I appreciate First Sergeant King's service and many sacrifices during his long and distinguished enlistment in the US Armed Forces. I also appreciate the author sharing her personal memories and grief with us as she continues to navigate the very demanding role of a bereaved woman managing a demanding career while single parenting a toddler son. Canedy, who is military child who grew into a Pulitzer Prize winning civilian, gives a fair and balanced account of her sometimes frustrating and sometimes beautiful encounters with military life--a rare occurrence in modern books detailing military casualties. The family photographs were a welcome addition and did much to humanize her and her son's story. Her foresight in gifting the fatherhood journal was admirable and I believe First Sergeant King was fortunate to have his story and offspring left in such capable hands. ( )

Wikipedia: “ Dana Canedy is an American journalist, author, and publishing executive who worked at the New York Times for over 20 years, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2001. She was appointed senior vice president and publisher of Simon & Schuster’s's flagship eponymous imprint in July 2020 She is the first African-American to head a 'major publishing imprint'.
From 2017 to 2020, she served as administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes.”

Ms Canedy’s journalism career had sharpened her interest in both social causes and writing.

But then she met Charles Monroe King, a very conservative young NCO who served in the Army under her father’s command. And although in many ways she and King were polar opposites, Canedy was impressed not only by Charles’s good looks and athletic build, but his aura of being a bone-deep good man.

Over the course of several years, they fell in love and were engaged. Canedy became pregnant with their son soon before Charles began a tour in Iraq. Charles began a journal, telling his son all the things he thought a man should know if his father wasn’t there to guide him.

And sadly enough, Charles’ premonition was true; he was killed in Iraq.

Ms Canedy wrote this book as a memorial to her husband and as a way to work through her grief. It’s a vivid reminder of the large and small sacrifices military families endure.

With writing credentials like Canedy’s, I expected this memoir to be amazing. Unfair, perhaps, because it was mostly taken from her husband’s journal.

Poignant, sometimes light-hearted, and often very sad, this mostly left me feeling a bit numb.

( )

Adult nonfiction. Someone else might really love this book, but I didn't. Journalists always think we want to read whatever story they have to tell, and they take their sweet time telling it, too. Sometimes we do want to read it, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about this one (though the mother's letters to her son in regards to his deceased dad probably do make a good story). I had wanted to read more of what the dad had to say (for he also wrote letters to the son--in fact, a whole book full of them, and unlike the journalist ma, he had experienced the war in person, and had taken the time to record what he would have wanted to say to his son had he survived), and I didn't want to have to wade through the long-winded slush to find it. I don't know if it would have been appropriate to publish his writings, anyway, as it was intended for his son, but it would have been a lot more interesting. ( )

I listened to the audio book edition of "A Journal for Jordan" and I enjoyed it very much. From the first couple of words I was drawn in by the warmth and strength of Dana's voice.

I felt as if I was listening to a good friend telling me her personal story. And what a moving story it was. Dana Canedy recounts the unfolding love story between her and First Sergeant Charles Monroe King. She tells us about their days of courtship, their plans to marry and the conception of their son Jordan. And finally, she shares the pain that Charles untimely death in Iraq caused her and all of his family.

Thankfully Charles left behind a journal for his infant son, which he had started during his deployment. His journal entries build the foundation for the book. In them, he counsels his son on everything from dating to becoming a respectable human being. Throughout the book you can just feel the love that the author, her fiancé and their son shared. And you can't help but join in the mourning of their fallen soldier. I was at times crying so hard that I had to take a break from listening. Yet at other times the author made me laugh out loud with some of her witty observations.

Canedy’s way with words is marvelous. And I think she created a gift for Jordan that he will forever treasure. If only every child of a fallen soldier could have a book like this. ( )