The Things They Carried

Rating:
Summary: Very good book
Review: "The Things they carried" is a book about Vietnam and the effects it has on people and basically stories about what happened during the war and why they happened. This book gives a massive amount of detail about the war and the feelings of his fellow solders. As the book goes deeper, you start to discover that the title is not ment to be taken literally. It is not just about the physical things, it is also about the mental stuff like morale and feelings. This book goes through each of the people in this squad and tells a little about there past and future and also tells how it affects his life. After I finished this book I had a totally new perspective of what war is like. I though that war was all glory and that there was little fear affecting you, but as Tim O'Brien carefully uses highly detailed descriptions,I figure out that there is a whole other side to it. War dosen't just cause physical stress but mental stress, homesickness, exhaustion, and sickness. Just a few thoughts to get you thinking. I totally recommend thing book to anyone who is interested in war and that really likes very deep descriptions that make you think just a little but further. This book was good from the second I picked it and I know that you will enjoy this book just as much as I did.



Rating:
Summary: A Difficult Read, but worth the effort
Review: Tim O'Brien has an interesting approach in this book--I am not sure whether to call it a collection of short stories or a novel--to remembering his time as grunt in Vietnam. It is difficult to tell where memory ends and imagination begins. We travel through that mixture of boredom and terror that is the staple of just about all wars with the men of Alpha Company. As we do this, we see a deeply human side of the war. There is little valor, less cowardice, and what see of the war is not the drama of battle in all its frightfulness--but simply death and fear and abiding sadnesses and traumas that are only dulled through the passage of time, or not at all.

O'Brien's experience as a grunt would be interesting enough on its own if he simply told stories of his experiences in the field. What makes this book outstanding though is how O'Brien weaves back and forth from his own experiences as a young man to the time of the writing of this book. Doing this allows him to expostulate as a critic on the veracity of war stories and how to tell a real one story from a phony, or how he broached the subject of the war with his daughter when she was old enough to ask him if he had killed anyone in the war, and also to entice the reader into constantly trying to guess where memory ends and fiction begins while asserting that it really does not matter.

Finally, the book is as much about the war as how O'Brien figured out how to cope with all the horror that he had seen. It is all about the things that carried home from the war and will never be able to drop because they are a part of his experience



Rating:
Summary: Simply Amazing
Review: This book is indescribable in its wisdom it brings to its readers. Definitely one that more of today's youth should read and understand.

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Summary: The Things They Carried Review
Review: The Things They Carried is one of the greatest books I have read about the Vietnam War. It includes everything a good war novel should have. Tim O'Brien just does not focus on firefights and climatic battles. He shows you the feelings and morals of the soldiers he worked with. There are serious stories with in this book like the people they killed and the friends they lost. There are good stories about jokes/games that they played during their time in Vietnam. The story of Henry Dobbins is one of my personal favorites; it's about how he wears his girlfriends' stockings around his neck for good luck. He was believed to be the luckiest soldier in his platoon, after stepping on a bouncing betty landmine and it fails to detonate. Not only is this book about Vietnam war itself but what his life is like after the war. Tim was wounded in combat, and lost some of his close friends. Tim tells the reader about how he is still haunted by the events that took place in Vietnam. Tim even returns to Vietnam to find closure of one of his friends that he lost. He also tells a story of a soldier who cracks under the pressure of war (AKA shell shock).
In my opinion this is a really good book for any one who has served in the armed forces or is thinking about it. Tim gives the reader a detailed look of life during a war. He shows what people are like after a war. He shares a story about one soldier who returns from Vietnam. The soldier's life was totally changed, his friends were gone and the women he loved had married someone else. He had felt that he had died back in Vietnam. This book is not good for a reader who wants an emotionless warrior soldier that kills every thing until there is nothing left. This book tells the truth about what happens during a war with a person's life. This book was a good read, not to long and dry like some war books. All the stories serve a purpose and have a moral.

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Summary: steve's review
Review: If you like books about war, especially on Vietnam you will like this book. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien gives you a very realistic incentive on what Vietnam was like. Tim O'Brien is a real Vietnam war veteran, he tells you about his whole experience in Vietnam.
If you read this book it's good to know something about guns and ammunition because is lists for pages and pages of the things they carried. Its about this one platoon and Tim O'Brien is the narrator in the story and the main character. He introduces all the other main characters in the book but there is also more charaters that you will meet later on in the book. The book shows how hard it was for the men, not just fighting but also to travel carrying heavy loads of guns, ammo, personal items, food, medical kits, ect.. Tim gets deeper into the meaning of the things they carried and that the heaviest thing these men carried were their emotions. Every one carried burdens which was their main weakness, and sharing this with each other helps these men to become closer to each other. Carrying the heavy loads of guns and accessories to stay alive, carrying emotions of love for ones at home and other emotions as well, carrying burdens, and also carrying their reputation and pride. Reading this book will change how you feel about war, and take it more serious.
I strongly suggest for everyone, if they ever came across this book, they should read it. Its not just a book for someone who likes war, if you just enjoy to read you will enjoy this book. I always thought of war as a cool thing, because when you're younger you don't understand much about these things. I thought was for only the most strongest, fearless, and courageous men. But after reading this book it has helped me take it more serious and realize that everyone has fear when it comes to war, no one wants to die and not die in war. Tim does a good job of using good details to describe everyone and I have a well mental vision of the setting every time something new happens. Its tends to be a slow moving book when he describes someone or the things they carry. There is action and what I like is that its not Hollywood and fictional action packed. Its just like the stories grandpa would tell you only with much more detail.
This book has a lot of surprises and unexpected deaths, and that shouldn't be too surprising because this is a true story and people always die in war. But again I recommend anyone who picks this book up to read it. I don't like to read at all, but this is a book that I would read more than once and not complain. This book is well informed and gives the reader good understanding of what the Vietnam war was like for the men who fought in it, and maybe if they saw a veteran of war they might treat them with more respect.



Rating:
Summary: All hail "The things they carried"
Review: In this novel "The things they carried" by Tim O'brien, O'brien does an excellent job of showing us the many faces of war. He uses certain styles of writing that are very interesting and unique. One of the examples of O'briens writing styles, is the way he will, in one paragraph talk about his experience in the war, and in the next paragraph he will take you to his life before the war. He also will repeat passages numerous times through out a paragraph to show how the memories of the war would repeat over and over in his own mind. Tim O'brien paints a vividly emotional picture of what it was like to be in Vietnam.