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Summary: True to those whose duty was to do and to die...
Review: More reflective than his brilliant memoir, "If I die in a combat zone..." this book is a tribute to the ordinary leg soldier who wasn't paid to think and yet did think. He pays homage to his unit and by extension to all who walked the walk. If you weren't there and want truth, this is the one book to buy. If you want facts, buy his "If I die...", but for truth, this is the one. Ted Lavender seems to be O'Brien's Snowden figure (Catch 22), the one casualty you can't get out of your mind. This is the best book ever written about the combat infantryman's Vietnam war.
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Summary: One of the best books I've ever read
Review: I'm not the type of guy who'll go out of his way to promote something that has very little (or more likely nothing) to do with me, but Tim O'Brien's 'The Things They Carried' has got to be one of our nation's finest literary works to date!!! If you haven't read this collection of short stories, you need to.
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Summary: Very captivating and exciting story of the Vietnam War
Review: The Things They Carried is a historical fiction novel that was written by Tim O' Brian and contains some of the most awful truths of the Vietnam War. It tells the story of how men like Ted Carpenter, Kiowa, and O'Brien fought for survival in the harsh realities of a death zone such as the forests and fields of the small Asian country of Vietnam. The author painted into my head the sounds of the war, the explosion of gunfire, the crack of the M-16, the sounds of mortars crashing into the ground next to the men, and the most important of all, the emotional and physical struggle that the men had to deal with while lugging their equipment up and down the hills of Saigon, wondering if they were going to make it to the next day, and wondering if they would ever see the ones that they had cared about the most in their lives. This is an excellent book, because of the detail that the author used to describe the pain and suffering of the men and their experience in the war. Even thought this book is a Historical Fiction, it was based on the author's experience in the Vietnam War. For instance, in the book, the character Tim kills a man. In Vietnam, the author actually did not kill someone. But unfortunately, some of the terrors and horrors of Vietnam were actual experiences, and that fact was the main reason that I enjoyed the book so much, because the author turned his own experience into a different more creative version of his experience of the war.
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Summary: great book
Review: I doubt anyone would write a thousand words. I'm only half way through the book and I am amazed at how fast i've been able to read it. It's amazing how fast a good book goes
Rating:
Summary: very enveloping
Review: I almost hesitated writing a review because I didn't think I could find a way to articulate how incredible this book really is. Completely absorbing. The people written about really effect you on a personal level. I becaume very attached. Tim O'Brien makes you root for those boys. A very powerful book. A very good read!!
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Summary: More than a war novel
Review: This book was so much more than a war novel. He made it into stories on life, and although it was a good book, I certainly did not enjoy it because lots of it was just so depressing.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: Tim O'Brien put me in a war that I was to young to experience but as I read the book, I felt as though I was right there...As if I myself, was part of the troop. This book made me cry, it made me laugh, it made me feel... Very tough to put down, tougher yet not to pick it back up and begin reading it again, and again, and again.
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Summary: I absolutely could not put this book down!
Review: I am a High School Senior and was assigned this for class. Usually I hate reading books that are assigned to me. But this book just blew me away. Tim O'Brien is a genius. It has chapters that are compassionate and chapters that include war scenes. If you have any concerns about the book I'd love to talk about it with someone.
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Summary: Not War... rather, the uncertain nature of Truth
Review: The greatest mistake one can make reading this book is to treat it as a "war" novel, or as an attempt to evoke the horror and confusion of Vietnam. Perhaps, superficially, these are accurate descriptions, but the reality is that O'Brien is far more concerned with the necessity of storytelling than the journalistic re-creation of a terrible war. "The Things They Carried" is a book about the transparent nature of language, and the way we often use our unique abilities to create stories which help us avoid or, sometimes, discover "truth," whatever that might be. Rather than a novel or collection of stories or memoir, it should be read as an essay, and a provocative one. In the end we are left with nothing but a question: Why do we tell the truth and why do we lie... and does it matter?
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I had to read this book over the summer for high school this year. I just finished it, and it was excellent. I'm still having trouble believing that it is fiction. It all seems so real. This book really makes a person think and it touches deep down into our darkest fears. It has a few funny parts as well. Read this book!!
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