The Things They Carried

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Summary: You've got to read this book if you want to understand...
Review: This being the first book of Tim O'Brien's that I have read, I can only look forward to reading many of his others. O'Brien's writing style is magnetic and easy to read (don't read this before work, you'll be late). While some of the stories are disturbing and emotional this is as close to real thing I belive citizens are going to get. A must read for anyone who really wants to get inside the head of a Vietnam Veteran.

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Summary: I still think it's non-fiction
Review: First off, this book will change your ideas of what fiction and non-fiction may be. Technically, all of the passages contained within this book are stories. All made up, no more, no less. But the tricky part comes in when you start to realize how incredibly realistic O'Brien's tales are. "The Lives of the Dead" juxtaposes the skirmish in Vietnam and a childhood love to show how people generally cope with death, and if you didn't know better, you'd think it happened to you too. O'Brien has a good sense of detail, most likely given to him by the fact that what he writes about is still true to life, it just never happened. Sure, O'Brien was in the "war," but his comrades in this book are equal parts imagination and memory. There probably was no Ted Lavender, but there may have been a man in O'Brien's troop who was killed while whizzing. Or maybe not, maybe he just threw that in there to be either harsh or cheeky. No matter what it meant, it still makes the book one hundred percent believable. It's almost the same effect given by the film The Blair Witch Project: you know it's not real, but your entire mind doubts the truth. And this works very well for O'Brien, I've never read a better description of a man at war than this. Even after watching all of the Hollywood depictions of Vietnam, from the heroic Forrest Gump, to the horrors of the jungle in Apocalypse Now, or even the abrasive Ful l Metal Jacket. This book tells the story of how it effected people personally, how it changed them forever, and how there's no way they can ever go back to who they were. One perfect example is the chapter, "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong," in which one soldier ships his girlfriend over to Vietnam and watches her transform from a civilized lady into a ghost-like soldier. These are the stories that should've been told to every world leader before a conflict begins. You have to see what goes on inside the head of the individual to see what war is really like. At least I'm a believer.

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Summary: It is a very realistic work of fiction.
Review: The book The Things They Carried written by Tim O'Brien is a very exciting and good book to read. It explains a lot about the Vietnam War. What I liked most about it though is the way that it introduces the reader to the characters and makes it actually seem as if they are real and have known them for a while. O'Brien also makes the events seem realistic. The caption in the front of the book reads "a work of fiction by" this I do not know if it is true. There is no problem if it is fiction because it is written very realistically. O'Brien contradicts himself in the book though. He does talk about himself in the book though. He talks about Jimmy Cross, the main character, coming and talking to him at his house many years later. This is surprising to me because O'Brien does not talk about him actually being there with the other characters while talking about what happened in the war. So, maybe it says it is a work of fiction but I believe that if it is then it is a very realistic work of fiction. But really who cares if it is fiction or not. Maybe O'Brien just changed the names of the people and changed kind of what happened and made up the stories. If he did then he did a very good job of making it fiction. I believe that the characters are real, but it does not matter to me becuase O'Brien gets his point across! , no matter if he is writing fiction or nonfiction. This really should not matter in what kind of book it is. The different stories that O'Brien tells are very well written. Though I have not read all of them yet, I believe that I will. Also I do not like war novels or stories, but this one captivating and very hard to put down. The characters are very well portrayed and developed. There are many clues in the story that give a glimpse of what their real life is like. It is like the characters are telling a story. I recomend that any one should read it. It gives a good hard look at a defining time in U.S. history, the Vietnam War. It is a excellent source of history and all people shoulkd read it to remember what happened there.

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Summary: what a reader can get out of this book
Review: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, puts the reader into the battlefields of Vietnam. It gives an insight to the feelings and thoughts a soldier had during such a horrific time. He created the lines of true camaraderie and evil. There is much a reader can take away from this book about values and war. This book encompasses all the American views we have been taught to believe, and opens our eyes to all we have been taught to ignore. It is a liberation for all the brave veterans of a war nobody really understood, and perhaps, never really will. It teaches us that the heaviest things the soldiers carried were the things they could, and for some, never can, set down.

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Summary: A true story with a twist of fiction
Review: Tim O'Brien is a man who has lived through, and fought in the Vietanm war. Afterwards, he started writing books about his experience. One of these books is a work of fiction called The Things They Carried. It's about a platoon's journey through the war. The stories in the book are ones that touch the heart, open the eyes, and make you wonder, "Are these really fiction?" The definition of fiction is something inveted by the imagination. But how could O'Brien imagine something so vivdly, so realistic, without it having no truth to it? These stories are what I call diet fiction. It is a true story with a twist of fiction. They are things even people like me who haven't fought in the war could relate to, and I loved them. I give a big high five to Tim O'Brien for his book, The Things They Carried.

