Rating: 
Summary: VIETNAM-A WALK THROUGH THE PARK?
Review: I have mixed feelings about this one. Tim O'Brien portrays a radar range of emotions and mental baggage that can really relate to many of the readers. It is full of instances where men are just trying to make the best of what really is a haunting reality. The squad that Tim O'Brien creates here runs almost paralell with an episode of M*A*S*H in Vietnam. It's fun, and even a little thought provoking about a man and conformity.
However, this is a bad side to this novel as well. One eminates from the fact that one loses all sight of the fact that a war is going on while these people are having fun. It depicts Vietnam as a theme park, rather then a war zone. I do not think it does much credit towards the veterans that actually spent their time FIGHTING that war, rather then blowing up puppies on land mines (yes, that happens in the book). However, I do give some credit to O'Brien, as he, too, was involved with the conflict. Another point of conflict is the whole issue of whether or not this novel is TRUE. O'Brien dedecates an entire chapter to discern what makes a true war story and making you think that what you are reading is true. This becomes disillusioning when, for one, the main character's GIRLFRIEND comes to Vietnam. Now, this whole war was before my time, but I'd imagine that the army would not let any lady waltz into a battle to see her boyfriend. Of course, there comes to be a point where some of the novel is established as UNTRUE, thus making his points inconsistant.
All in all, this is a novel that someone should read. If you're a stiff for historical accuracy, then it may not be for you, but if you are interested in literary analysis, this may be one of the better novels for that.
Rating: 
Summary: Did we read the same book?
Review: In many ways I'm amazed at the compliments this book has received. I would rank it as literally the worst book on Viet Nam I have ever read. I continually felt the author was playing "mind games" with the reader and to what point? Certainly not a book I would recommend to my daughter when she asks me what Vietnam was like.
Rating: 
Summary: Powerfual, Shattering, Unforgettable
Review: As a big fan of IN THE LAKE OF THE WOODS, I started picking up other Tim O'Brien titles, but never reading them. Two days ago, for no particularly compelling reason, I picked up THE THINGS THEY CARRIED and couldn't put it down. This amazing work of "fiction" (it seems to be so intensely personal that it couldn't possibly be deemed only fiction) will leave you breathless and changed. Just as structure became as important as content in IN THE LAKE OF THE WOODS, O'Brien uses what seems to be a short story structure to tell the tale of his company in Vietnam. But the overall arc of the novel is so complete and cohesive, that you soon forget the fragmented structure, and just breathlessly turn page after page. This novel has been widely and hugely praised for over a decade, so I'm not saying anything new; but if you're on the fence about whether to read it or not, or are looking for a piece of fiction to take you right into the mouth of hell in Vietnam, you cannot miss this book. It is essential.
Rating:
Summary: Ok...
Review: A good book if you don't know much about the military or Vietnam... otherwise, a little simplistic. A few very good stories are thrown in. Some of the other stories are just downright strange. It is good for light reading. My all-time favorite military/Vietnam book: "Fortunate Son" by Lewis Puller, Jr.
Rating:
Summary: The Things They Carried
Review: The book The Things They Carried encases a message to the reader. One way Tim O'Brien delivered his message that war is not worth the sacrifice is through the plot. The main conflict in this story was man verses himself. It began when the main character went to Vietnam. Then it continues with the whole war and what he sees and experiences. The main conflict was the key point in this story. However, it is not so much a story about war, but rather, one of human relationships and how they deal with life's experiences.One character who stands out in my mind was Jimmy Cross, because he was the leader of the platoon. I think he was caring because he thought of his men as human beings and not just soldiers. This is proven when Kiowa dies and he thinks it's his fault and can't come to grips with what happened. I'll never forget when this character feels for every soilder in his platoon that gets killed in action. I expected this book to just be a war story. That all changed as I kept reading this book. I believe this is a great book. O'Brien is a superb writer, because he writes through his own experiences and has an uncanny ability to pull you in to the story and make you believe that you are right there. I would recomend his books to anyone. It shows hunman nature during times of war. I would recommend this book to anyone because it will fit anyones description of a good book.
