According to Statistics Canada, 17 percent of those serving in the military are between the ages of seventeen and twenty-four. Half are thirty-four or under. This reality about the army — that it is a young person’s game — underlies Juiceboxers, the debut novel from the poet and veteran Benjamin Hertwig. Writing about the war in Afghanistan, he produces a commentary on the jarring consequences for children who come of age while chasing false dreams in combat.
The protagonist is Plinko, an Edmontonian who signs up at the age of sixteen and receives his nickname shortly after arriving for basic training (we learn his real name, Robert, only near the end). From the start, he searches for meaningful companionship, and he finds a version of it in a dysfunctional group of fellow recruits: Abdi, the son of Somali immigrants; Abdi’s best friend, a lanky kid named Walsh; and Krug, a brash and insecure loudmouth.
As Hertwig follows the foursome, he never...
Tomas Hachard wrote the novel City in Flames.
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