Yvonne Burkhardt
I’m currently reading The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. It’s fiction but based on his own experience in Viet Nam. It was originally published in 1990. He begins the book by describing the things the soldiers carry with them on their patrols — some things being necessary — some sentimental. The recounting of the things they carry leads to more insight into each soldier’s personality and character.
The narratives in the book do not all have traditional beginnings and endings. While the narrator tells the stories, he comments on his own life as well. So the reader becomes acquainted with his personal story as well as the stories of other soldiers. The line between fiction and non-fiction is blurred because the author, Tim O’Brien, gives the narrator of the story the name, Tim O’Brien.
It is easy to follow each man’s story because, for the most part, the core of each experience or incident is contained in a chapter. However, he has an interesting method of revealing the ending of a story, then returning to the beginning and filling in the details. Sometimes the ending is revealed in a previous chapter. You think it is just a side glimpse until it picks up later.
I have recently become interested in reading war stories. The content might be too graphic for some readers. So, I don’t recommend it for all. But I give the writer high ratings for writing an absorbing, honest book capturing the lives of soldiers in difficult circumstances.
Five of the stories have been printed as free-standing stories in other anthologies.
