Funeral for a Friend
David Finkel of the Washington Post continues to write powerful dispatches from the streets of Iraq. His "Unit's Mission: Survive 4 Miles to Remember Fallen Comrade," published Monday, is a masterpiece of narrative writing. Finkel follows 27 soldiers in their not-so-simple effort to attend a memorial service for their buddy, Sgt. William W. Crow Jr., a father of four. Finkel sets the scene, give us important background information and then takes us on the harrowing journey with the soldiers. His simple sentences and use of stark details convey the tension felt by the soldiers along the way:
King circled a pile of trash that turned out to be nothing but a pile of trash.
He examined a concrete block that was nothing other than a concrete block.
He looked down the street and saw a parked car, hood up, trunk open, and a man next to it who appeared to be holding a small container of gasoline.
He approached another concrete block and saw that it was actually a piece of foam -- and then he saw the wire.
Finkel's ending is a classic, using the simplest of language to capture the fear of war. washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/08/AR2007070801314.html?hpid=topnews