The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

One of the books I read this summer was The Things They Carried, by the acclaimed American author Tim O'Brien. He has written several novels, all war stories based on his experiences in the Vietnam war, and TTTC is one of his most popular ones.

Admittedly, I was assigned the book as my summer reading, so I don't know if I would have picked it up in a bookstore, but I'm glad I had to read it.

Basically, the book is a collection of several short stories that all relate to each other, all based on O'Brien's experiences during the Vietnam war. Each story reveals to the reader a short snippet of specific soldier's lives and experiences, giving us an overview of what life was really like for the men being drafted into the army at the time.

Personally, I loved the book. I was immediately sucked into the book, coming up for air only after each short story was finished. The stories were all varied, but they were all about the same cast of characters, so the short stories read like chapters more than anything else. Because of the way it is written, single short stories can be read, and the reader will still understand the context well enough so as not to get confused.

The book begins with a small disclaimer saying that except for a few details, everything is imaginary. This was the one thing that bothered me; I would be interrupted from my reading, trying to sort out reality. The Things They Carried is beautifully written, and reads very realistically, so I had a hard time figuring out if certain events were based on real life happenings or if they were made up.

Most likely, though, this was only something that I struggled with personally; other than me interrupting myself, the book was amazing. Well written, fascinating, and beautiful.

I hope that you will all read it sometime, because I definitely recommend it!

xx Emma

Listening to: Heavy Cross - Gossip