Great writing leaves us at a loss for words, at least for a time, as soon as we try to describe how a book affected us. It is important to make the effort anyway, so here goes. Of all the ways in which The Things They Carried moved me, the main one is the way O?Brien captures, describes, transmits, the pain and force of the need felt by many soldiers to express the inexpressible, their experience of war. The pain is from knowing the attempt will most likely fail, but trying anyway. The book is about Vietnam in its particulars, but in its reach is about all war and the need to get across to somebody else, ?this is what it is like to be me, here, now,? knowing we might be blown to kingdom come a minute from now.
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The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
shiralunacy, August 7, 2007
Great writing leaves us at a loss for words, at least for a time, as soon as we try to describe how a book affected us. It is important to make the effort anyway, so here goes. Of all the ways in which The Things They Carried moved me, the main one is the way O?Brien captures, describes, transmits, the pain and force of the need felt by many soldiers to express the inexpressible, their experience of war. The pain is from knowing the attempt will most likely fail, but trying anyway. The book is about Vietnam in its particulars, but in its reach is about all war and the need to get across to somebody else, ?this is what it is like to be me, here, now,? knowing we might be blown to kingdom come a minute from now.(5 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)