They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing — these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture.
(from The Things They Carried, page 20)
I just couldn’t let the War Through the Generations Vietnam War Reading Challenge end without reading something by Tim O’Brien, and since Serena bought me a signed copy when she attended an author event earlier this year (thanks so much, dear friend!), I decided to read The Things They Carried. This book blew me away, and I can see why many people consider it THE novel about the Vietnam War.
The Things They Carried reads like both connected short stories and a memoir and focuses on a group of soldiers who fought together in Vietnam. The stories are not presented in a linear fashion, as O’Brien skips around from before, during, and after the war. It takes some time to really get to know the characters, but the story unfolds and the characters are developed bit by bit.
The narrator is named Tim O’Brien, but the book is subtitled “A Work of Fiction,” and in a few of the stories, O’Brien discusses the idea of truth and war stories.
A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. (page 65)
Here is the happening-truth. I was once a soldier. There were many bodies, real bodies with real faces, but I was young then and I was afraid to look. And now, twenty years later, I’m left with faceless responsibility and faceless grief.
Here is the story-truth. He was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay in the center of a red clay trail near the village of My Khe. His jaw was in his throat. His one eye was shut, the other eye was a star-shaped hole. I killed him.
What stories can do, I guess, is make things present. (pages 171-172)
Wow. So I guess it boils down to this: War is ugly, and there is a bit of both truth and fiction in these stories. Sometimes the true facts are unemotional and distant, while a fictional account that truthfully portrays war is more emotional and more alive.
O’Brien punctuates thoughts like these with stories of the men, such as those about First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, who carries the photo of a girl he loves who doesn’t love him back, who carries the guilt of mistakes he made when his mind was on Martha and not on his men, who was afraid to disobey orders and camped his men on a village latrine (a literal shitfield) and had to face the disastrous consequences.
The Things They Carried is about the physical things (weapons, keepsakes, other men) and the mental things (fear and guilt) that the soldiers carried on their shoulders. O’Brien covers everything from memory and guilt, to friendship and loss, to action and inaction, to decision and dishonor.
As a novel of the Vietnam War, I expected The Things They Carried to be brutal and gruesome and heartbreaking. I’ve read many war novels, and they all have stayed with me in some way. But after I finished this book — in my opinion, a literary masterpiece — I carried with me a great sadness and will for a long time carry the stories of these men (whether fact or fiction) in my heart.
Disclosure: I received a copy of The Things They Carried as a gift from a friend. I am an Amazon associate.
© 2010 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
This has been on my TBR list for too long. But as someone who lived through the Vietnam Era and who had 2 brothers-in-law who fought in the war and someone who lost a friend, I may put years between reading books about this conflict. On the other hand, I feel it honors the men and women who served by trying to better understand what they went through.
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I can understand how these books can be difficult for those who lived during the war and have close connections to someone who fought or died. I wasn’t born until later, and I think my interest in these books has something to do with wanting to know more about what my father might have experienced when he was there.
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For some reason this one speaks to me. I think it’s cos I see the cover and think WWI, I am just that weird
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I can see why the cover would make you think of WWI. Maybe it could indicate the universal experiences of soldiers?
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I’m still planning to re-read this one. Great review.
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You don’t have much time before the challenge ends! 😉
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Wonderful review. I’m not inclined to read war literature as a rule — unless it’s v historical — but after reading Sigrid Nunez’s For Rouenna two years ago, I’ve been curious about more contemporary literature. I’m adding this to my TBR — your thoughts plus the quotes you shared have convinced me!
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I read a lot of war literature, not sure why it fascinates me so much. I’ll have to check out the book you listed.
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Anna, once again, you’ve written a wonderful review. How nice to have received a signed copy of The Things They Carried as a gift! This will be my next book about the Vietnam War. Definitely.
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Thanks, Suko! I can’t wait to read your thoughts on it.
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This was a favorite book of mine from a few years back. Great review.
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Thanks, Diane!
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It really is one of the few books that is absolutely as fantastic as everyone says it is!
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The book jacket calls it required reading for every American, and I must agree!
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I WILL read this in 2011. I will.
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I hope so. Looking forward to your thoughts.
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This is one that I know I will read!!
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I hope so. It’s so worth it.
