This was a really interesting read. I couldn't put it down, it really kept me on the edge of my seat. Highly recommend

"Crossings" is subtitled "A Doctor-Soldier's Story," but there's much more to it than that. It chronicles Jon Kerstetter's service as a flight surgeon in Iraq, but it also tells the story of his whole life, in which his tours in Iraq are just a small part.

The son of a single mother from the Oneida reservation, Kerstetter dreamed of becoming a doctor from childhood, but had to overcome a series of obstacles first. In college he was steered away from medicine, because, he was told, Native students couldn't handle the coursework. He only ended up going to medical school more than a decade later. He was also initially steered away from the military, finally enlisting in the National Guard at an age when many soldiers are already eligible to retire.

Once there, though, he found his calling in emergency medicine, often in areas in crisis. He discusses how he was drawn to high-adrenaline environments where he could make a difference, volunteering to go first to Rwanda following the genocide there, and then to the Balkans. While his experiences there were humbling, he also found them rewarding, and welcomed the chance to go to Iraq and use his skills there.

Some of Kerstetter's experiences in Iraq were truly bizarre, and must be read to be believed, but the real adventure begins when he returns home and has to deal with a myriad of crippling health problems. The fact that he completed the book at all is a testament to his will to succeed.

"Crossings" refers to the different border crossings, physical, psychological, and spiritual, that Kerstetter makes throughout his life, as he transitions from poor kid from the res to doctor and soldier and then to patient. The prose style is for the most part simple and direct--Kerstetter writes like the doctor and soldier he considers himself to be--but some of his meditations on the changes he undergoes in his life are profound, and will probably resonate with many doctors, soldiers, and patients dealing with life-altering conditions. An affecting story about an interesting life.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

An in depth account of an Army doctor with multiple combat tours, his concern for his soldiers . An immense accomplishment for this doctor and an important read for all of us

I just finished reading this book, and I am completely floored. Kerstetter 's telling of his journey is unlike anything that I have ever read before and the results are a truly remarkable book. I have read a lot of books that are memoirs centering around the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and this one brings a unique perspective to the journey, delivered through top-notch writing. The author's power as a gifted storyteller brings you in for a front row seat as he relives the most difficult parts of his life.

The book starts out with the author's early life, progressing up to the point where he becomes a doctor. Once a doctor, he finds himself bored with routine treatment and seeking experience with treating critical trauma patients, which ultimately leads him into military service. The book delves into areas I never thought about a soldier/doctor performing. Most notably, he is entrusted with overseeing the process of positively identifying high priority enemy targets (Uday and Qusay Hussein) post mortem, and the transfer of their remains back to the Hussein family.

I am not sure if it is the author's training as a doctor, his struggles with recovering from his stroke, or a little bit of both that give him the insight and perspective to explore his journey in the way he does, but I was drawn into the story and the writing from the beginning. He doesn't tell us about his PTSD, but rather he shows how it affects him and his recovery, as well as how hard he struggles to push the memories down and keep them inside. He is also able to (somehow) make the reader understand the pull back to war and how it can be stronger than the thoughts of the family and his civilian life waiting for him at home.

Perhaps the most remarkable is how he depicts his recovery as a stroke victim - I felt the frustration of knowing what he used to be capable of, and the feeling of failure when his body and mind won't cooperate in the ways that he remembers. As I was reading this portion, I couldn't help but marvel that the man going through this recovery actually wrote the amazing book that I was reading.

Sometimes a book comes along that makes me wish I could give it more than 5 stars, because it truly seems deserving of more - on a scale of 1 to 5 this is a 7!