"Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body" by Lyle Rubin is the author's memoir that focuses on his time in the Marines and the change that occurs within him because of it. Rubin enters the Marines as a strong conservative, but through his service in the Middle East and first-hand experience with the American war machine, he eventually sees America as an imperialist, racist, classist society. Rubin also discusses the expectations of masculinity both as an American man and especially within the Marines. Rubin's story was interesting, and I enjoyed how he intertwined his Jewish faith within the memoir and how it impacted his time as Marine. I found many poignant moments, but I did often ask myself the purpose of how in-depth some of the book went and how that took away from the ultimate points Rubin was trying to make.

I was curious to read about this military memoir - particularly about how someone who is self-described as a "College Republican" enlists in the Marines and eventually evolves into a marine who becomes disillusioned with the military as a whole. While I appreciated and agreed with a lot of his takes on the military's role in the machination of U.S. imperialism, I felt that his writing delved too much "in the weeds" enough times to pull me out of the larger story he was telling.

Unfortunately, I don't think I am enough of a military aficionado to truly appreciate the offerings of this book. This book may be for you if are a military buff who is interested and open-minded toward other points of view regarding the military.

After multiple attempts, I just can't get through the first 100 pages of this book. I don't say this lightly.

Although Mr. Rubin has exquisite prose and vocabulary, the reader tends to get lost in it instead of enjoying the content. I believe the subject matter might have something to do with it as well. As this is a semi-controversial topic, especially for the pro-military audience. Still... I think this read "just wasn't for me."

I do apologize but I assure you it wasn't for lack of trying.