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Powerful and lean, Eleven Days is an astonishing first novel full of suspense that addresses our most basic questions about war as it tells of the love between a mother and her son. When the story opens on May 11, 2011, Sara’s son, Jason, has been missing for nine days from a Special Operations Forces mission on the same night as the Bin Laden raid. Smart, young, and bohemian, Sara had dreams of an Ivy League university for Jason that were not out of reach, followed by a job on the Hill where there were connections through his father. The events of 9/11 changed Jason’s mind and Sara accepted that, steeping herself in all things military to better understand her son’s days, while she works as a freelance editor for Washington policy makers and wonks.
Now she knows nothing more about Jason’s fate than the crowds of well-wishers and media camped out in the driveway in front of her small farmhouse in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, waiting to hear news. In a series of flashbacks we learn about Jason’s dashing absentee father, a man who said he was a writer but whose career seemed to involve being in faraway places. And through letters Jason writes home from his training and early missions, we get a picture of a strong, compassionate leader who is wise beyond his years and modest about his abilities. Those exceptional abilities will give Jason the chance to participate in a wholly different level of assignment, the most important and dangerous of his career. At the end Sara will find herself on an unexpected journey full of surprise.
This is a haunting narrative about a mother’s bond with her son; about life choices; about the military, war, and service to one’s country. Lea Carpenter, a dazzling new talent with the kind of strong and distinctive voice that comes along all too rarely, has given us a thrilling and unforgettable story.
This eBook edition includes a Reading Group Guide.
- Sales Rank: #420336 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-06-18
- Released on: 2013-06-18
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Publishers Weekly
A woman falls into the national spotlight when her Navy SEAL son goes missing during a highly classified operation in Carpenter's debut novel. Sara, an art student who landed a secretarial job in D.C, and David, a mysterious government official 30 years her senior, find themselves expecting a child during a complex love affair. Sara elects to keep the baby—naming him Jason—and becomes a single mother when David dies in the Middle East of undisclosed causes. She raises Jason with help from various "godparents", David's friends and coworkers who predispose the naturally brilliant child to the military at the youngest of ages. After the September 11th attacks, Jason's decides to attend the Naval Academy , marking the beginning of a sacrificial quest that, after nine years, he plans to end after one more mission—the mission in which he disappears. The novel profiles the first eleven days of Sara's grief journey, and is filled with characters who exist on the edge of emotion. With poignant prose and an impeccably structured narrative, Carpenter's novel is the sweet pitch before the violin screeches; the concluding state of reverence for a world we can't control and a song for the war in Afghanistan that provides comfort without reason. (June)
From Booklist
Tension builds in Carpenter’s spare debut as single mother Sara awaits news of Jason, her Navy SEAL son, missing in action on a top-secret mission. Their story is reduced to very nearly its barest bones, told mainly via Jason’s letters home and his and Sara’s reminiscences. Carpenter succeeds in making Sara an Everymother as she tries to reckon how her bookish, poetry-loving son could choose a career path that puts him in mortal danger with every overseas tour. She eventually reasons that she “had not lost a son on 9/11; she lost him later to something she could not provide at home.” But it is clear that what she and Jason’s deceased father each did give their son—whose teammates nicknamed him Priest—prepared him for nothing less than personal greatness, the kind of personal greatness that makes the best Navy SEAL. Subtle clues and a couple of plot twists sustain the story’s tautness until its emotive climax. --Donna Chavez
Review
Praise for Lea Carpenter's Eleven Days
“Masterful. . . . Lea Carpenter’s debut novel, Eleven Days, tells a story that is at once timeless and also grounded in the very real vicissitudes brought about by current events. . . . She has written a tremendous novel that serves as a valuable contribution to our nation’s literature about warfare.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“A deeply affecting story about a mother and a son that attests to the debut of an extraordinarily gifted writer. . . . Ms. Carpenter has written a novel that maps—much the way that Jayne Anne Phillips’s classic Machine Dreams and Bobbie Ann Mason’s In Country did—the fallout that war has not just on soldiers, who put their lives on the line, but also on their families, who wait anxiously back home.”
—The New York Times
“In simple but stirring prose . . . an elegant meditation on the love between a mother and son whose worldviews changed forever after 9/11, in very different ways.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“A novel of stillness and reflection. . . . Carpenter’s greatest accomplishment here may be her success at creating an Olympian warrior who seems entirely human, modest and decent. . . . Carpenter’s intelligence and sincerity find powerful expression in the novel’s sophisticated structure. . . . This story reminds us that each of these warriors, no matter how brave and tough and deadly, is still some woman’s beloved son.”
—The Washington Post
“Carpenter provides a convincing portrait of an exclusive and exclusively male military subculture.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Assured debut. . . . [An] affecting portrayal of maternal love at a time of war.” —Vogue
“Carpenter’s incisive, graceful novel is certain to vault to the top of any list of high quality literature about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
—The Daily Beast
“A compelling story made memorable by the strength of its elegant prose.”
—Toni Morrison, author of Home
“The finest analysis of special operations I have ever read.”
