What Amazon says
2019 KCT RRBC Runner-Up Silver Award Winner
The year is 1970, and the story follows the two soldiers – impressionable Detroit teenagers – during their long night in a Listening Post (‘LP’), some 200 meters beyond the bunker line of the new firebase. Their assignment as a “human early warning system”, is to listen for enemy activity and forewarn the base of any potential dangers. As they were new to the “Iron Triangle” and its reputation, little did they know that units before them lost dozens of soldiers in this nightly high-risk task and referred to those assigned as “bait for the enemy” and “sacrificial lambs”.
Sitting in the pitch black tropical jungle – with visibility at less than two feet – John’s imagination takes hold throughout the agonizing night, and at times, transports him back to some of his most vivid childhood memories – innocent, but equally terrifying at the time.
As kids, we instinctively run as fast as we can to escape imaginary or perceived danger, but as soldiers, men are trained to conquer their fears and develop the confidence to stand their ground and fight. Running is not an option.
My review
I have recently learned a lot more about the war in Vietnam so when I saw this book I grabbed the opportunity to read about the experiences of a veteran. I was not disappointed. When Can I Stop Running is an account of one night in the lives of two American soldiers, Polack and L.G. in the jungle outside of the base camp.
The pair are assigned to Listening Patrol which entails hiding in the jungle all night and acting as a human warning system for any unusual activity from the enemy. The reader quickly realises that this is not a popular duty among the men and the descriptions of the heavy and dense blackness of night in the jungle make it obvious as to why. It is awful to imagine being in such complete blackness, where you can’t see anything, and waiting and listening for the sounds of enemy soldiers all night long.
Polack and L.G. have some unpleasant experiences during the night, including a group of enemy soldiers stopping for a meal not far from their chosen hiding spot and being attacked by apes with rocks.
The experiences of the two soldiers is alternated with flashbacks, by Polack, to his childhood when he faced something that frightened him. These flashback’s ranged from when Polack was a young lad of eight years old attending holiday camp to an encounter with some neighbourhood witches a few years before he joined the army and was posted to Vietnam.
The two different perspectives, those of the child and teenage Polack, who uses flight as his saving grace when faced with something scary, and Polack the young adult soldier who cannot run and has to face his fears is poignant and striking.
I enjoyed this thought provoking book and would recommend it to people who like to read books about human drama, courage and the life of a soldier.
roberta-writes.com 
Great review, Robbie. It really give a feel for the book. I have this on my TBR list.
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I think the contrasting is very clever and unique, Denise.
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Good review, Robbie! I’m curious as to how the author spread one night over 150-ish pages. Must have been a heck of a night for the two soldiers!
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It was, very frightening and realistic. The story alternates between scary experiences from his youth when he could run away compared to this period in his life which is far more scary and he can’t run. It’s clever.
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There’s a book I’d like to read.
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It is very insightful, Andrew. I learned a lot and I always appreciate that in a book.
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Congrats to John! Excellent review, Robbie. Sharing…
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Thank you, Bette. Appreciated as always.
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Thank you,, Robbie, for the wonderful review. I’m glad you enjoyed my story and chose to publish here on your website. Thank you for your support!
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My pleasure. I found your depiction of this war very interesting albeit frightening. I will definitely read more of you Vietnam stories.
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This book sounds as though it was written from personal experience? I haven’t read any Vietnam War literature in years.
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HI Liz, yes, it was written from personal experience. I did some reading up on this war before I started with this book so that I had context.
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I thought it might have been. If you’d be interested in a different fictional treatment of the Vietnam War experience, I’d recommend Going After Cacciato by Tim O’Brien. It’s a remarkable book. (I won’t say anymore because of spoilers.)
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Thanks Liz
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You’re welcome, Robbie.
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I really must read a few stories about the Vietnam war. We have a veteran living in our retirement village and he doesn’t share much about the time (trauma), but what he does share is POWERFUL. This looks like a very interesting read, Robbie.
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I think that young men find the whole war experience terrible, Jessica. I was thinking about it yesterday as I am writing a short story that includes a soldier in WWI. These young men go off to war so innocent, they think its a big adventure, and they come back so scarred.
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It must be a massive shock to their system to learn it’s not all glory and valour, but blood and death too.
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What a wonderful review, Robbie. I loved this book. It gives such a deep and personal insight into what these young men went through. Thank you for sharing!
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Hi Jan, this book gave me a lot of insight into the Vietnam war as I didn’t know a lot about it.
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This sounds really good. I’m guessing it’s fiction?
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It would be based on the real experiences of the author, but it has been written as fiction.
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Interesting…
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Great review Robbie I’m sure it would appeal to a lot of people.
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People who like war and historical books as well as appreciate psychology will enjoy this.
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I’m reading in all sorts of genres at the moment. 🙂
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A very insightful review, Robbie. I was intrigued by the fact that the story also had flashbacks to childhood.
Congratulations to John.
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Thanks, Mae. I actually thought the style was very clever, Mae. The contrasts between childhood fear and adult fear where quite jarring.
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Thanks for sharing your review of When Can I Stop Running. The Vietnam War was a terrible time for America and the soldiers our country sent to fight.
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Yes, you are right about that, Barbara. A terrible war.
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I’m hooked, great review, Robbie.
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This is a most interesting book, Mark.
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