Total Page : 80
Publisher : SparkNotes
Publication Date : 2002 12 15
>> A thoughtful poetic book that confirms my convictions for opposing the Vietnam War
At age 15 I marched in the first anti war protest in Seattle At age 17 as a scared high school kid I sang Feel Like I m Fixin To Die Rag at another rally From age 18 to 19 I went from 2S to draft resister to conscientious objector to 4F The war brought strong feelings then and it still brings strong feelings today
This is the first time I ve read a book about Vietnam more than 35 years later
And it confirms those convictions I had back then This war was senseless with the goal of my peers who went being to simply remain alive But in the process many of them behaved badly blurring the lines between right and wrong reality and insanity life and death
Tim O Brien writes here like a poet and master storyteller It matters little if these stories are true They are engaging and take on a life of their own as they are read O Brien states that a war story with a moral is no war story at all But this collection of war stories is certainly looking for a moral a way to find some meaning out of all that senselessness
In the end I think that s what I find appealing about The Things They Carried It attempts to find meaning even if it doesn t quite get there This war split my generation in half it contributed to the meaninglessness of those times and it caused many of us to cast aside the values of the past in essence the values of those who put our country in that senseless war Some of us came out of those times with new ways of finding meaning for me it was in Christianity and some like Tim O Brien still seem to be trying to put it together
I picked this book up because it was recommended for The Big Read for high school students by our public library I thought I should read it beforehand and now that I have I cannot in good conscience recommend it for high school students The language the descriptions of violence and death and some sexual situations while not graphic would be offensive to some parents
But I am glad that I read it It gave me a chance to think about what I felt during those days and what I feel now Last year for the first time I spoke and sang to students about my experience as a war protester I ll be doing so again with renewed conviction
>> Fresh Poignant Thoughtful Rings True
I really enjoyed this book and found myself looking forward to a chapter or two every night The author takes us on a ride into war but with most of the myths stripped away The prose is bare but constructed artfully and in such a way that it reinforces the simple but dire truths about war found in the passages O Brien does a wonderful job illuminating the cameraderie of soldiers under fire without resorting to schmaltz He also underscores the youth of the soldiers by weaving their sometimes callow perspectives and the crushing responsibilities of leadership into the narrative Strongly recommended for readers who like this genre
>> One of the best books of the 20th century
This book is in no need of another rave review It is already critically acclaimed and recognized by readers as one of the best books of the 20th century I reserve five stars ratings only for true classics and this is one It is as relevant today as it was 20 years ago And it will continue to be relevant as long as our sons and daughters are sent overseas to kill other peoples sons and daughters
O Brien s writing style is unique at least it was until he influenced subsequent authors with his blurring of fact and fiction and his use of a fallible and unreliable narrator He is the author who is also a character in the novel and this character is the narrator Obviously influenced by his own experiences this is still a novel a work of fiction
This is one of those books that will keep students in freshman English busy for years to come If you were not fortunate enough to have it assigned as required reading in school read it now Better yet read it as part of a book club This is one book you ll want to be able to discuss with other people
