MWSA Book Review

Book: Lipstick And A Smile
Author: Helen White
Publisher: Bell Books
Genre: Poetry/art/prose

Reviewer: Bill McDonald--MWSA Founder

Haunting and Chilling PTSD Art & Prose

IThe personal experiences of an Army nurse during the Vietnam War still haunt the author/artist Helen White which she shares in a compelling and moving book called “Lipstick And A Smile: One Nam Nurse Story’. Is it prose, poetry or the ramblings of old war memories from a PTSD traumatized nurse? This book will grab you by the heartstrings. It will certainly cause you to think, feel, reflect and maybe even be moved to cry. I was wet-eyed myself and I am an old combat veteran. This book is not for emotional sissies!

The artwork is equal to the prose and the eyes of those people in the pictures will burn through your soul. The book’s genre is hard to classify as either poetry and art or a memoir with illustrations. In either case, it matters not, the emotional and spiritual impact will be the same.

There is both tenderness and sadness mixed in with courage and outright fear and worry. This book will move you and will certainly open your eyes and heart to what it was like for the women nurses who served so well during the Vietnam War.

The book belongs in your personal library of military books. It will help serve to remind us that war is not just some game for young warriors. What we become aware of is that the war will still rage on within those who were there long after the last bullets have been fired. For some that battle continues for decades. PTSD is real and it is no less lethal than a bullet to the brain. Helen White delivers that emotional message with words and her very visually moving art.

I personally recommend this book for anyone with PTSD or who has someone in his or her family who is suffering from the effects of war. It might just give you some new insights to what is going on within. It is the hope of the author that those who read her book will be compelled to seek out help and support for their own PTSD issues.