Summary Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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Summary
The novel, The Things They Carried is a collection of short stories about life as a foot soldier in the Vietnam War. The author, Tim O’Brien is, himself a veteran of the Vietnam War. Some of the stories are true, and others are only partially true. O’Brien talks about how he felt when he was drafted, and how he felt while watching his platoon mates die, and what it was like to be a soldier in one of the most gruesome wars in history.
Author information The author of my book is Tim O’Brien. According to the database Contemporary Authors, he was born on October 1, 1946 in the small town of Austin, Minnesota (“Tim O’Brien”). O’Brien is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and also the writer of many bestselling …show more content…

Greenya, who is a writer for the Washington Times says that this novel is possibly the best fictional war story ever written and speaks very highly of the different short stories in the novel. He talks about the importance of the parallels drawn when talking about the things being carried by the men in the first story. Greenya commends the novel and its importance to understanding the Vietnam War. In this novel, O’Brien does a fantastic job of giving the reader a feel of what it would have been like to fight in the Vietnam War.
This book review praises the format that O’Brien used in his novel, The Things They Carried and commends the cohesion it has with the realities of war. Jones, a writer for Newsweek comments that O’Brien does not romanticise the death of his fellow soldiers making their deaths seem more heroic than what they actually were. Jones acknowledges that it was a messy war, so the format of the stories being told about it should reflect that. O’Brien outlines the realities of war in this novel, and does not sugar coat it at all. …show more content…

I felt that O’Brien did a good job causing the reader feel as if they were personally there experiencing the battles and getting to know the soldiers on their own. He made you feel the pain of the reality of the war. O’Brien excels at connecting the reader to the personal trials and tribulations of each of each of the soldiers to help put you in the place and thoughts of them. Though the novel didn 't have a clear storyline, and skipped around, it still came across as a clear, well organized collection. I would highly recommend this book to

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