The Company You Keep

I very much enjoyed this book, partially because I went to college in the 1960s but also because I see many of the social and political conditions of the 60s being replayed right now in 2004. This story of a group of former Weather Underground members is set at various times in the 1960s, in 1996 and in 2006. It traces the life of Jim Grant and his daughter, along with several people who are close to them, in Jim's past and in his present, and in our future. I don't want to give away the story and I recommend that those who have not read the book avoid reading reviews that reveal too much. This book reads very well as a novel of suspense, so allow yourself to savor the details of the story as they unwind while you read. It also works as a morality tale of a sort, as well as a meditation on the nature of one's political convictions and how they stack up in importance versus the welfare of one's family and friends. Right now in 2004, as we move through a deeply conflicted presidential election process, it's clear to me that we are not actually refighting the Viet Nam war, as some have said, but are rather re-arguing the two main moral positions associated with that war. I am convinced that for those of us who experienced that war, whether at long or close emotional and physical range, it will always be at the bottom of our conscious choices. It's not that we can't get past it; it's that the two basic oppositional points of view that were prevalent at the time have never been integrated into a consensual view of how to direct American foreign policy. Just as the politics of our parents, the so-called "greatest generation," were always informed by their participation in WW II, so ours will always be informed by Viet Nam. The difference is that our parents tended to share a single point of view of their wartime experience. The vast majority believed that they had fought the good fight and that they had done it while on the side of morality and justice. Those of us shaped by Viet Nam have no such assurance. All of this is to say that The Company You Keep brilliantly relfects the continuing political divisions among "boomers" (for lack of a better label). It presents both points of view -- from those who supported the war and those who did not -- in what seems to me a sensitive way, and also poses some provocative questions about the sort of sacrifices one should be willing to make for one's moral values and one's family. This is one of the best novels I've read in a while and I highly recommend it to everyone, but most especially to those who took Viet Nam personally and sometimes feel its ghosts even today.

Fact and fiction so subtly intertwined that we no longer care which is which and believe one as the other. This is the story of the legendary Weather Underground, yet with quite a fresh twist. Set not in the "glory days" of the 1970s but in 2006, it looks back at more than just the excesses of Weather, its scope is the many changes in the US that this band of unlikely middle-class outlaws foretold. Excellent social observation, strong and completely believable characters, and plenty of narrative drive. What more could readers want?

This book should be read by anyone interested in recent American progressive politics and history. The book is wonderful summer read utilizing many great hooks that keeps the book fascinating until the last page. It is obvious that the author engaged in extensive research to recapture a time of a few decades ago. The novel captures a time when America's young political activists were willing to take serious personal risks in response to an endless and destructive war. This novel provides important insights into the motivations, fears and consequences of those activists who went underground beginning in the late 1960's.

This is the kind of book that appears far too seldom: it's smart, it's funny, it's emotionally authentic, and once you get started it's almost impossible to put down. Told by five or so equally engaging narrators, it manages to put the mystery of good parenting AND the moral complexity of America's involvement in the Viet Nam war under the same magnifying lens. At the heart of the book is the story of Jason Sinai, a man forced to relinquish the underground identity that gave him refuge from prosecution for actions as a member of Weatherman (the SDS faction that sought to "bring the war home" by bombing various U.S. locations). His story is told as a series of emails to his daughter Isabel, who he abandoned (had to abandon?) when she was about six. The emails narrate the events of her father's escape and pursuit, as well as key events during his Weather phase. Because the various narrators range in age and (to some extent) ideological vantage, the major themes don't lumber in and loom--the way you might anticipate from this short description--but glimmer through in changing guises. "All parents are bad parents," Sinai tells his daughter and though this at first seems like a glib rationale from a probably unreconstructed baby revolutionary, the book ultimately allows us to understand the pain of bad parenting from the parent's point of view as well as the child's. What more do you want from a novel? There are a couple of good twists that you may see coming but which are nevertheless satisfying, and there is great material about the legacy of the sixties at the family level as well as at the level of country, culture, nation, etc. Obviously, a few paralells with current events also emerge, and make the story more complex and interesting--especially for anyone who grew up in the shadow of hippiedom.

The Company You Keep offers plot twists, social ideas, and carefully researched historical detail from the Vietnam era. Each alone would make for a worthwhile reading experience. But at the novel's heart is character. Which deserves one's deepest loyalty: parent or principle, child or country, mother or daughter? Written in a new take on an epistolary form---one that puts the reader in the mind of the intended audience (a character in the book) to sit as judge to the upheaval of the sixties and its consequences---Neil Gordon's novel is a gem. After reading it, you will think differently whenever people talk about the weather. Robert Redford optioned The Company You Keep for a movie, and it's easy to see why.