The story starts off with "this is true," which leads me to be believe that the story that is about to be told is probably outlandish and unbelievable, otherwise why would their be such a need for a disclaimer at the very beginner.
I found that this story really touched me, and I really liked it. I liked Rat Kiley.
Anyways, the narrator lapses into a story about Rat Kiley being in the war, and his best friend, whose also fighting in the war, gets killed. He writes a letter to his friends sister, and pours his heart out into it, saying how much he loved him, and how they were best friends. Rat mails the letter, and waits two months for the girl to write back, but she never does. And he gets upset and calls her a cooze (which I didn't know what that meant until it was explained to me).
I was thinking about the perspective of Curt Lemons sister, and if she realized whether or not that would affect Rat Kiley by not writing back. Or if she didn't ever receive the letter. Or possibly, she read it and thought it was touching, but was too caught up in the death of her brother to send a response. She'll never realize how the fact that she didn't respoond could affect Rat Kiley. I doubt she'd be a "cooze" on purpose and not respond out of bitterness.
Anyways, the narrator is telling the reader the requirements of telling a true war story. How a true story never ends, how it's difficult to believe, how there is no virtue or sense of upliftment when you tell a true war story. I really liked the narrators description of how to tell a true war story, although I can't really seem to figure out why. Possibly because he throws out all the other few war stories I've ever read out of the window, because they don't meet the requirements of his idea of a war story.
Good. One of the most important stories in the novel I think. Rat Kiley's letter is in some ways a story that needs an audience. When the sister doesn't write back, it is almost as if Rat's story isn't told or heard.
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