Last Flag Flying: A Novel - Softcover

Ponsican, Darryl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1510733299 ISBN 13: 9781510733299

Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, 2018

Synopsis

Now a major movie starring Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishburne, directed by Richard Linklater!

Darryl Ponicsan's debut novel The Last Detail was named one of the best of the year and widely acclaimed, catapulting him to fame when it was first published. The story of two career sailors assigned to escort a young seaman from Norfolk to the naval prison in Portsmouth, New Hampshire―and of the mayhem that ensues―was made into an award-winning movie starring Jack Nicholson. Last Flag Flying, set thirty-four years after the events of The Last Detail, brings together the same beloved characters―Billy Bad-Ass Buddusky, Mule Mulhall, and Meadows―to reprise the same journey but under very different circumstances.

Now middle-aged, Meadows seeks out his former captors in their civilian lives to help him bury his son, a Marine killed in Iraq, in Arlington National Cemetery. When he learns that the authorities have told him a lie about the circumstances of his son's death, he decides, with the help of the two others, to transport him home to Portsmouth. And so begins the journey, centered around a solemn mission but, as in the first book, a protest against injustice and celebration of life too, at once irreverent, funny, profane, and deeply moving.

Last Flag Flying is now a major movie from Amazon Studios, directed by Richard Linklater and starring Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, and Laurence Fishburne.

About this title

Review

“Darryl has once again captured the camaraderie and complexity of male bonding, as he did so brilliantly in The Last Detail. Three familiar characters, now some thirty years later, with a dubious history and an undesirable task ahead of them are what dominate the fascinating and satisfying story in Last Flag Flying.”―Bryan Cranston

"Ponicsán delivers an irreverent, acerbic, but nonetheless poignant look at the true nature of loyalty. Recommend both novels and the movie."―Booklist
Praise for The Last Detail:

“Remarkably good... The writing is superb, the pace headlong, the irony tempered with a curious gentleness.”―Cosmopolitan

“A salty, bawdy, hilarious, and very touching story.”–Variety

“The first underground triumph of the ‘70s.”–San Francisco Sun-Reporter

“One of the ten best novels of the year.”–Philadelphia Inquirer

“Honest, heart-wrenching.”–The New York Times

“One of the really excellent novels we will draw this year, and Ponicsán... proves himself not only a master but a model of dialogue.”–San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle

“A lean, funny, bitter book.”–Boston Globe

“[A] gem of a first novel... fast-paced... [The] dialogue often is hilarious..”–Fort Worth Star

“An accomplished writer with a sure storyteller’s touch.”–St. Louis Post Dispatch

“Will make any serviceman say: ‘Sure, that’s the way it was.’”–Newsday

Book Description

Now a major motion picture, directed by five-time Oscar-nominee Richard Linklater and starring Oscar nominees Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, and Laurence Fishburne, Last Flag Flying is the brilliant, earthy novel of three veterans on one moving road trip.

About this edition

• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1510733299
• ISBN 13: 9781510733299
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 228