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MWSA Review
American by Intention by Patrick Ritchen is a work of fiction although, throughout the book, it often reads like a memoir. The author refers to this story as part memoir, part history, and part love story. Ritchen’s tale begins with Vietnam veteran Blake Gibbs, the main character who suffers from PTSD. The author describes the insidious disorder with a depth and breadth that only someone who has experienced it can convey.
Gibbs sorts through the labyrinth of emotions about his troubled marriage, his job as a physical therapist for the Aspen Grove nursing home, and his relationships with his co-workers. Everything he thinks about and feels is tainted by the war he fought on the other side of the world. He struggles with alcohol abuse, flashbacks, and sleepless nights. While searching for answers on dealing with people who have never experienced war, death, and destruction, Gibbs connects with a World War II veteran. Gibbs begins to see all the puzzling pieces of his existence come together after meeting and developing a relationship with an unlikely person: a Vietnamese soldier and immigrant, Bao Nguyen.
At the end of this multi-layered story, loose ends are tied up, and we see Gibbs coming to terms with his demons while he finds his place in history. Patrick Ritchen’s story will resonate with many veterans and others who have a dark period in their past.
Review by Nancy Panko (May 2022)
Author's Synopsis
It is May 1982. Blake Gibbs, a former door gunner in Vietnam and the sole physical therapist for the Aspen Grove nursing home in Denver, grits his teeth in silent protest. Flogged daily by the ennui of post Vietnam America, he is coy about his service both at home and work. His colleagues offer no respite. Neil Rotterdam, facility manager and former Green Beret, continually invites Gibbs to grieve while Elissa Redd, the beautiful and predatory Activities Director, implores Gibbs to peel back his emotional scabs. As if taunting him, Aspen Grove’s television lounged blares forth Donahue's endless parade of veterans describing their lurid dreams and barely suppressed violent impulses. Yet despite the indifference and hostility accompanying his homecoming Gibbs unconsciously yearns to love his country. But how? His chance encounter with Bao Nguyen, a former Vietnamese Ranger, jars Gibbs’ dormant sense of patriotism. Soon thereafter, he begins Alphonse Merkowitz’s post op rehab, learning that he is a former French Resistance fighter. Nguyen and Merkowitz unwittingly launch Gibbs on a journey from a blank slate of patriotic indifference to an American by Intention in the summer and fall of 1982. Gibbs’ odyssey and reconciliation with America culminates at the dedication of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial where he meets the father of a dead comrade. Part memoir, part history and part love story, American by Intention is a multi layered homage to patriotism with all the ambiguity that that word conveys in modern America.
Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 556