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Summary: The best Vietnam War book I've read
Review: Vietnam is an amazing place of culture and history, besides just the sliver that concerns Americans. Vietnamese are moving fast towards putting that war behind them, as just one of the many. But to Americans the war was a traumatizing experience. I wanted to learn more about the war from all sides. This book, I feel, gives a picture of the war that is not outlandishly horrifying, nor romantic. But very human. It is a collection of stories loosely revolving around one group of men in the war. The title story is simply an almost poetic account of the various items that the soldiers carried with them at all times. From helmets to photos of a girlfriend, from insect repellant to canned meat, the story is amazingly simple but brought me to tears. I've read several novels and memoirs of the war, but this is by far my favorite.
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Summary: A gripping, mesmerizing testament of the lifestyle of war
Review: I am a child of the baby-boom generation, but was female and on the young side of the chain, so the draft was never an immediate threat to me. However, I did have a few friends that were drafted, and knew the impact the draft had on our PA community. I found it disturbing that I never heard from my friends after they returned from the war or, if I did, they never spoke about there experiences there...it was a hush-hush subject!
This book brings to life the years my friends were at war, and possibly the reason they found it so difficult to speak of their experiences. Tim O'Brien is an encapturing writer who spins a tale of stories like a web, ever taking you into the center of the story. His repetitious descriptions of feelings and sensations take you into the heart of Vietnam and make you live it, sometimes whether you want to or not! A powerful, easy read, well worth your time!
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Summary: The Things This Book Carried
Review: I not only learned many things from The Things They Carried, but I was touched in many different ways. From the beginning, this novel described stories of courageous young men that fought for our country and for what they believed in. Men became heroes in your mind; they became people you could look up to. One unusual, but noteworthy thing about this book is that it did not portray war only in a glorious and gratifying way, but it showed
the other side. It told the stories of all the men that weren't so courageous or daring; the ones that were afraid of war. Because of the way this book is written, you begin to feel sorry for all the men that were afraid and lonely; many times I wanted to reach out and help them and cure all their pain and suffering. Such as the author, Tim O'Brien, he said he was horrified of the war and did not believe in what it stood for. As one story depicts, Tim tried to escape from being drafted into the war by fleeing to Canada. I could only imagine how he felt in those dreary moments while leaving his home while everyone wanted him to be a soldier and stand up for his country. That particular piece of writing revealed, to me, how he felt extremely scared and lonely; exactly how he felt while at war.
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Summary: the things they carried, and maybe didnt carry
Review: This book was written by Tim O'brien about the Vietnam war. This books talks of the physical and mental hardships that the soldires were forced to carry. The writer, by telling of the hardships, connects the life of the soldier to the life of the reader. Many say that this book is a "good book" or "excently written", i say that it is a damn good book and very well written. This book deserves a award for the use of emotional conections with grotesque realities. The big catching point in this book is knowing that the author is speaking from personal expierence. Overall this book is excellent and everyone and their mother should read this.
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Summary: It's not a novel, it's a catharsis!!!!
Review: This is the best book on Vietnam I've ever read. It was like Tim O'Brien was able to read my mind and my own thoughts. When you read this book you know he "was there". This book is a "must read" for every man who served in Vietnam, and probably more importantly, every man who should have.
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Summary: What an experiece!
Review: Tim O'Brien's "The things they carried" is a well thought out war novel. Unlike other war novels "The Things they carried" focuses on what went on in the minds of the soldiers instead of the physical aspects of the war. Of course the book had its gruesome aspects but the book mostly concentrated highly on the emotional and social qualities that come about during a war. This book puts the reader into the shoes of the soldiers. Tim O'Brien writes with such feeling that you feel what the soldiers feel and you experience what the soldiers experience. Tim O'Brien wrote about change, change that is a result of the war. Not only do the people in the war change but their families and friends are also affected by the war. O'Brien tells how pure innocence can change into hate and rage during the war. For example, there was a girl who is engaged to one of the soldiers and while she is visiting him she gets highly involved in the war. The war was a completely new experience for her. Her life changed in a matter a few weeks as a result of being in a base camp during the middle of the Vietnam War. The way people look towards the meaning and virtues of life after the war are completely different thoughts or feelings from what they had before the war. People were affected mentally in the book because the war had gotten them so scared to be anywhere that they broke down completely. For the most part if you like war stories then this is the book to read.
