Novel Looks at How War Affects Soldiers and Their Families

Canton author Allan G. Johnson's novel Nothing Left to Lose may be set in the Vietnam era but it’s not a story about the battlefield. Rather it’s a look at “all that goes before and all that comes after.”

And while Johnson has his views on war, the story is about how soldiers and families must deal with the physical and emotional wounds that don’t go away.   

“The damage to soldiers and Marines and their families is so huge and so invisible in this society,” he said. “It’s about mothers and fathers and sons and war.”

Johnson will talk about and read from the novel tonight, Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at Gallery on the Green. Copies will be available for purchase but the talk is free.

The synopsis of the novel provided by Johnson is:

The novel is set in 1968 when the Vietnam War was at its height.  William Carson, a World War II veteran teaching in a small New England Prep School, has for more than two decades been haunted by nightmares whose content he has never shared with his wife, Anne, or their two sons, Joshua, a Marine on active duty in Vietnam, and Andrew, an ROTC college senior bound for active duty following graduation. When Joshua is reported missing in combat, the web of secrets and denial that has kept the family together for more than twenty years begins to unravel as Anne and William face the possible loss of their sons and Andrew must confront the tangle of love, obligation, and loyalty that he feels toward his country, his father, his brother, his mother, and himself.  Nothing Left to Lose is a story of betrayal across generations – of fathers who send sons to war and mothers who let them go – and the redeeming power of love and forgiveness.

A long-time sociology professor, including a stint of more than 20 years at Hartford College for Women, Johnson is no stranger to taking a hard, sometimes controversial, look at social issues.

It’s no accident that he chose Veterans Day for the reading.

“All wars are the same – whether we think they’re different – good or bad,” he said. “Underneath that, they’re all the same. I think our inability to see that they are all the same is one of things that perpetuates war. We can’t see past war as a solution.”

Johnson has written about many social issues, including race and gender and while some of that carries over to his novels, he is thrilled to be writing fiction.

Johnson has been writing since he was 10 when he penned a two-page story about a boy who runs away from home.

He wrote poetry and fiction in high school and at while at Dartmouth College but over the years had gotten away from it.

Johnson has lived in Collinsville with his wife Nora L. Jamieson and was an original member of the Axe Factory Players. He continues to speak and lecture on social issues as well. 

And about 15 years ago, he began writing fiction much more seriously.

“It feels like coming home,” he said.

Nothing Left to Lose is his second published novel and fourth he's written. 

Johnson generally writes in the morning after breakfast.

“It’s what makes me happy,” he said.

Johnson said he doesn’t force it.

“I write until it doesn’t come anymore,” he said. “It’s about the rhythm of it and respecting the rhythm.”

Johnson said he loves writing and rewriting and is fortunate that fiction writing has never been a high-pressure situation.

“I’ve been really lucky,” he said. Writing has never been a prison and rewriting has never been a prison. I enjoy the hell out of it.”

Johnson, will read from and discuss his new novel, Nothing Left to Lose, the story of a family in crisis during the Vietnam War, at The Gallery on the Green, Route 44 in Canton on Friday evening, Nov. 11, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.