Going After Cacciato

Rating:
Summary: The Second - Best Vietnam Novel
Review: I really don't want to short-change this novel. It is definitely a true-to-life, highly-charged account of what it was like to be a part of the lunacy that was Vietnam. I like the way that it starts out in the real world and descends into the undergrowth of the subconscious, similarly to Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" and Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." The allusions to The Naked and the Dead and to Catch 22 are also on-the-mark. An even more contemporaneous comparison would be to "Saving Private Ryan," obviously, though the motives of the reconaissance teams would not be comparable, morally speaking.

What prevents the five star award is that I've read another Vietnam War book that is so far superior to this account, that I can't in good conscience award them equal status. Meditations in Green, by Stephen Wright is so superior in terms of scope and artistry that I have to reserve my full endorsement for that novel. O'Brien is a highly competent author. On the other hand, Wright just might make it to the highest rungs of the literary ladder, breathing the same air as Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway as far as American mountaineers are concerned. O'Brien may have to be content with breathing the slightly thinner oxygen of Mailer and James Jones. Which might not be so bad, since most of us mere mortals are down here taking in corbon monoxide.

Rating:
Summary: A New Perspective On War
Review: "For just as happines is more than the absence of sadness, so is peace infinitely more than the absence of war." This quote from Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato represents the basic theme of the book. O'Brien uses a strange man named Paul Berlin to illustrate the realities and illusions of the Vietnam war. Through Berlin's imaginative trek to Paris he presents views for and against the war. Although the characters and plot are not real, the book leaves a disturbingly realistic impression of war. The book flows like a person's thoughts, through imagination and real events to bring a complete picture of the psychological effects of Vietnam. At times this gets confusing but overall the effect is new and different. This is not just about war either. The themes of non-conformity and finding inner peace could be applied to many aspects of life. And most of all O'Brien shows that although Berlin leaves the war, it is not absent from his life because he has not yet found peace.

Rating:
Summary: Lives up to the hype - close to a masterpiece
Review: This book is the perfect blend of fiction based on a very-real factual setting for the Vietnam War and a form of 'magic realism' akin to Gabriel Garcia Marquez to tell a powerful story and make a powerful condemnation of the war. What's most impressive is that this book was written before O'Brien had cut his teeth on later more successful books like 'Things They Carried.'
Some reviewers have complained about the distortion caused by the intertwining storylines and shifts in time and focus, but they are not muddled at all and the book is very easy to maintain. This is what elevates the book beyond mere storytelling or fictionalized factual accounts. You can read other reviews for a synopsis of the story - my two-cents is that this book lives up to the hype and works to perfection. O'Brien is one of only two fiction writers still in their 'prime' so to speak and putting out books somewhat regularly that I will look for and buy (other being Phillip Roth).

Rating:
Summary: Book: rare. Publicity: way, way overdone.
Review: Tim O'Brien, Going After Cacciato (Dell, 1978)

...P>Going After Cacciato is both the story of a troop of soldiers sent to pursue Cacciato, a comrade who deserted, and the story of one member of that troop, PFC Paul Berlin, spending the night in an observation post. For those who haven't yet read it, I won't spoil it by saying how those two stories intertwine. Cacciato has somehow glommed onto the odd idea that it's possible to walk from Vietnam to Paris, and has decided to set out doing just that. The soldiers follow him, reaching a critical point when they cross the border into Laos, and ultimately decide to keep going. They get farther and farther from Vietnam, but find that the shenanigans of the war stay with them pretty much wherever they go; as a Viet Cong officer they meet in Laos tells them, "the land is your enemy."

In that sense, yes, it is most certainly a novel about the Vietnam War and how it sticks in the heads of veterans long after they've left the field (though some of the tricks O'Brien pulls toward the end of the novel undercut that). And it is a good one; the very absurdity of the plot is enough to keep the reader flipping pages. But if one is looking for the definitive Vietnam War novel, one is probably better served searching out Gustav Hasford's brilliant short novel The Short-Timers (upon which the film Full Metal Jacket is based, albeit loosely) or, perhaps, Lucius Shepard's Life During Wartime.

