Tales of the South Pacific-1948 Pulitzer Prize

In a fit of Psalms exhaustion, I put down the Bible last week.  I was going to hang out at my parents’ pool and the Bible I own does not lend itself to poolside reading, being leather and somewhat large.   So I swiped Tales of the South Pacific off the shelf.  I didn’t know much about it except it was the basis for the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, which I love.**  Nothing about war is prettied up here; neither is there gratuitous gore that seems to go along with so many war themed stories.  Racism and love, courage and fear, death and life march through the stories with sometimes devastating and sometimes glorious results.  I laughed, cried, and thanked God for everyone who volunteers to go to war.

**Let me just say now that if you can’t understand how perfectly logical (and fabulous) it is for everyone to break into song in the midst of everyday life, you have my sympathies.