Author: Tim O'Brien
# of Pages: 232 (paperback)
Genre: Historical Fiction, War, Short Stories
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: In this, his second work of fiction about Vietnam, O'Brien's unique artistic vision is again clearly demonstrated. Neither a novel nor a short story collection, it is an arc of fictional episodes, taking place in the childhoods of its characters, in the jungles of Vietnam and back home in America two decades later.
Review: This is one of the strangest books I have ever read.
I'm not calling it strange based purely on the content (although there were quiet a few strange parts there too), but on the strange ways The Things They Carried made me feel.
Everyone has their own way of perceiving the war and how the soldiers feel/interact with others while in the war. But the way I viewed it was completely different from what O'Brien felt.
Most of these stories are not interesting as far as the plot. However, O'Brien's strange way of telling these stories somehow is able to convey a certain feeling that a soldier could have been feeling in a similar situation.
I hope that I understand war stories in the way O'Brien would have liked me to have, but I doubt that I have actually achieved that goal. He would probably tell me that I was wasn't listening hard or well enough to the story.
This collection of short (mostly) fictional stories has changed my views on certain aspects of life. I do recommend reading this book sometime in the future if you haven't already.
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