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The Things They Carried
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Original price was: $18.99.$11.53Current price is: $11.53.
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A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O’Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three. Taught everywherefrom high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writingit has become required reading for any American and continues to challenge readers in their perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, courage and fear and longing.
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The Things They Carried
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Original price was: $18.99.$11.53Current price is: $11.53.
J. M. Alexander –
This is a brilliant and sensitive book about Vietnam. Although I wasn’t there, I served in the military during that period, safely stateside, and was glad to not go to a war that was so difficult to explain and justify. Nevertheless, I felt a sense of guilt for no other reason than that my peers were fighting and dying there. I have talked to others who stayed out of harm’s way while otherwise serving, and the same feeling was at least lurking in their psyche. Perhaps as a result, and having lived through a time when the country was torn apart by this distant conflict, I avoided the books and films that came out soon after the conflict ended. But as time passed, it became easier and appropriate to examine the experiences of those who were actually engaged in this misguided war.
A couple of years ago I read “The Matterhorn”. Like this book, it is a novel, but one obviously based on the experience of the author who served in Vietnam. I found The Matterhorn quite compelling, and the recollection that sticks in my mind was of the terrible physical hardship, and the complete exhaustion of the troops. There was much more to the book, but that is what stayed with me. I found quite a different viewpoint in The Things They Carried.
The book begins reciting the physical things that the troops carried- guns and boots and ponchos and rations and a myriad of supplies that necessarily weighted them down on their days and nights in the field. But it quickly became obvious that the title did not really refer to these tangible objects but instead to the emotional burdens that were much more weighty.
For the author, dealing with such emotional burdens begins as he grapples with a decision to obey the draft or go to Canada. There is a wonderful chapter about his stay in a cabin near the Canadian border where, along with the aged proprietor, he contemplates his decision. He decides against leaving the country, but not out of an internal patriotism, but instead from a sense of shame if he failed to report. He did not want to disappoint his family and friends, and this fear of shame was much more compelling than the fear of war. Indeed, he would go to war and kill and maybe die, because he was embarrassed not to.
This sense of shame, or embarrassment, also transferred to the battlefield. In fact, of all the things the soldiers carried, the most compelling was the fear of blushing. Men killed and died because they were embarrassed not to. Their acts of bravery were not a product of courage or valor, but from the fact that they were too frightened to be thought of as cowards. They also battled with the desire to be a good man in the midst of all the evil, to find justice amidst the dying. But war, whatever it is, is never moral-it does not instruct nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing what they have always done. War is hell, but it is also terror and adventure and courage and discovery. The author also notes that war is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling, war is drudgery. War makes you a man, war makes you dead. It can also be a rush, one may never feel more alive than when he’s almost dead.
Amidst all the emotions, the book must also recount the grisly details of that combat, but it always seemed to me a story of emotion. And just as these men–actually boys– carried the shame of a judgmental society as their propulsion to fight and die, they acquired and returned with great burdens of guilt. This guilt was the thing they carried home, along with memories that they could not put out of their minds. These are probably the same memories that soldiers have always brought back, but those returning from Vietnam were perhaps the first to gradually discuss and try to deal with this emotional burden.
The book tells a difficult and instructive story. It again raises questions and issue that were discussed at the time but have faded with other memories of those times. The author’s thoughts are timelessly pertinent:
That you don’t make war without knowing why. That Vietnam seemed wrong to him because certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons. And that when a nation goes to war it must have reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause, because you can’t fix your mistakes. Once people are dead, you can’t make them undead.
Simple expectations when young lives are at stake.
Rudy –
It was hard to keep reading!
Leonardo –
Un libro dove forma e contenuto raggiungono una simbiosi davvero straordinaria; metamoderno, nella sua decostruzione del medium del “racconto di guerra,” e al contempo nel suo utilizzo cosciente e puro.
