Been a while since I wrote a last line entry thanks in great part to NaNo, but I finished Kris Nelscott's War at Home just a week into the project and have forgotten to include the last line for some time now. To remedy that I offer this.


He looked at me then. His dark eyes were more open than I had ever seen them. “You’re the one who always talks about living up to your responsibilities, no matter how tough they are. That’s all I’m going to do. I can’t live with myself otherwise.” 

He had turned my own words on me. I didn’t like how it felt. But I didn’t try to argue with him anymore. He knew the risks, and he was taking them. It was his life to live, his choice to make. 

I simply wished I could keep him from it — and I was smart enough to know that I couldn’t. 

We were silent much of the rest of the trip. But Jimmy grew happier and happier the closer we got to Chicago. He didn’t realize how much had changed. 

I was feeling nothing. I was empty, just like I had when I returned from Korea. Dislocated, distant, at a loss without really knowing why. 

I was returning from a different war and, like the first, I didn’t entirely comprehend it. 

The only thing I knew was that in some very fundamental ways, we had all lost.

Nelscott, Kris - War at Home

It was a good book and the that line "I was feeling nothing . . . " is a nice one. The way that Jimmy comes around by the end is also a good secondary plot in the book. I'll have more next week when I post a review. Not a bad last few lines.