Tim O'Brien a war story

[clubchicky]

This book that I am reading now is extraordinary and I wanted to share this with anyone that might take an interest in it. Tim O'Brien is the author of The Things they Carried.

A book about the Vietnam war....but his story is fast-paced and really delves deep into the hearts of the soldiers that fought during that time. I feel like it can bring me closer in some way to our troops today....I am reading this for class and for once it is actually a book I would recommend to my friends


Here is a small paragraph that really got to me:

"In June of 1968, a month after graduating from Macalester College, I was drafted to fight a war I hated. I was twenty-one years old. Young, yes, and politically naive, but even so the American war in Vietnam seemed to me wrong. Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons. I saw no unity of purpose, no concensus on matters of philosophy or history or law. The very facts were shrouded in uncertainty: Was it a civil war? A war of national liberation or simple aggression? Who started it, and when, and why? What really happened to the USS Maddox on that dark night in the Gulf of Tonkin? Was Ho Chi Minh a Communist stooge, or a nationalist savior, or both, or neither? What about the Geneva Accords? What about SEATO and the Cold War? What about dominoes? America was divided on these and a thousand other issues, and the debate had spilled out across the floor of the United States Senate and into the streets, and smart men in pinstripes could not agree on even the most fundamental matters of public policy. The only certainty that summer was moral confusion. It was my view then, and still is, that you don't make war without knowing why. Knowledge, of course, is always imperfect, but it seems to me that when a nation goes to war it must have reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause. You can't fix your mistakes. Once people are dead, you can't make them undead."

[saintjohn]

Great book.

I first read O'Brien when I subscribed to Esquire back in the 80s (yes, I'm old). The magazine published several intense short stories that eventually became individual chapters in The Things They Carried. Without going into too much detail (or getting too melodramatic), reading "How to Tell a True War Story" actually changed my life.

I went to see O'Brien at a local bookstore shortly after the book was published. I really enjoyed listening to him, but I got the distinct impression that it would've sucked to have served with him. He's certainly a very talented writer, but he was probably a terrible soldier.

That said, The Things They Carried is a brilliant book.

[clubchicky]

yes...I have to say this book changed my views big time too..I'm glad to hear he is pretty well known! His choice of words are brilliant!