Tomcat in Love

Rating:
Summary: O'Brien shows depth beyond Vietnam -- although not enough
Review: Tim O'Brien, perhaps the most vivid storyteller in the Vietnam canon of books, attempts to move beyond that mold in Tomcat in Love by writing a pseudo-contemporary story. Unfortunately, he doesn't go far enough.

If you are familiar with Tim's earlier work, this is somewhat more of the same, in an albeit more hilarious situation.

Similiar to the book Confederacy of Dunces in that the reader develops a love/hate relationship with the arrogant protagonist, I have to say that it dismays a long time O'Brien fan that he keeps making Vietnam a key role in his stories. I want him to move beyond his "known" life, and to be more imaginative about the modern world. He's that good of a fiction writer, and it's kinda annoying that he won't take up a totally new topic.

In all, if you've never picked up any work by O'Brien, this is a funny way to start. But for those of us who claim O'Brien as our favorite author, Tomcat In Love travels down a familiar path.