GRATEFUL AMERICAN, by Gary Sinese

This is a memoir about a celebrity who chronicles in his book about his personal journey. The book cover has a full color pho of the author on the front cover. The back cover is full of blurbs for Sinese from his colleagues. Sinese opens his book with a Prologue. He ends his book with a section "Called to Action," acknowledgements, and an author bio. Sinese spreads his actual content throughout seventeen chapters. This book includes photos in black and white. Gary Sinese is an actor who has been nominated for and has won an Oscar. He has also won Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actors Guild awards. Sinese has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Among his many awards for his service, Sinese has won the Presidential Citizens Award.

' This is the day that I finished reading GRATEFUL AMERICAN, by Gary Sinese. Of itself, the subject matter of the military, veterans, and our need to honor and remember them, is fascination. However, I struggles to hold my interest in this book. The author provides abundant details about his own life, his career, his family, and the many active military troops and veterans whom he crossed paths with throughout his life, and his many honors and rewards. At one point, I got lost in the material, lost my place and found myself re-reading chapters. I commend the author's themes of duty, honor, courage, sacrifice, family, love and strength, as well as the need to honor and show gratitude to the military, veterans, and first responders. These themes must be taken seriously. However, I finished this book saddened and disappointed that the author doesn't address the epidemic of the 22 veterans in the United States, who take their own lives, daily. I did identify with the author's lifestyle and I'm sure that most readers cannot. THerefore, I do not give this book five stars. IT is good but not great.

I recommend this book for all fans of this author and/or of Steppenwolf. I strongly recommend this book for all military and first responders, both active and retired. People outside these groups may find reading this book cumbersome and likely will not be able to relate to the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review of it. I was not required to give a positive review of this book.