Keith Richards once said that “life is a wild animal,” and that happens to be one of the bits of wisdom the Human Riff has uttered. This life takes twists and turns, and if we are lucky enough to be hanging on its back when all is said and done, well, we’ve done something.
Taya Kyle is still navigating this wild animal of a life, and the widow of American hero Chris Kyle (“American Sniper”) is one pretty good example of toughness in the face of despair.
Kyle, whose husband rose to legendary fame as a sniper in the Middle East, has penned a searing memoir, “American Wife: Love, War, Faith and Renewal.” It promises to be one of the best memoirs in this country in recent memory, coming as it does from a “regular” American who found herself in irregular circumstances.
Chris Kyle, of course, found himself on the wrong side of irony upon his return stateside, as he tried to help a disturbed young man who came to his home. The latter shot Kyle dead, and plunged his family into a vortex of grief, grappling, and ultimately, that renewal mentioned in the title. Taya Kyle’s words are packed with meaning.
In the preface to “American Wife” (pointedly titled “The Longest Day”), Kyle recounts those fateful moments on Feb. 2, 2013, when their lives changed forever, and the man who had protected his comrades with a gun died by a gun in the hands of a tormented veteran returning from Iraq.
“I gave him a quick kiss and a hug – something we tried to always do when we left the house – and went out to the SUV to take the girls to the mall. That was the last time I saw my husband, my best friend, my hero, alive.”
Thus begins “American Wife,” and what follows is both triumphant and at times, unexpected. Taya Kyle has lived the wisdom she dispenses.
Kyle writes that after a series of bad relationships, she prayed that God would send her a man with a good heart, one she could raise children with. Those were her wishes.
Soon after, Chris Kyle came into her life. The couple had their ups and downs, sure, but by the time his bestseller memoir had been published, and a Hollywood film was in the offing, the couple had settled into what she calls a “glorious plateau.”
Then came the terrible fate that would tear them apart. Kyle recounts the immediate aftermath:
Sorrow telescopes time and rearranges it. Things that happened quickly seem in memory to have taken ages. The order becomes jumbled – which thing did I do first, which next, what then?
The raw honesty of this tale makes it hard to put down, and impossible to forget. Kyle lays it all out there: once-a-week showers and no makeup; bouts of despair; struggling to help her children cope.
Through it all, she manages to grope her way to hope. And that’s what makes “American Wife” such a terrific and human triumph. Anyone who has struggled with sheer loss and unspeakable pain will find a kindred spirit and heart in this book.
In swimming through the “ocean of craziness” in the aftermath of Chris’s death, Taya found that she could survive, and thrive (even in the midst of ridiculous pressures, such as a lawsuit brought against Chris Kyle by Jesse Ventura).
The faith discussions in “American Wife” are fascinating. Kyle pulls back a curtain on her husband’s beliefs at one point:
We were talking about religion and the Bible one night while he was deployed. I don’t remember exactly the conversation, but I do recall being surprised that Chris was able to talk about the Bible in such depth. Maybe misinterpreting my surprise, he told me I could look up what he was talking about in the Bible myself.
Needless to say, her own struggles with faith after her husband’s death led her to a better place, and readers will appreciate (and learn from) her experiences.
As a human interest story “American Wife” is masterful. Beyond that, however, Taya Kyle’s clear-eyed witness, steady prose and indomitable spirit ensure that the book will be a classic in its field.
Highly, highly recommended.
