Publisher's Synopsis
Retelling the Gilgamesh epic in the context of the Iraq War, The One Who Looked on the Deeps tells the story of the friendship between two young soldiers - Lieutenants Youngman and Wild - compelled to fight amid the senseless brutality of this conflict. Already embittered by the war, Youngman discovers renewed hope in the idealism of his friend Wild, only to watch the grotesque violence of the conflict overwhelm that idealism. The war for Iraq becomes, in Youngman's mind, a war for his friend's soul. When Wild is killed in battle, the apparent futility of his death haunts Youngman, and sends him on a search for understanding that leads him across the very same desert sands wandered by Gilgamesh four thousand years ago.