Not to say Cacciato is not well-written, engaging, fun to read, and an overall darn fine book. It is all of those things, and I have spent far more of this review denigrating the buildup than the actual book (as my rating will surely convey). Tim O'Brien is a solid writer, his characters are well-developed (though some of the supporting cast is two-dimensional; they're not in the book long enough to get a good feeling for them, really, and by the end one understands why this is and finds it somewhat justified), the plot moves along at an acceptable pace, and the surrealism of the premise is original in the extreme. Just don't let the buildup get to you. ****

Rating:
Summary: A war story women can read
Review: This is a different kind of war story, one that women can read without being grossed out by all the guy stuff. O'Brien's writing elevates the telling of Vietnam war events to poetry and art, even in the face of bodies blown to bits by land mined. For instance, at one point he goes on for, oh, maybe 10+ pages commenting on the silence, the lack of anything scary happening, the quiet jungle, the unseen and unfelt enemy. And it began to bug them all, making them edgy and crazy and nervous. And still, page after page, he only talks about the fact that nothing happened.
Then, the last sentence of the chapter: When Pederson stepped on the land mine and blew to bits, it was something of a relief.
For my money, that kind of telling of war stories can't be topped.
Read it; you won't regret it. And read The Things They Carried, too.

Rating:
Summary: Going After Cacciato
Review: This was a boring book to read. It was confusing by flipping between story lines. By the end of the book I just wanted to get it over with. The ending(last few chapters) were sheer torture to read. I have no idea how this book could have gotten any award, or be on any recommended reading list.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't like parts of it, pretty much.
Review: School decided to suggest this book. It was the ONLY war novel on a list of like 30, mabye 20 books. So I decided to get it. I found the worst part is basically the rapid changes that appear in the book.

Paul Berlin is pretty cool, he was the only character I actually liked though. Oscar was alright, Doc was fine, and Eddie was alright too. Cacciato is boring, he isn't even really a main character. As for the changes, there are so many, and there are things left out. Ok so sometimes they don't even tell you if a guy dies, and like 2 chapters later you read about him and think he is alive. Then you learn that you just went back in time. Huh? Alot of times in the book you will be reading, thinking you got it, then they talk about something completely different, and don't even tell you that it is a flashback of Paul Berlin's life. First page of the book tells you Stink woke up with a leech on his tounge, never read it in the book. Also, Stink is like a jumpy character. At one point he slaughters a water buffalo and just shoots it until it is mutilated. A few chapters later, we learn that Stink HATES blood, and he can't stand the site of it. Excuse me? You just told me Stink devoured a water buffalo with bullets and watched as skin flew off, now Stink hates blood?

The action is the thing that let me down though. There is practically none. Water buffalo getting shot, guy shooting helicopter, ending fight, that is it. Those 3 things are the only fighting in the book, and the only action. The first one is one page long, the second one is like 3 pages long and is extremely confusing at first, and the third one leaves you with no ending only that a guy was shot in the stomach. Lets not forget that explosion of the jail, oooo that was not spectacular. This novel doesn't really have anything to do with fighting, and is really just another depressing book. I mean it isn't depressing as some others, but alot of it is about the hardships they face.

The ending is unsatisfying, and is almost a way of screwing over the reader. You read the whole book, then learn that there was really no point to reading the book, cause there is no ending to what the book was about. Confused? Wait until you read Going After Cacciato.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold up, you gave the book 3 stars, Mdizzio." Sure I did, that's because it used foul language, im not trying to promote the use of foul language, but it was a definite pick me up over the stories in school that never used any real language. Well, with the exception of Huck Finn. I really just like how the characters don't act like angels 24/7.

Rating:
Summary: Bad written novel
Review: I thought that this book was poorly written. However, his insight leads to an intense examination of the life and mindset of a soldier. The soldiers in the story talk like soldiers, but they just seem like real people with a horrible burden thrust upon their shoulders. Also, O'Brien's writing is delightful. Speaking from a purely syntactical standpoint, the way he crafts his sentences is a pleasure to read, even if it describes something horrible in Paul's life. Over all, I did not like this book at all and NOT recommend it to ANYONE!!!

Rating:
Summary: Just didn't get it...
Review: I had never read anything by Tim O'Brien before "Going After Cacciato", and I had high hopes for this novel ... Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. I don't know, maybe I just didn't get it. Yes, there were some moving scenes and some well-written passages, but in my opinion they were few and far between. Yes, the plot was surreal, but it was also flat. I would give this book 2.5 stars if that were an option because I think Tim O'Brien does have some talent. However, this book just didn't do anything for me. I always judge a book based on if I would recommend it to my friends or family, and I cannot think of anyone I know that would truly enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: Why do we have to go all the way to Paris?
Review: I thought the story was at its best when it played it straight. The description of the helicopter ride to Landing Zone Bravo; particularly the faceless, firing, door gunners and "spent shell casings rolling into piles as the Chinook banked and maneuvered down..." were best examples of powerful and thought provoking words.

I wish the author would have remained in factual, insightful places like these rather than divert me on a fanciful trip to Paris. However; I would still recommend the book for its flashes of brilliance.