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Loading... The Things They Carried (original 1990; edition 2009)by Tim O'Brien
Work InformationThe Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (1990)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. a question, a mystery presented to the reader right away but never answered. That is, are these stories true, biographical, or purely fiction? O’Brien’s intimate narration and total immersion into the horror and wonder-filled world he was thrown into as a young man make these stories of fiction seem utterly real. This work creates a suspension of disbelief for the reader that is arguably incomparable. Tim O’Brien visited my university while I was an undergrad and during his speech he portrayed himself and his writing with the same moral relativism and “neutrality” is all too common in contemporary America. But in the same breathe he spoke in utter disbelief of how once a High school student told him that this book was what inspired him to join the Marines. O’Brien broke down crying after that. A good book to show your older children great writing and the horror of war.
"As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drag on, O’Brien’s powerful depictions are as real today as ever." Belongs to Publisher SeriesContainsHas as a studyHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Classic Literature.
Fiction.
Short Stories.
HTML: A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. The Things They Carried won France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I am not overly fond of this trick. The fictive O'Brien's presence gives the novel a confusing memoir feel and—to me—needlessly interferes with the reality of the story—an ironic criticism, given that the narrator repeatedly discusses the truth of the untrue stories both he and the soldiers in his outfit tell, going so far as to assert that "absolute occurrence [of a true war story] is irrelevant."
There is a highly effective circularity within the stories; events (particularly deaths) are referred to in one, shown in another, analyzed in a third and fourth. The imagery of Vietnam is powerful: the jungle and night (really the darkness) as living beasts, the near-mythical elusiveness of the rarely seen enemy. At the center of these images is the shit field—literally a swamp created by the merging of the fecal runoff of an unnamed village with the overflowing Song Tra Bong river. The shit field is also figuratively the morass that was the Vietnam War, and O'Brien skillfully weaves these two roles together while telling of the death of a good friend during an overnight bivouac. After several soldiers reveal their own roles in Kiowa's death, the ultimate truth revealed is that all those claiming responsibility are indeed guilty, yet simultaneously none are.
The truest parts of this novel are the Vietnam experiences and their aftermaths. The one part I felt could have been omitted without impact was the concluding story about a childhood friend dying of a brain tumor when the author is ten. But overall, The Things They Carried delivers both the fictional and real O'Brien's stated goal of providing the reader with the feeling of the war, regardless of its truth. ( )