Lo stile è diretto, sommario, nell’asprezza distaccata della narrazione; la certezza espressiva nel racconto rende evidente più che mai l’ambiguità di tutto ciò che è la guerra, quella guerra, il coraggio, la paura, la fraternità dei soldati.
Dogrib –
I mean it. I go back to it frequently, read passages aloud to those I love. It sings hypnotic songs of sadness and yet keeps it all alive.
E.H. d. –
The first story is a description of what the soldiers literally carried in their bergens and as equipment, but the others examine the emotional and psychological burdens they carried with them. The genre, somewhere between fiction, personal memoir, eye-witness account and non-fiction, makes you feel you are right there in the thick of it on patrols with the author, Lieutenant Cross and Rat Kiley. Great writing.
Sylceuz –
Love the style of writing and even it was sad it’s the reality of life. Enjoy very much.
Reddog –
I bought because I know about combat. The author talked about supply’s and equipment the grunts carried on patrol. Well written reminds us about the good and bad.
Tks
Ken –
I was combat veteran of Vietnam. Book succeeds in realizing that soldiers carried much more than battle paraphernalia. I could relate with the author.
Madz –
Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” is more than just a collection of war stories; it’s an intricate exploration of the burdens borne by soldiers during the Vietnam War. The book masterfully blurs the lines between fiction and memoir, creating a narrative that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.
O’Brien’s narrative structure is unconventional yet effective. The book is composed of interconnected stories that revolve around the experiences of a platoon of American soldiers. This fragmented style mirrors the chaotic and disjointed nature of war itself, immersing readers in the soldiers’ reality. Each chapter can stand alone, yet together, they form a cohesive and compelling portrait of war and its aftermath.
The characters in “The Things They Carried” are richly developed and achingly human. O’Brien delves into their inner lives, exposing their fears, hopes, and regrets. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, for instance, is haunted by his love for a girl back home and the death of a comrade, illustrating the personal costs of leadership and responsibility. Through these intimate portrayals, O’Brien brings to life the emotional weight that each soldier carries, both literally and metaphorically.
One of the book’s greatest strengths is its exploration of themes such as fear, courage, guilt, and the search for meaning. The title itself is a powerful metaphor for the physical and emotional burdens the soldiers bear. O’Brien skillfully uses symbolism to enhance these themes, such as the weight of the physical items each soldier carries representing their psychological burdens.
O’Brien’s writing is poignant and evocative, often leaving readers with a profound sense of empathy and sorrow. His prose is both lyrical and raw, capturing the brutal realities of war while also finding moments of beauty and humanity. The book’s emotional impact is heightened by O’Brien’s willingness to confront the complexities of memory and truth, challenging readers to consider the nature of storytelling and the ways we process trauma.
What sets “The Things They Carried” apart is its authenticity. O’Brien, a Vietnam veteran himself, infuses the book with an honesty that is both brutal and tender. He does not shy away from the horrors of war, but he also acknowledges the moments of camaraderie and love that sustain the soldiers. This balance makes the book not just a war story, but a universal exploration of the human condition.
“The Things They Carried” is a masterpiece of contemporary literature, offering a profound and deeply moving look at the Vietnam War and its enduring impact on those who fought it. Tim O’Brien’s ability to weave together fact and fiction, past and present, creates a narrative that is as enlightening as it is heart-wrenching. For anyone seeking to understand the true cost of war, this book is an essential read.
Nedward –
The best book about people under the circunstances of killing or beeing killed.
The ever remainder of war isannity.
Pure Gold.
Annie –
How did I never read this in high school? I read it with my teen who had it as assigned reading, last year. Gorgeous and heartbreaking all at once. I knew nothing about the writer. The book survived my daughter’s backpack for two months. It’s not the sturdiest cover but it held up.
Aadel Bussinger –
A book about the Vietnam war that displays the complicated nuances without being preachy? I picked this book up to use some snippets for high school literature. I ended up putting it on my “classics” bookshelf. It is touching, heartbreaking, real, and not real all at once.