The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni

 

This novel portrays the life of Vincent Bianco during two times in his life, the summer of 1979 and the present.  In 1979, Vincent had just graduated high school as the valedictorian but growing up in a house of ten children meant that his first two years of college were going to be at the local community college.  He needed a summer job to even afford that and his big brother got him a job doing construction.  Vince had never done that but he was willing to learn anything and was a hard worker.  The crew was the boss, Vince and two older guys who had been in Vietnam but had served their time and were back home.

Vince could tell that the man he grew close to that summer, William, was haunted by his time in Vietnam.  He had a hard time handling his temper and when he lost it it was far more explosive than the average guy.  He was drinking a lot that summer as well.  But he mentored Vince both on the job and afterwards and helped him define what a man was and how to become the kind of man that people respected.  At the end of the summer the two knew they would probably never see each other again and William gave Vince his journal from Vietnam to explain what shaped him into the man he was.

Now, Vince is middle-aged with his own family and a son, Beau, who was the same age as Vince had been that summer.  Beau has always played sports and has a shot at playing at a big university.  But in his senior year he has to face a heartbreaking situation that changes his life and his outlook on what he wants.  Vince and his wife worry about Beau and if he is ready to take on the challenges of a man's life.

Robert Dugoni is best known for his mysteries but he has written several novels that explore life and this is one of them.  All the characters are well drawn and the journal is a real insight into what the young men of America faced during the Vietnam war, many of them still in their teens.  Vince serves as the fulcrum of the novel, standing between William and Beau, taking the lessons he has learned from William and using them to help his son during his own challenges.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.