This book is a Canadian soldier suffering terribly from the effects of WW2 tries to build a life for himself in LA. A wonderful experiment and a beautiful, harrowing account of PTSD. Author wrote the book in poetic prose manner with story and poetry mixed with serious baritone and gripping experience of reader.

He finds work as a reporter but is haunted constantly by memories of what he has seen and done during the war. And the reminders are everywhere - explosions as buildings are torn down and rebuilt; new year's celebration fireworks; scores of homeless, drunk vets on the streets who taken a bad turn in life and now , not able to handle themselves and country is not doing enough and mental health issue concepts was not there when they came back from war, so frustration get to them preety easily .

This is a brutal tale with bleak of hope that thing may get better in future , written mostly as a longform poem, could have been gimmicky. But it works wonderfully for readers. Telling a novel-length story in this way opens new doors for the new genre in literature and writers who want to say there stories and express themselves new way. Surely, characterisation is harder in this format, but a new world of imagery is suddenly possible. Some sections describing the city are as beautiful as any I've read. And the flashbacks to WW2 battlefields are shocking, raw and hugely affecting