Sunday Review: American Sniper by Chris Kyle , Scott McEwen, Jim DeFelice

Title: American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History

By Chris Kyle , Scott McEwen, Jim DeFelice
Source: Purchase on Amazon
Buy Link: AMAZON

BLURB


Gripping, eye-opening, and powerful, American Sniper is the astonishing autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, who is the record-holding sniper in U.S. military history. Kyle has more than 150 officially confirmed kills (the previous American record was 109), though his remarkable career total has not been made public by the Pentagon.
In this New York Times bestselling memoir, Kyle shares the true story of his extraordinary decade-long career, including his multiple combat tours in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and elsewhere from 1999-2009.
Kyle’s riveting first-person account of how he went from Texas rodeo cowboy to expert marksman and feared assassin offers a fascinating view of modern-day warfare and one of the most in-depth and illuminating looks into the secret world of Special Ops ever written.

REVIEW  

This is an extremely hard review to write. So I am going to place a disclaimer on this one. Usually I take off for horrible grammar and using ( ) in the middle of sentences to clarify what the author is meaning. If I had chosen to do that in this case then this book would get somewhere between a 1.5 and a 3 star rating.

That being said - I am ignoring all of those issues because what I got from this book was so overpowering that I cannot let the grammar stuff pull it down.

This book contained a lot, and I mean A LOT of emotion. There was everything from love and marriage to war, death and infidelity. You ran the gauntlet of trauma that comes from war, and relationships in general. It helped to give an insight as to what goes on inside a military mindset of a sniper.

I have heard and seen the comments that people feel Chris Kyle was an arrogant and cocky SOB who was just out for a legal way to kill people. And I didn't gather that at all. Yes, he admits all he wanted to do was go kill him some bad guys that could potentially harm Americans. But what I took away from this book was a man who was willing, and in some ways did, lay down his life for his country.

I would have to think anyone who joined the military needs the mindset that they want to shoot and kill anyone who would bring harm to our country. Why else join the military? It takes a certain type of individual to get up everyday and kill people. Be it good people or bad people. It is not for everyone, nor should it be. Chris Kyle, and his fellow SEALS, possess a special mindset that allow them to do the dirty work us civilians just can't comprehend.

I don't want to be like them, and I don't want them to be like us!

I have not read a memoir book in a LONG time and I never read non-fiction. So I have nothing to base my opinion of this book against when it comes to the genre and what is expected. What I do know is this book pulled out of me an immense  amount of patriotism, love for family and sorrow for those who end up cast aside once they return home.

I loved learning about his wife's insights and her thoughts. She was very angry at some times and I think it was fantastic to see the real emotion. I will say the parts written by his wife were very well thought out and much more comprehend-able with a focus and point to them. 

Overall I am giving this book 4 stars. I couldn't put it down. It kept me enthralled. It just really needed a better editor....