Interrupted Journeys: A Memoir of an Army Brat by Barbara Fifield

Interrupted Journeys: A Memoir of an Army Brat by Barbara Fifield is a memoir on the life and childhood of Barbara Fifield when she was child in a household with an army parent. The book follows Barbara as she has to deal with numerous relocations which means new schools, new people, new homes, and a loss of familiarity with people and places. As Barbra’s family is forced to move every one to two years her and her family begin to develop all sorts of problems ranging from Barbra and her sister, Marilyn, suffering from nightmares to their mother’s drinking.

I found the memoir to be particularly interesting as while I have never been an army brat as a child I was uprooted about every four years due to my father’s job. While I did not suffer from this nearly as much as Barbra and Marilyn I felt like I could understand what they were going through. I found their story to be quite interesting as they had to cope with the constant changing during their childhood where stability was important. I found the memoir to be particularly well written and I like how it was written in sequential order as it made for an easy to understand timeline. The author went out of her way to make sure all of the people were well developed throughout the memoir so that the reader could truly understand who everyone was as a person. The descriptive language was perfectly balanced to allow the reader to create a picture in his or her head without bogging the book down with too many details. Barbara Fifield’s memoir gave me some real insight into the life of a child in an army household and I feel like parents who wish to become soldiers should read this book first so that they can truly understand the challenges their family might face as a consequence of their decision to join the army.