.jpg)
Z.O.S.: A Memoir
Kay Merkel Boruff
Publisher : Black Rose Writing; First Printing ed. edition (August 16, 2018)
Language : English
Paperback : 219 pages
ISBN-10 : 1684330920
ISBN-13 : 978-1684330928
Item Weight : 10.5 ounces
Dimensions : 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
Description
Z.O.S. is a memoir about sex, blood, money, and the CIA in Southeast Asia. Kay Merkel Boruff tells the story from her perspective of the wife and widow of an Air America pilot killed during covert operations in Laos. She takes the reader there as only one who has been there can. You experience the highs, understand the efforts to escape the constant fear of the dangerous reality these American heroes face daily, and feel the anguish of her loss and the isolation of the “zone of silence” she is required to live in for the rest of her life.
Review: Z.O.S.: A Memoir by Kay Merkel Boruff
Occasionally, I pick up a book that makes my heart race. And this book's one of them. Z.O.S. covers Kay's journey from Texas to Southeast Asia to The Hockaday School, Burning Man, and Machu Picchu.
This memoir opens and the sections regarding Merk's death are very disjointed. It reads tragically like a lost love story surrounding Kay receiving word that Merk's plane was shot down.
Kay wrote and told me, "My eyes fell on the New York Times front page headlines glaring from the coffee-stained table in the Frankfurt airport:
“CIA Pilot Killed: First Casualty Plain of Jars”
The CIA pilot was my husband Jon Christian Merkel. Hours earlier, in the Air America office in Bangkok, I was instructed not to discuss Jon’s death with anyone. A fellow passenger, who knew I was an Air America wife, asked, Anyone you knew? I replied, A friend.
From 1968 to 1970, my life was frightening yet exciting: Buddhist monks immolated themselves; rockets fell in backyards; Bible study groups convened. I washed sheets in the bathtub, counted each baht, and later dressed in silks and gold and traveled Southeast Asia.
On February 18, 1970, my 24 carat life was shattered when Jon was killed flying in Laos. I returned to Texas, a CIA widow with PTSD."
I've had this book for four years and read sections of it from time to time. My list of emotions is long and I can't help but feel a sense of entrancement. Each sentence elicits a reaction and I can actually feel my heart pulsating like a wicked reminder of Kay's mentioning streets in a cacophony of blaring horns, jangling bells, and blasts...
From the Author
Kay Merkel Boruff , Z.O.S. A Memoir of Sex Blood Money & the CIA in Southeast Asia was written to honor my husband Jon Christian Merkel who was killed flying in Laos 18 Feb 1970. Our lives in Viet-Nam & Thailand were exiting, frightening, joyful, sorrowful, and enriching. Merk was my "Man in the Moon." I returned to Dallas, a widow with PTSD. Writing became the catalyst to link my Southeast Asia life to my future. My return to SEA--Bangkok, Sai-Gon, & Angkor Wat--was both a closure and an epiphany. I remembered what I felt when Merk & I left the States--excitement. We loved Southeast Asia, the smells, the tastes, the customs, the people. We loved the Air America community. We loved defending the flag and freedom. Travel became the adventure I experienced overseas. Studying in France with Pulitzer prize winning author Robert Olen Butler, attending Burning Man, climbing Machu Picchu and Wayna Picchu completed my memoir. Z.O.S. theme for readers: You fall off the horse. You get back on. You help someone else along the way. Carpe Diem: Be joyful and eat chocolate.