The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is a classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing both minds and lives since it came into the literary scene. It's a ground-breaking mediation on the Vietnam war. imagination, memory, and the redemptive power of storytelling. I've heard a lot about this novel, as it won France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. It definitely deserves a spot on my "novels to read" collection!
An overview of The Things They Carried, as stated on the Barnes & Noble website, is:
"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 everywhere—from high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing—it 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."
If anyone else is interested in the book The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, check out the source link up above. It's currently on sale!
- A classic piece of American literature.
- Won many awards.
- Captures the essential fiction about Vietnam.
I recommend this to anyone interested in the nature of war stories, and what the Vietnam war was like.