The Things They Carried is written as a series of short stories about Tim O’Brien, the author’s time serving in the Vietnam war, and the other members of his company with interesting stories to tell. The book also explores parts of Tim O’Brien’s life before and after the war. It provides in-depth commentary on storytelling, loss, the effects of war, and comradery.
By the time I finished The Things They Carried it hadn’t turned out to be at all what I expected, and I found myself barely thinking about the Vietnam war at all. I felt like I had a much better insight into how great stories are created and passed on. I realized just how big an impact stories have on the perception of past events, and how those stories often come from people who didn’t have a very clear picture of the event themselves. I was surprised by the message the book seemed to want to deliver, and by how the Vietnam war isn’t really an essential part of delivering that message. It’s just the vessel through which Tim O’Brien chooses to communicate it to the reader since it’s a part of his life he thinks about a lot and he was around to experience it first hand.
I think this book is worth reading because it has the potential to completely change the way you think about crafting and telling a story. It can help you understand why people tell stories in the first place and what makes them so important. The one warning I would give to someone who wants to read this book is to not expect a history lesson on the Vietnam war, it’s a very personal account of the war from the perspective of an average soldier who didn’t have much of an idea what was going on outside of where they were. The only new understanding you might gain about the war is an understanding of the kinds of people who were sent to fight it. If you don’t mind the Vietnam war not being the main point of the book, then I highly recommend you read The Things They Carried.
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