—Ambassador Frank G. Wisner
“Eleven Days is a powerful, moving read: Jason and his Argonauts reborn as Navy Seals. But it is far more than just a compelling story; it’s a window onto the new world of 21st century warfare.”
—Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of Keeping Faith with our Values in a Dangerous World
“What Denis Johnson did for the Vietnam War in Tree of Smoke, Lea Carpenter does for Iraq and Afghanistan in her superb Eleven Days. She drills deeply into the culture and lore of special operations warfare, and just as deeply into the minds of the people—the military-intellectual complex, if you will—who ultimately determine the American way of making war. But at the core of this extraordinary novel is the love of a mother for her child. That’s the story of us all, and that’s the story that may well break your heart.”
—Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
“An extraordinary accomplishment. Written with an elegant precision, this book is at its core a story about love: between a mother and a son, a son and a father, and a special group of men for each other and the imperfect country they choose to serve.”
—Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds
“A beautiful, and original, work of art. Eleven Days manages to be both a meditation on courage and a gripping read. Scholarly and stylish, displaying a capacious mind and even greater heart. A magnificent debut.”
—Alexandra Styron, author of Reading My Father
“Not only a dramatic, affecting and wholly original story about war from a woman’s point of view but an incisive look at the experience of special operations.”
—Doug Stanton, author of In Harm’s Way and Horse Soldiers
“Powerful, moving and beautifully written, this story of a mother and her son shows us how 9/11 has changed our lives forever.”
—Bob Kerrey, author of When I Was a Young Man
“Filled with characters who exist on the edge of emotion. . . . Poignant prose and an impeccably structured narrative.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Assured. . . . A highly moral anti-war novel without noisily announcing itself as such. . . . This well-turned story packs plenty of emotion. . . . Among the smartest of the batch of recent American war novels.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
The heroine's journey
By Evelyn Getchell
ELEVEN DAYS by Lea Carpenter is a lean but intense debut novel written with a virtuoso's pen dipped deeply into the inkwell of relentless passion and penetrating focus. It is a dynamic work propelled by the explosive power of war fiction to compel the reader to ponder not only the most basic truths about the warrior's culture and the conflicts they engage in, but also the family of the warrior and the great sacrifices they must make in time of war.
Rich with literary allusion and poetic symbolism, this novel offers a keen and precise perspective of the military, war, patriotism, one's service to one's country, the military family and the complexity of the human cost of war.
As only a work of art can reveal, ELEVEN DAYS offers deeply resonating, very personal truths about military service in time of conflict as seen through the vision of a devoted mother and her warrior son.
It is not uncommon for us to make the association of our modern day military heroes with the heroes of the great mythical narratives in classical literature - Odysseus, Dionysus, Achilles, Jason. Thanks to the scholar Joseph Campbell and his masterwork The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell), the "hero's journey" has become a well known quest which follows a basic pattern of Departure (sometimes called Separation), Initiation, and Return. It is probably not a coincidence then that Ms. Carpenter has named the hero of ELEVEN DAYS - Jason.
Jason is a well-tested and proven warrior, a United States Navy SEAL who was one of the great numbers of young men and women compelled by their patriotism and courage to enlist into military service after the 9/11 terror attacks. He is twenty-seven when the novel opens. It is May 11, 2011 and the aftermath of a Special Operations Forces mission which was to be the last of Jason's fifth tour of duty. He has been missing for nine days.
By all accounts Jason is the "hero" of this story. Yet I prefer to consider his young, strong, intelligent, independent, and I must emphasize - single - mother, Sara, to be the real protagonist or the true "heroine" of ELEVEN DAYS.
It is a tense and suspenseful period of eleven days which marks the quest of the heroine whose beloved and only son is missing in action. Sara is on the mythical threshold of passage, awakening, and return. Her story as it unfolds and flashes back alternately with that of Jason is the story of a mother called to leave the ordinary world of home, to enter the challenging world of heart wrenching task and trial when her child is in grave danger, to go inward and process all which is destined for her and her child, to then pass outward and return to society a transformed woman...a true heroine.
ELEVEN DAYS is about many things - war history, the military, Washington, the CIA, but primarily it is about the bonding between mother and son. It is not a linear story with a black and white narrative; nor is it one-sided with clichéd sound bites and hype. It is a visceral, multi-dimensional way of expressing something organic, quotidian and universal at the same time - the love between a mother and her son.
For this reader ELEVEN DAYS is a true heroine's journey, a timely, relevant novel, impeccably researched and solemnly composed in urgent, humane prose. It is an authentic story, daunting to tell and challenging to comprehend, but nevertheless delicately balanced to resonate with sensitivity and grace.
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
One of the best looks into a military mindset I've read
By Nathan Webster
I have been warily looking forward to this book - wary because it's gotten a lot of advance praise, and the last time I bought into that, I was disappointed. But, the fact that it earned that pre-publication attention made me await it all the same.
