Going After Cacciato

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Summary: To fly in your mind can be done by people of all kind
Review: This is an absolute masterpiece; the sheer drama of it all makes my skin creep. This book has to be read with the utmost attention, but it's worth every second of it. (b.t.w. Walter Vroom should keep his mouth shut; he hasn't understand this book one bit. Believe me, I saw the truth!) Rolf Donders Twikkelstraat 37 4834 LL Breda - The Netherland

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Summary: A very varied masterpiece
Review: One of the most marvelous Vietnam-novels. Switching over, just when the reader wants to. Great. Walter Vroom Klaroenring 201 4876 ZE Etten Leur Netherlands (+) 31 76 503223

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Summary: A wonderful voyage into confusion.
Review: The text left me numb, reality and fantasy and dreams and images crossing over and over - yet I was there for the whole trip. From fear in Tehran to sleepless struggles to recount horror without emotion in a tower by the sea, Mr. O'Brien kept me there all the way.... and changed for me the clarity of the warrior's view of war forever

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Summary: Positive
Review: O'Brien's second novel won the National Book Award. It is the tale of a soldier who decides to run away from the Vietnam War. It is a complex book, which repays careful reading. It would be interesting to hear this book read, but it would probably be better to listen to it after having read it once already. At that point it would make for fascinating listening. I have not heard this audio version and would be curious to know who reads it. I doubt if it is O'Brien reading, but would find it a must for my "bookshelf" if he did do the reading. I have seen no author do a better job at a book reading! See him if you can . . .

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Summary: Positive
Review: O'Brien's second novel won the National Book Award. It is the tale of a soldier who decides to run away from the Vietnam War. It is a complex book, which repays careful reading.

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Summary: Excellent read for anyone and everyone.
Review: I'm a Junior in High School and recently had to read a short story by Tim O'Brien and enjoyed his writing, so I grabbed a copy of "Going After Cacciato" and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am an avid reader and definitely couldn't put the book down. Even if you know nothing about war or Vietnam, I recommend you grab this book and snuggle up to a cozy place in your living room and let Tim O'Brien take you to a different time and place.

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Summary: Going After Cacciato
Review: Personally, I found this book fun to read. Centered around Paul Berlin, a soldier in Vietnam, him and the squad are ordered to retrieve an AWOL soldier named Cacciato, who gets the idea he wants to walk to Paris; which happens to be 8,000 miles.

O'Brien has a way of "painting the picture" for the reader. For instance, six pages consist of detail about a quiet forest. O'Brien likes to forshadow, and use flash backs as his literary devices.

Berlin, tired of the war, wants to escape using his imagination. Him and the others, including Sarkin Aung Wan (Vietnamese "girlfriend"), like the idea of walking to Paris. Through many trials and tribulations (inprisonment by the government because of no passports, ambushes, etc.), the team trecks on. Many times Cacciato is almost caught, but he sets numerous booby-traps to escape his hunters.

The story is a war-fiction. It takes place in three parts: first is the war itself, Paris, and the Observation Post. I would definetely reccomend reading this book. I'm not going to ruin the ending, but Tim O'Brien is today's M. Night Shyamalan.

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Summary: I expected a bit more...
Review: I picked up this book because I am a huge fan of Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" and "If I Die In a Combat Zone." Since I found both of these books to be particularly interesting and enjoyable to read, I thought that "Going After Cacciato" would be enjoyable as well.

Sure, O'Brien's wonderful writing style definitely shines through during some parts: his use of description, the reader's connection to the characters. However, overall I found the book to drag on for far to long and confuse me with the constantly changing places, people, and points of view. I was surprised that this book has gotten so much more positive recognition than O'Brien's other works, because it really didn't do too much for me.

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Summary: Cacciato: Lost
Review: Having recently read Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried", I was expecting a work of similar quality. Alas, I was let down. "Going After Cacciato" is confusing at best as the reader is dragged from the real world to the surreal in seemingly alternating chapters.

On face value, the story concerns Cacciato, a US Army private in the Vietnam War, who chooses to go AWOL and walk from Vietnam to Paris. However, this madly surreal story simply provides the palate for O'Brien to outline some of the horrors of war. And all wars involve horrors. Vietnam was no exception.

By using the technique of alternating between the surreal and the real, I found that O'Brien only succeeded in confusing and often irritating the reader. Surrealism has its place but its use in this novel causes matters to slide into the absurd.

This novel is not the great war novel that other reviewers suggest. It is simply a work that takes too much for granted. Having written one great war novel in "The Things They Carried" does not mean that another work on the same base subject matter will inevitably follow. "Going After Cacciato" is over rated.


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Summary: The cover-blurbs were finally right!
Review: Usually when I read tha various citations of critics on the back of a novel they're way off. But in the case of Cacciato they couldn't have been more correct. Tim O'brien packaged the dreams and hopes of anyone living in an irrepressably miserable situation. I was a bit disapointed with the ultimate outcome of the novel but, as one reviewer here so aptly stated, his prose is excellent. I can't think of any other novels that make me pine to see the places within them. The colors, sensations and experiences are absolutely vivid. This is a must read for anyone. It is certainly the All Quiet on the Western front of our day.