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What is a brief summary of Eric Walters' novel, Wounded?

Quick answer:

Eric Walters' novel, Wounded, explores the struggles of Marcus and his family as they cope with the return of his father, a Canadian Special Forces veteran suffering from PTSD after serving in Afghanistan. Despite appearing physically unscathed, his father's psychological scars deeply affect the family dynamics. The narrative highlights the challenges faced by soldiers' families, emphasizing the invisible wounds of war and the emotional turmoil they endure.

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This book is about the children of a wounded Afghanistan War veteran.  He suffers not from a physical wound, but from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.   On the outside their father is fine, but on the inside he is suffering from serious pain that his family just can’t see.

The main character is a young man named Marcus.  He has a little sister named Megan, and of course his father is an important character because the book is about the family’s struggles with him returning home not the way he left.  Marcus’s father was in the Special Forces for Canada.

Things have been difficult with Marcus’s father gone.  The roof leaks and everything in the house needs to be fixed.  His little sister sleeps in his mother’s bed, because they are both lonely.  Marcus does not blame his father for the state of their house.

Compared to where he had been living for the past eight months, this place was practically a castle.  I tried hard not to complain—and really, even if I did, what difference could it make? (ch 1)

Marcus has a girlfriend whose father died in Afghanistan, and this makes him even more nervous about his own father’s welfare.  Although he is only gone for six months, Marcus’s father does not return the same man he was before he left.  He is practically a stranger.

While the United States was in Iraq, Canada was in Afghanistan.  In addition to making us aware of that fact, this book also addresses the effect of PTSD on a family, and reminds us that every soldier comes back a little wounded.

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