American Soldiers

Synopsis

Carlo Colletti Sr. is the patriarch of a politically prominent Long Island family.

He is also a Vietnam Veteran, a widower, a heavy-drinker, binge eater, and has pretty much lost the respect of his son, Carlo Jr., an assemblyman and Congressional candidate, and his brash and hard-partying daughter, Marie.

When his other daughter, Angela, an Army veteran, returns from the Middle East for an uneasy homecoming, Carlo Sr. finds himself struggling to hold the family together, as Angela seems to be declaring war.

Angela, emotionally scarred from her military service, now sees her family, liberal politicians and "modern" Catholics who fight for liberal causes, as nothing more than cogs in a machine of conformity whose morals make no sense and perpetuate dangerous myths.

The force of her rebellion is set against the determination of her father and his commitment to not only holding the family together, but to forcing her to appropriately deal with, what he calls, "her issues."

Through their tug of war, long-buried resentments and scars are revealed, forcing Carlo Sr. to confront painful memories which he believed were very much in the past.

Now Carlo Sr. has one last chance to save his daughter, his family, and his self-respect as he and Angela battle each other in, what she calls, "the same fight, generation after generation."

Themes

• Families
• Families--Drama
• PS3613.O752 A47 2010
• Soldiers
• Soldiers--Drama
• Women veterans
• Women veterans--Drama