It's one of the best close-up looks into what makes a military member 'tick' that I've ever read. The motivations, the dreams, the professionalism mixed with youth and cynicism all feels very real. While author Lea Carpenter has chosen the Navy SEALs as her subject matter, with a young officer the main character, I think you could fill that in with most any branch, of most any rank, and it still rings true across the board. "Jason," the SEAL in question, seems to fairly represent the ideals and life that these special operations soldiers have chosen - not in a melodramatic, overwrought way like many self-serving biographies, but in the much quieter way of real life. I'm no SEAL, but as a military veteran, I feel like on my best days this was sort of what we were all going for - most of us didn't live up to it, but we liked to think we were trying.
It's no mistake that Carpenter is not a veteran herself (though I think her father is a retired Navy captain). That distance gives the edge of objectivity lacking in a lot of veteran-written narratives. Even the recent vet-written collection "Fire and Forget," which I also really liked, is often very self-aware, not always in a good way. Without that crutch of her own memory to draw from, Carpenter relied on interviews, research and readers to help her get the story right - she does a lot of thanking in her acknowledgements, and that effort at getting it right comes through...at least for me. Again, I'm no SEAL, but the training feels real - again, NOT like some overblown Hollywood fiction.
However - the mother Sara is really the main character. She carries the narrative, and it's mostly through her experiences and observations that the story gets told. While we get Jason's story, it is presented as a flashback.
Just like with Jason, the story of Sara feels accurate and honest. I still have my mother's letters she sent me during Desert Storm, and she n-e-v-e-r mentioned the war (even when I embedded as a reporter in Iraq, "I hope you get what you went for," was the extent of her commentary). So Sara staying "ignorant," (which isn't the right word) of what her SEAL son is up to does seem totally plausible.
I am very fortunate that I read this book before it was published, and before I read any reviews. I am not talking about the plot on purpose. I will say that it took a lot of discipline for me to not flip right to the end, and I read this very quickly - which is very rare for me.
It's edited masterfully. It doesn't feel too long, or too short. It should be a lesson to writers who churn out 600-page behemoths and think "more is more." No - good editing tightens and improves the story, and so when this is described as "spare," that's a compliment.
There are flaws. Some of the letters home that Jason sent his mother sound realistic, but boy is Jason full of himself. I don't know if that's a flaw, but I don't think Carpenter wanted the reader to feel quite that way. It is a bit maudlin at times, and I absolutely felt manipulated a couple times - but I mean, is that a bad thing? I don't know. I'm annoyed when I feel that way, though.
Flaws aside, I was really impressed. I will be interested to read future reviews, because I know there are elements other readers might not like; I'll be curious what didn't work for them. But, obviously my impressions are all good.
Not too many books make me want to re-read them in the short term. But, I'm certain I'll be reading this again sooner not later.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
the book is filled with treasures
By E. Christine Hess
"Eleven Days" is one of the most clever, thought about & sensitive novels I have come across : both from the understated physical format & its rich content.
The unassuming, color-less cover ( white numerical crayon marks, simple black block letters & the even more humble paper bag paper ) represents modern plainness. In contrast, the use of unevenly cut, thick pages points more to the past, it has more of a history.
Once the book has been opened, a ( to the reader ) anonymous dedication is followed by a modern interpretation of Achilles' shield. And then the author is up & "running", developing her tale. Actually it is Sara, the protagonist, who goes for a run. She is wearing a HAT ( not a cap ) & she has bright RED shoelaces, a gift from her son. These details are seductive. Especially the bright red shoelaces. Up to this point there has not been an introduction of color at all. I kept returning to the vivid image while reading the novel. By the time I read Jason's letter to Sara I felt that I finally understood. The colorful shoelaces were meant to symbolize the strong bond, bloodlines, between mother & son.
But there is much more to my treasure hunt.
While reading the story an intricately patterned "tapestry" began to unfold. "Eleven Days" bears undeniable traces of the Judaeo-Christian narrative, of medieval Marian Iconography, of Greek mythology & present day East vs West conflicts & challenges. Age old beliefs, idealism & cruelties across time & space all intertwined.
There is the youthful, basically chaste "Mommy" Sara. The name is of Hebrew, Arab origin & allegedly has the meaning of "princess", "pure" or "excellent".
The unwed, devoted mother lives in a farmhouse ( without a stable ) in a small American East coast town. She helps cultivate the open ( not enclosed ) neighbor's garden.
Sara raises Jason, her only son. His name derives from the Greek meaning "healer".
When grown, Jason shares some traits with the modern American hero Pat Tillman. Both are of the same physical height ( 5'11), both idealistically enlist after the attack of 9/11, both love books, both compose thoughtful, pain easing letters & both venture East.
In addition, Jason is being referred to as "Priest" by his men, as "Achilles" by a girl friend & his physical nearness leads to the final single outburst "Christ" .
The mostly absent, elusive and older Jewish father David derives his name from the Hebrew "beloved" or from the ancient Mesopotamian word for "shining". He finally settles in that region of the world.
The nameless "godfather" -apparently highly connected via his position in Washington- stays close to Sara, Jason & David.
And lastly there is one-eyed, steady as a rock Sam, Jason's friend.
In addition to these memorable, complex characters, carefully crafted, intriguing phrases appear throughout the novel. One of them is:
"Axis of Evil" the godfather says smiling "David never liked that phrase. He preferred "Crescent of Concern".
"Eleven Days" is a book full of treasures!
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