Rating: 
Summary: I've read a great O'Brien book, but this isn't it
Review: In my opinion, Tim O'Brien is an outstanding writer who authored a great book about Vietnam, If I Die in a Combat Zone. He also wrote a highly acclaimed book, Going After Cacciato, which I tried to read, but just couldn't get into well enough to finish. This book, The Things They Carried, fell between those two for me. It was good enough to read, but not really good enough to rate very high. It's probably easier for an author to pull together a collection of fact and fiction stories than to write a regular book, but the results are a little harder to judge. In this book, there are several very well done pieces, but, in my view, they were not enough to lift the other mediocre selections. That left me viewing this book as a hodge-podge of good and mediocre material which was good enough to finish, but not really good enough to praise highly. ...you may well like the book better than I did. Still, I'd say that if you want to read a great Vietnam book by this author go with If I Die in a Combat Zone. It's truly praiseworthy.
Rating:
Summary: Elevated Writing of War and not of War
Review: I had been assigned to read Tim O' Brien's works "Going After Cacciato" and "The Things They Carried" at an Undergrad school that kind of specializes itself in all things dealing with military history, theory, tactics, etc...basically all things military. Most books you are assigned to read you find yourself enjoying them less than the ones you find of your own fruition. Such was not the case with the writing of O'Brien. Along with Hemmingway's "Hills Like White Elephants", Carver's "Cathedral", and O'Brien's, "How To Tell a True War Story" in this book, stand out as all that is well and good with short fiction. In fact, I go back and reread O'Brien's "How To Tell a True War Story" before I take a stab at writing fiction myself to remind me how to do it or at least what to shoot for. O'Brien doesn't suffer to make the Vietnam War experience come alive again. Instead he goes much deeper. He reveals the torrid mixture of fact and fiction that is kept alive in one's mind long after the last shots have been fired. He brings out the point that fiction is sometimes as important and real as fact because in the end that is what one is left with...not the actual events, but what your mind has turned those actual events into. If I ever taught a fiction writing class, I would read aloud O'Brien's story and tell people...this is what you are shooting for...regardless if you are writing about a stock-broker, thief, young love, old love, life or loss...this is what you are shooting for. Just listen to this, "And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen." That's what I'm talking about. That's what fiction is supposed to do.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating War Stories
Review: The Roommate lent me this book because apparently everyone and their grandmother got to read it in high school, but since I had such freakyweird English teachers, I never did. Gah. Darn my English teachers. I would have loved this book in high school. I love it now. It's a collection of stories about the Vietnam War. O'Brien is a wonderful writer. I loved it. Once I actually had TIME to READ I couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful Statement on Soldiering (4.5)
Review: Those looking for hardcore war stories with intense and graphic retellings of battles and fierce fire fights with the enemy are in the wrong place. This has little to no actual combat in the book, of course that's not a bad thing. In fact, I actually prefer a different kind of combat... the combat that takes place on the battlefield of men's minds. And that's why this book succeeds so amazingly. It is as accurate an account of the effects of war as I have ever read. The devastating and dehumanizing difference between being a solider and a civilian is something that escapes most of us, but here Tim O'Brien lays it out like no other author I've read. I don't care what parts are fact and what parts are fiction, its all truth. As the title suggests, the book is a look at the things they carried... literally and metaphysically. Because along with every grenade, the carried a burden you and I sitting here at our computers will hopefully never have to endure. If you want to know what the burdens were like, then read this book. If you want to know how they survived, not the enemy but the pure and unadulterated madness of war, then read this book. O'Brien describes combat as a seemingly unlogical state of paradoxes. So is this book. This is at times heart-rending and at times beautiful. At times depressing and at times hopeful. You will laugh and you will cry. But above all you will be moved. Moved by these men who went and bled and died for their country. And you will understand, maybe for the first time, what it was like to be one of them.
Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary literary accomplishment
Review: O'Brien weaves together fact and fiction in a series of overlapping stories that focus on the experiences of a single platoon in Vietnam. He himself is one of the characters, although it is difficult to discern what is authentically autobiographical and what is not since the line between reality and storytelling is one which O'Brien very intentionally blurs. His prose, at times, strikes hard with brutal reality, at times with an equally effective, quieter lyrical quality, but always true to both its characters and to the totality of their experience. It's an extraordinary literary accomplishment. It will change your outlook on life, and your understanding of war, forever. Highly recommended.
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