A Review of Nova’s One Book: The Unforgiving Minute

By Josh Marcinik

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The stated purpose of the Villanova One Book program is to put in the hands of students a book that  is “worthy of close reading, discussion, course adoption, and the stimulation of dialog among all members of the campus community.” They’ve hit the nail on its head with selection of The New York Times best-selling book The Unforgiving Minute by Craig Mullaney.  Subtitled “A Soldier’s Education,” the novel  promises to tell the “unparalleled education and the hard lessons that only war can teach.” The book has been praised by figures like General David Patraeus and Bob Woodward, but what’s it got in store for the collegiate reader?

First and foremost, Mullaney is an ideal author for a book program aimed at college students.  As detailed in the latter parts of the book, Mullaney has a wide range of experience with contemporary politics and higher education. He was a defense advisor to then-candidate Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in one of the most eventful election cycles this nation had seen; previously he was a college educator himself, teaching at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. Even though he may be coming from a different viewpoint, Mullaney was privy to a university environment.. It should come as no surprise that the tale he tells is a smart, nuanced narrative of his life.

In brief, we are treated to Mullaney’s entire story from the time he commences studies at West Point, continuing through Airborne paratrooper training and the brutality of US Army Ranger school. With Ranger tabs on his shoulders, he is a recipient of the prestigious Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University, where Mullaney often ponders what it means to be both a soldier and a scholar. Upon graduation, he is recalled into the 10^th Mountain Division. It is in Afghanistan that his education will be tested by actual warfare. Patrolling the rugged mountains of the Afghan-Pakistani border, Craig and his men search for the elusive Taliban in the rugged mountains. All his training has prepared him for this- or has it? It all comes down to one critical minute at an unforgettable place called Losano Ridge, where Captain Mullaney’s decisions will mean life or death for his men.

If you’re sitting and wondering how to apply a war story to your life, don’t. The Unforgiving Minute has much more in store.  Craig needed to learn not only how to lead men but also that leading entails service to those under his command. He saw his father walk away from his family and he faced questions about the morality of fighting for one’s country. He even had to deal with the slippery subject of intercultural marriage as he pursued the woman he loves. These are universal themes facing millions of contemporary Americans, and are questions that students may someday be asking themselves. In The Unforgiving Minute, we not only get an insider’s perspective of the war against terror, but at its heart, the story is a thought-provoking narrative of the human experience. Through his book, Mullarey poses a vital question: when life presents you with an “unforgiving minute,” how will you respond?

The response to the book has been overwhelmingly positive for the university’s One Book program, says Joe Lucia, director of the Falvey Memorial Library. Coordinated by the University Staff Council, Residence Life and the One Book Villanova Committee, the One Book program has provided the student body with a means of “[giving] the community a shared experience that forms the basis for dialogue and exploration,” he said. The program has garnered national attention, with some calling it the best of its kind.

For such a prestigious program, the discovery of this book was almost accidental. Mr. Lucia first came across Mullaney’s book when his wife pointed it out to him and suggested he read it, and it quickly showed promise. “[Craig Mullaney] was very much the type of person who might have been interested in coming to Villanova,” Lucia said. It was definitely cast in a different mold than previous outings of the One Book program- but that was not a bad thing. In the past, the program had focused on books revolving around current events, like The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and The Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji, but nothing like this. The Unforgiving Minute manages to tell a war story without novelizing actual events on one hand and devolving into a dry tactical report on the other.

For the Villanova community, the best part of the deal comes on January 31^st when it will experience the highlight of the One Book program: Craig Mullaney himself is coming to campus for a visit and lecture.  Lucia is “absolutely” excited. Judging by the quality of this book, the community should be abuzz as well. For the One Book program, Mullaney’s book is a new and intriguing change of pace. For a war story, The Unforgiving Minute is refreshingly varied and insightful.  So should you pick up and read a copy of this book if you haven’t already? Absolutely.

Villanova’s Harry Potter Club dresses up for midnight release of Deathly Hallows, Part 1

By Shauna Segadelli  (ssegad01@villanova.edu)

Oh, Harry Potter fans.  There’s nothing like the midnight premiere of a Harry Potter movie to get some real world exposure to wizard mania.  With an entire movie theater in Wayne to themselves, Villanova Students with black robes and wands rang in this Friday morning like it was New Year’s.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 1, the first of two movies that attempt to do justice to the 784 pages of the final book in the wildly popular series, rose to the challenge.  As overheard in the women’s bathroom after the showing, “It wasn’t just a good Harry Potter movie.  It was, like, a good movie.”  It was exciting throughout, barreling through the action scenes of roughly the first 500 pages of the book, and Daniel Radcliffe’s face never left the screen for more than a minute or so, to the delight of many a Dan fan.  Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were as believable “16-year-olds” as young 20-somethings can be.  Unfortunately, none of the other talented actors got much screen time, but this is only to be expected from a movie that will be viewed by far more teenage girls than film critics.  In fact, it’s a little surprising that audiences were subjected to so much of Voldemort’s ugly, noseless face.

Personally, I wish the director had found a way to defy the seventh book’s plot and include a scene or two at Hogwarts, if only for nostalgia’s sake.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s seemingly endless horcrux hunt through forest after forest didn’t make for the most aesthetically stimulating scenery, though it was broken up by scenes at the Ministry of Magic, Godric’s Hollow and Malfoy Manor that couldn’t have been left out.  (Spoiler?  Whoops. If you haven’t seen the movie by now, it’s your own fault.)

Of course, in a premiere event like this one, the eccentric moviegoers are as entertaining to watch as the show.  Battery-powered wands lit up the theater, and every other seat in the crowd was taken by someone in a robe, striped scarf, or Dark Mark who has clearly been counting down the days since the sixth movie came out last year.  Despite the inevitability of an arbitrary ending to split the story in half, more than a handful of girls shouted, “No, they did not! They did not!” when the credits rolled.  There was a tangible nervous-excited tension among the HP groupies in the hours leading up to the movie, replaced by a frenzied digestion post-showing that produced my favorite quote of the night, outside the theater: “What’s your favorite position? In Quidditch?”

Overall, the Harry Potter fanatics seemed very pleased with the movie, but I imagine that the most hardcore enthusiasts will be withholding judgment until the second half of the adaptation is released in July 2011.  Part 1 was at least good enough for one muggle leaving the theater to warn her friends, “I wanna go see it again.”