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This was one of those books that I read and felt, “D’oh, why didn’t I read this earlier in life so I could have been re-reading it over the years? Not only are the truths it conveys powerful, but the manner it’s written in is astonishingly skilled, and impressed me greatly.
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I feel that way about Jane Austen, but for this book, I don’t think I could have appreciated it when I was younger.
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Great review. I have this one on my Reader and fully intend to get to it in 2011.
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I look forward to reading your thoughts. Thanks, Dar!
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You wrote a really awesome review! Loved it! You asked me if I would mind having my review linked up on the War Through the Generations site. And I wouldn’t! I’d be thrilled! 🙂
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Thanks, Aths! I will add your review in the coming weeks as we update the site.
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This ended up being on my top reads for non-fiction. Although he is a veteran, his words are melodic and poetic and still it captures the horror of the war. In fact, my top two non-fiction, out of three, were about Vietnam. Great review!
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Thanks, Sandy! And that’s where all this gets tricky and causes confusion because I would’ve thought this book was non-fiction, but on the title page it says “A work of fiction by Tim O’Brien.” Hmm… See, much food for thought!
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My father is. A Vietnam vet. This sounds gripping. Thanks for a great review! (clicked through from Semicolon)
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Thanks for stopping by, Amy! My father served in Vietnam as well. Hope you give the book a try.
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I rarely read war books but this one has so many recommendations that I finally bought a copy of it. Now I just have to make time to read it.
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This is one book you really should make time for. It’s among the best war novels I’ve ever read.
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I’m glad you got this book in before the year ended. It’s just fabulous!
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Me, too! It was going to be my pick for our book club with our husband, so I was waiting, but we’ve stalled so I just picked it up on my own.
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wow what a great review! i’ve heard alot about matterhorn being the book about the vietnam war, but i haven’t read alot of reviews about this book. i’m glad i ran across this review! i’m definitely adding this book to my wishlist.
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Thanks, Toothy! We’re reading Matterhorn right now over at War Through the Generations, and let me tell you, that book is intense and so good. It’ll make it to my favorites list along with The Things They Carried.
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This was a great book wasn’t it? I’m so glad I read it for this challenge, in fact if it wasn’t for the challenge I doubt I would have. SO glad you enjoyed it and how wonderful that Serena gifted you with a signed copy, I know you will treasure this book.
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Thanks, Kris. I was surprised and thrilled when Serena gave me the book. I wish I could have met Tim O’Brien with her.
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this review will post on 12.21.10 and is on the reviews page.
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Thanks, Serena!
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Great review! I really liked this book too.
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Thanks, Cheryl! It’s definitely one of the best Vietnam books ever.
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[…] The Things They Carried by Tim […]
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[…] The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien […]
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[…] Anna (Diary of an Eccentric) […]
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You wrote a great review. Like you, I expected it to be much more in the line of Platoon in book form. I wouldn’t have minded that but this was so much better. I think this book appeals to a wide range of readers. Yes, there are some shocking elements but despite that, this is a beautiful book. It is sad but not depressing. A masterpiece. I’m glad I discovered it and will re-read it one day.
It also mademe think a lot about my own stories, memory… How stories chnage over the years… Truth.
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Thanks, Caroline! It really is more beautiful and contemplative than shocking and gruesome. I was surprised to have come across such a war novel, and I still think about it nearly a year later. Would you believe I’ve never seen Platoon? I might read dozens of war novels, but I don’t watch too many war movies.
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[…] We also talked about whether Margaret was a necessary plot device or whether Vida’s story within the story could have stood on its own, with most of us agreeing with the former; how the thirteenth tale, when it was finally unearthed, was a bit anticlimactic because we’d already heard the story; and how most of us didn’t buy the degree to which Margaret was haunted by the twin she never knew. Some of us were infuriated by Margaret’s decision regarding the publication of Vida’s story, and some of us thought the scene at the end with Margaret’s twin was cheesy. Another topic that came up was whether Vida actually told the truth this time around, and we discussed the importance of truth in storytelling…and I surprised myself by remembering Tim O’Brien’s piece about telling a true war story in The Things They Carried. […]
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[…] “Heirlooms” was particularly touching and reminiscent of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried in listing the things the family had lost to the war, from furniture and businesses to their […]
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