Young Adult Literature; War Drama; Historical Fiction
Historical fiction might not come to mind much while reading Fallen Angels, because, for the most part, the characters talk and act like modern young adults. But their references are dated, and there's an occasional scene, like the letters the soldiers get about draft dodgers (8.78), that remind us that we were in this war over forty years ago.
Fallen Angels was published in 1988, thirteen years after the fighting stopped. So for the author, it was very recent history.
Another thing about Fallen Angels? It's the kind of young adult book that could easily be read by old adults. The main reason it gets shelved in the YA section is how young the soldiers are. Richard graduated high school, but he's only seventeen. The other guys aren't much older.
They're trying to figure out where to go to college, what they want to be when they grow up—total teenage problems. They're just experiencing them amid the much more immediate problem of how to stay alive in a war.
We'll stick to the SATs and what to major in, thanks.