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Summary: The Things They Carried
Review: I like The things they carried, this book keeps me paying attention. It keeps me wondering what will happen next. I like the way that O'Brien, uses the weight. It gives us a sense of what it was like in Vietnam. Us being born in the United States in this time really do not know what it was like to be there. This book lets you into the eyes of a soldier during the Vietnam war. This book shows the us all the sides of the war and of the people in the war. We know all the things that the men in the war carried and why each one of the carried these things. The emotion behind this is strong, it dose not come right out and say it but I do think that there is some. The over all effect of this book is powerful. It lets you into a world that most of us have not been in this time.

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Summary: Deeply spoon fed
Review: People carry around with them memories and imagination. Tim O'Brien seems to think so. His masterfully written novel relating love and war, truth and lies, and fear and duty speaks about the life experiences of an infantry squad in Vietnam. These life experiences revolve around the memories and imagination of individual soldiers, the ones who struggled to fight for their country so far from home. Memories, intended by O'Brien to remind people of what was, are introduced at the critical points in the book, creating a sense of reality. Imagination, intended by O'Brien to show people what is to come, are introduced at opposite junctures in the novel, displaying surreal qualities in the book. Thus, O'Brien constantly sways back and forth between reality and surrealism, creating a fuzzy line between fiction and nonfiction. It is up to the reader to decide which memories are true and which are exaggerated, which imagined thoughts are plausible, and which are too strange. As for me, I highly encourage this book for those who like to think deeply, and yet for those who like to be spoon fed, those who like to be carried.

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Summary: Mysteriously Intruiged
Review: Mysterious! I don't know much about the Vietnam War, but this book gave a clearer sense of what happened, and what it felt like to be in the war. I liked this book because I could never tell if he was telling the truth. It seemed like fiction and then again like non-fiction. I've never read a book like this before. The fact that he used the numbers and made everything seems so real was engaging. It forms an image in your mind and it stays put. The ways the characters are portrayed are a very weighty part to this story. He gives a clear sense of what kind of people they are and most importantly it sets a plot for the story. Not just a boring here's what happened in the war, a real one with real people in it that make sense.

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Summary: O'Brien captures all aspects of the human mind.
Review: War is something that many people have experienced, yet many others know not the horrors of being in a battlezone. You can always see the dread fall over students' faces when asked to read a book. It is like forcing something that is quite unnatural. Tim O'Brien's book The Things They Carried follows the lives of seven men as they push through the most mentally devastating times in their lives. These men are all relatively young, naïve individuals. They have dreams back home that for only some will be fulfilled. The Things They Carried includes a collection of both heart warming and heartwrenching accounts from an anonymous narrator. These accounts are so honest, so true to life, that the genre remains a mystery. O'Brien digs deep into the pits of the human soul, uncovering thoughts and ideas that are both beautiful and crass by nature. The Things They Carried documents the lives of these young men as they begin an incredible descent into the war, and the horrors that accompany it. O'Brien enlightens the audience on the innerworkings (both complex and elementary) of the human mind and spirit. He displays for everyone to see, the absolute horror of war. Through the book, O'Brien helps us to know these characters. They are now more just people in a book, they are our family members, our friends, the guy we sat next to on the subway. He makes these people more real than any other literary characters. The reader walks away being able to feel all of these things, these things that they carried. We could feel the weight of the guns, of the helmet, of the depression and guilt.

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Summary: Not a boring overview
Review: Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is not just about the physical aspects of war. This book looks more closely at the Vietnam War. It takes a closer look at this time period in our recent history. O'Brien takes a look at the way the soldiers were affected emotionally as well as the physical aspects of war. O'Brien does not give a boring overview of Vietnam. Instead, he takes you there. O'Brien introduces you, the reader, to a platoon of men led by their fearless leader, Jimmy Cross. The reader learns about each man's quirks. O'Brien gives you insight as to what these men saw, what they felt. I, myself am not a huge fan of the war era books. They often are dry reading that loses my interest very quickly. This book is unlike any other war book that I have ever looked at. It kept my attention as I read, and it kept me anticipating what would unfold next. The Things They Carried is an fresh new look at The Vietnam War. It comes highly recommended.