Precerpt from Nothing So Broken (Richards) - in Vietnam
Coming Soon! Available now on pre-order! Nothing So Broken - war, memoir, more. Today we provide a precerpt (an excerpt from a book not yet published) -
My father said there were farms with pigs, noisy and smelly, and then he snorted, making my brother and me laugh. He could always make us laugh.
Then there was the time he was resting on the ground at night and something fast and heavy ran up to him and leapt off his chest, disappearing into the jungle. Too big to be a squirrel or cat, he said. He asked the other soldiers what it could’ve been, but nobody knew. They were strangers in a strange land.
Then there were the rats, or mice the size of rats, rummaging the barracks for food. If he ate crackers in bed, the next morning he’d awake to a rodent sitting on his stomach, sniffing for crumbs. So, my mother mailed him some traps. Fifteen dead rats in one night. Twelve the next. My brother and I squirmed. The soldiers gave the rats to the local villagers, who used them for stews. Papasan, the nearby farmer, was always grateful.
One morning the traps were empty.
No rats? What happened to the rats?
My father paused. My brother and I leaned forward.
“Cobras!” he exclaimed. Cobras had made a nest beneath the barracks. “Everybody out!”
The MP’s gassed under the building and waited with pistols ready for the snakes to show themselves.
I checked under my bed for weeks!
In the shadow of loss, a path to healing begins.
Chris Richards grew up in a small New England mill town, where life was tough and loyalty ran deep. At just 19, his world was shaken when a close friend was left permanently disabled by a devastating accident. At the same time, Chris’s father began to show troubling symptoms linked to his service in the Vietnam War—unseen wounds that would slowly unravel the man he once knew.
The weight of watching two people he loved unravel under the strain of trauma and physical decline left deep scars—ones Chris carried silently into adulthood. For years, he buried his grief and fear, never imagining that one day, facing his own crisis, he would turn to their stories for strength.
This powerful and moving memoir explores the enduring impact of trauma, the quiet power of resilience, and how even the most broken lives can become sources of inspiration. Born of hardship, shaped by loss, and redeemed through reflection, Chris’s story is a testament to the human spirit and the healing that can come from finally confronting the past.
Keywords:
New England memoir, Vietnam War legacy, trauma and healing memoir, coming-of-age true story, memoir about father and son, real-life story of resilience, personal story of grief and growth, emotional healing journey, memoir of small-town life, family trauma memoir, impact of war on families, veterans and PTSD family stories, intergenerational trauma, inspirational memoir about loss, adult child of a veteran, memoir set in a mill town, friendship and tragedy true story, memoir about overcoming fear and grief, how to heal from family trauma, memoir about growing up with a veteran parent, finding hope through personal crisis, true story of surviving emotional loss, lessons from a father's wartime wounds, memoir about friendship, trauma, and redemption
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