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Summary: A Very Good Book!
Review: Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," was the best war fiction book I have read. O'Brien made ever thing seem really. The storys he told were fascinating. They kept me in suspense and wanting more. O'Brien told everything as he thought or experienced. Thats what made it good. I felt like i could have been there right next to him. The changing from story's to talking about them and then finishing the stories was the only problem but wasn't enough for me to give it four stars. i would want to know how the srory was gunna finish but then it would switch and i would have to read on to find out the ending to the story. He might have done that on purpose and if so it worked on me enough for me to read on.
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Summary: A War Review
Review: The novel written by Tim O'Brien, is one that has startling insites into the Vietnam war, as well as many interesting stories of the War. The first insite is into the life of a normal soldier named Tim. The soldier is an essential part of any army. It is the only one who can change its outcome drastically. He is also the only one who we can send into battle and we don't know how he will perform. The interesting stories go from a soldier bringing his girlfriend to Vietnam from U.S.A. to a soldier and his High-School sweet heart. These are interesting stories because certain aspects of the war are portrayed that you wouldn't normally consider. One such example is of a girl who gets caught up in the atmosphere of Vietnam, and disappears into this atmosphere. This is the type of book that draws you into the plot and never lets you go. It is such a book that you only read once in a while. It is finally the type of novel that interests every one in the Vietnam War, not just the historians.
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Summary: A TRUE WAR STORY
Review: "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien is an excellent book, with good descriptive writing. "The Things They Carried" is a collection of stories some true some false about Tim and his buddys in the Vietnam War. This book is very descriptive for example Tim just got his letter that he was drafted and he thinks about the war and say's "I remember the rage in my stomach. Later it burned down to a smoldering self pitty, then to numbeness." Tim explains how he felt so well that I could almost feel in my stomach how he felt. "in a true war story there is not often even a point...in many cases a true war story can not be beleived" Tim O'Brien tries to explain how in war things are so screwed up things happen for no reason, and also that strange stuff happens, and if u think it is hard to beleive it is probably true. Tim shows in this book how chaotic war is, and he shows this through stories most made up of how he killed a guy, how a girlfreind visited her boyfreind and she got all caught up in the war. Even though the stories are made up they still are real in a sense, and Tim does a good job explaining this. There is not alot of action in this book, but it is real interesting and i recommend this book for anyone who likes reading, or even if you dont like reading.
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Summary: JOE'S REVIEW
Review: Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" tells a story about a group of soldiers in the Vietnam War and the experiences they had on and off the battlefield. Throughout the book, a theme of carrying things, whether it be a burden or whether it be a comfort, was present. Each soldier was required to carry certain things in order to survive, which was a burden, but each soldier also carried with them something of comfort: a picture of a girlfriend for one man, a bible for another. But the fact that they had to carry material things was not the overriding theme. The real theme was the horrifying memories of the atrocities in Vietnam that every soldier "humped" for the rest of their lives. That was the real burden. "In many cases a true war story cannot be believed," he writes. "If you believe it, be skeptical. It's a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn't, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness." Reading all of the crazy stories about the Vietnam War left me skeptical about the truth of a lot of them. But after reading the passage above, I began to feel that this book was not just a compilation of fictional war stories. I felt like I was right there in Vietnam, listening to the soldiers tell me their sometimes funny, sometimes gruesome stories. And the less truthful they seemed, the more I started to believe them. At the end of the book, when O'Brien is back in Vietnam visiting some of the places that were talked about in the soldier's stories, I found myself looking back on the same memories he was looking back on and feeling the same emotions he felt at that moment. When an author can do that do a person, you know it is a worthwhile book. This book is great for any person that has a heart and soul. Because the truth is that this book is not about the Vietnam War at all, it is about truth, emotions, unexpected burdens, and life in general.
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