Chasing Alexander: A Marine’s Journey Across Iraq and Afghanistan is a memoir of the author, Christopher Martin recounting his days as a Marine and his experience in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan. I enjoyed his book. It reads more like a journal, and Martin’s writing style was quite simplistic and very relatable.
What I loved most about this book is its rawness. You could feel the honesty in it. The author shared minute details of his life pre-military to his Bootcamp until his overseas deployment.
In between chapters, you can also read snippets of Alexander the Great’s conquest, which inspired the author into joining the military, thus the title of his memoir where he’s trying to emulate the greatness of Alexander. I loved these little bits in the book. It’s like reading two books, and the parallelism of the progression of Alexander’s life and Martin’s military career was a great touch in his story.
I don’t read many memoirs, but this got me hooked up from the very beginning. As mentioned earlier, I loved its simple, honest and relatable writing. If you’re looking for a quick read and have an interest in military life, then you should pick this book up.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Expected publication: September 28th 2021 by Notional Books
An advance review copy was provided by the publisher, Notional Books via Edelweiss for an impartial and honest review.
About the Author
Christopher Martin enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 2007 and served until 2011. He deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan as a mortarman with 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines. After leaving the Marines, he attended Denison University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He currently lives in Colorado.
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