man because of what he has seen, because of what he has done, and some men don't like how they have changed. So they don't want to talk about it. I suppose it's polite to assume this and not bring it up."
Later in the same conversation, Roul likens himself to a boulder, solid and unable to change after the war. Did this short conversation serve solely to add character definition to Roul, or did you have another reason for including it?
JS: I had multiple reasons for including it. I did want to add new understanding about Roul, not only as one who had fought in World War II for France, but also as an uncle willing to talk openly to his nephew and his niece about something personal. The conversation also strengthened their relationship despite the conflicts in the family and, through her added questions, reiterated an inherent wisdom in Madeleine-Grace. Perhaps surpassing these reasons that establish the conversation's importance in the moment is the parallel to Adèle who is fighting a different kind of battle as she strives not to be changed throughout it.
CW: Have you read contemporary war fiction in the past? If so, what is the latest one?
JS: Yes, I have read some. I find it fascinating and often moving. I also enjoy hearing family and friends talk about what they're reading, and sometimes, those books are contemporary war fiction, as well. The latest book I've read that falls into this category is actually the last book I have read: The Sower of Black Field by Katherine Koch. It provides a thoughtful depiction of an American priest in Germany navigating the challenges hoisted upon him and his community by and during World War II.
For more titles that explore war and post-war stories, see War and Post-War Fiction and Memoir - Bookshop.org.
J. Shep's award-winning novel After Me highlights the realizations that come to Ellande and Madeleine-Grace Avery about the important role their parents played in the family as the two siblings endure their first summer at the family vacation house in Normandy after their parents' death. You can find this novel and other exciting titles here at Christopher Whisperings and wherever books are sold.