SERVING IN SILENCE

In an autobiography about sexual identity, the author reveals little of hers. She didn’t sleep with her husband, for example, revealing only that doing so made her feel "uncomfortable." What listeners do hear are the vapid memories of a career military officer who was discharged for admitting she’s a lesbian during a security clearance interview. Narrator Barbara Caruso does her best to make herself sound like the author, an adventurous Army nurse raised by an unsentimental Norwegian family. However, the memoir itself unfolds in such a passionless manner that it constrains Caruso to being a relater of events and dates. She deftly capitalizes on some emotion near the end, when Margarethe meets Diane, her first true love. Written in 1994, the story serves as background for the current dialogue on the military’s policy on homosexuals—“Don’t ask, don’t tell.” J.A.H. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2008]