Rating: 
Summary: A masterpiece.
Review: A crucial work of 20th century fiction, O'Brien's work is of the calibur that made The Red Badge of Courage a wartime classic. In my many years of enjoying literature, I have never encountered a more well-crafted and well-conceived war-time novel. It touches the heart as it toughens the skin. A crucial read for anyone who thinks they know the Vietnam War.
Rating:
Summary: I usually don't go for these kind of stories.
Review: I usually stay away from war movies and books because they highly disinterest me. This book, however, gives me what I've been wanting from all those movies and books before. Tim O'Brien gives me what the soliders are thinking as they are in the battle field.The most compelling chapter is when Tim describes all the emotions he was feeling as he was making his decision to either go to the war or flee to Canada. The end decree is astonishing. Those are all the emotions I felt when I turned 18 and realized that I would be on the top of the list if a war broke out. The narration of this novel is as if you're hearing a story from your father or grandfather telling about the war - only not as boring. Another difference is that Tim tells the story from the many perspectives of the soliders. So, we hear the same story, but from different points of view. In this way, we learn more about the story and feel as if we were actually in the war with the characters we are reading about. This novel is wonderful. I thank my friend for suggesting it to me. I am now a fan of Tim O'Brien and I plan to read many of his other books.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing read even if you aren't a Vietnam-book reader
Review: I want to start by saying I have no affinity at all for Vietnam war books. In fact, I try to stay away from them as I find them uninteresting. That said, O'Brien has written something that transcends subject lines, a book which penetrates human nature. He uses the Vietnam war to show his higher truth of humanity. Yes it's not always pretty but that's the beauty of his message. It's about understanding and coming to grips with a higher truth. I cannot recommend any book more whole-heartedly (although his newest book Tomcat in Love comes close).
Rating:
Summary: Tim O'Brien's best work. A must read.
Review: While I did not serve, I have read a number books written by the men and women who did serve. This is one of the best. It developes and explores the men of Tim's platoon in a masterfull way. It is not a war story, but is rather a love story. A tale of devotion between men that can only occur under fire.
Rating:
Summary: The horror and the beauty
Review: The horror is Vietnam. The horror of the war's violence and the fatigue and the lulls between battles that were really worse than anything else becuase they made the men think about the battles they had been through and would soon go through. But we thank God for these lulls. Because it was in these that Tim O'Brien, a young boy in a country he had never before heard of, thought of all he was going through with his acute, brilliant writer's mind. The Things They Carried is the beauty, the result of a craftsman of unmatched expertise in writing prose recounting and fictionalizing all the horrors and oddities and quirks that came in that small little country named Vietnam. We thank God for that Vietnam, for O'Brien, for The Things They Carried. It is perhaps the best book I have ever read, and I say this as someone who is no stranger to the hobby of reading. I once saw a review that began "I have to make you read this book." concerning this masterpiece. I can only echo these sentiments and beg, plead, do anything in my power to make you pick up this book. It will change the way you read, think, see Vietnam forever.
Rating: 
Summary: sharp descriptions, characters with depth, masterful stories
Review: The Things They Carried is a courageous effort to try to capture the people who lived and died in Vietnam. This work is not about the politics of the war or about the campaigns but is a tribute to the author's companions/fellow soldiers in Vietnam and in which the author struggles to describe the experience of war. Tim O'Brien attempts to bring the people he served with to life in the several interconnected narratives presented in this book, depicting the fellowship and love, the fear, the obscenity and profanity, and the surreal situations that permeated the war. Some of the stories contained within The Things They Carried are technically brilliant and bring the characters and the situations achingly to life. However, O'Brien falters only when he begins to sermonize about the war and to attempt to make sense of it although O'Brien himself admits that there are no morals to war stories. The Things They Carried is a memorable achievement in which the characters truly live. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Life-Altering Experience
Review: The Things They Carried is not a war novel. It instead is a novel that succeeds in conveying the deepest human emotions. It is a beautiful masterpiece of both words and wisdom. All the stories are good, but my favorites are "Speaking of Courage" and "The Lives of the Dead." The latter still haunts me each day. This is a collection of short stories that should be read.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Account of the Men Who Fought In Vietnam
Review: If at all interested in the Vietnam war or the lives of the men who fought in the war, I strongly recommend that you read this book. The book moves along quickly and O'Brien's unique talent keeps you on the edge of your seat - with tissues. This is an amazing book that brings you into the lives of a platoon in Vietnam, an experience that is hard to forget.
Rating:
Summary: Review Of TTTC
Review: This book is a great one for people interested in extreme details. More details are in this book than you would think of if you were watching a movie. The great descriptions really added a lot and helped keep me as the reader, reading on. I recommend to all people who like war stories and enjoy details. And don't read if you get sick to the stomach from disgusting descriptions.
Rating:
Summary: A Vietnam Primer for a 1969 baby...
Review: I was born in 1969. I missed Vietnam. The war was over and I never knew about it. For an event that had such significance in American history, it was as though it had never happened. When I was in High School and we studied American History, our class always ended with WWII. We never discussed "modern" events -- the 60s, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement. When I got to college, I made a point of taking a class on the 60s. Still though, I gained a textbook introduction to the Vietnam war -- I never had a true sense of what the horror was, why people protested, why it was such an important historical event. My generation has never faced a war in which we were drafted to fight. And then I read "The Things they Carried"... This book was/is an education for me. Visceral, haunting, provoking, gripping -- the stories Tim O'Brien tells rip into you. He puts you on the front line facing the man you just killed -- on the Canadian border deciding that you aren't brave enough to escape to Canada to avoid the draft -- back in Vietnam watching your best buddy slowly sink into a field of mud as sniper fire rains all around you -- back at home with no sense of purpose surrounded by people who don't know how to welcome you home. This book is the best education on Vietnam this literal child of the 60s ever received. If, like me, you don't understand what all the fuss is about, read this book and you will...
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