My sister slept with the light on until she was 27. She rightfully blames me. I would leap out of closets with my hands made into claws. I would...
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Achowalogen, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by Achowalogen)
Tim O'Brien can do no wrong with this book, even though many of his Vietnam Conflict soldiers did. Everyone of my friends who served in this "polce action" point to the realism within the binding of this book. Too bad that many suffered not only in the war, but when they returned home. No one that reads this book cannot helped to be touched by the writing of O'Brien. Made sure it was on mandatory reading list at my high school before I retired this past Augus.
mgreiner1, October 28, 2011 (view all comments by mgreiner1)
Although this book is based on the author's Vietnam War experience, it is very relevant to understanding the experience of the military serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. From Stephen Crane's Red Badge of Courage and from this wonderful book, the average citizen can learn about the inner experience of being a military service member. Only 1% of our US population serves, and the rest of us can benefit from learning of their sacrifices from the inside out.
craigdchilds, September 1, 2011 (view all comments by craigdchilds)
A brilliant cycle of short stories--or maybe you want to call it a mosaic novel. The best Vietnam fiction I've ever read. My favorite stories are "The Things They Carried" and "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong"
jthinks, July 24, 2011 (view all comments by jthinks)
This book shows how humans act in a world stripped of its usual references. What was inconsequential becomes endowed with meaning, what was important disappears entirely. The writing is beautiful, as O'Brien lets events speak for themselves. Probably a good book for anyone whose country is at war.
"Review"
by Los Angeles Times,
"The best of these stories — and none is written with less than the sharp edge of honed vision — are memory and prophecy. These tell us not where we were but where we are, and perhaps where we will be....It is an ultimate, indelible image of war in our time, and in time to come."
"Review"
by Chicago Sun Times,
"The Things They Carried is as good as any piece of literature can get....It is controlled and wild, deep and tough, perceptive and shrewd."
"Review"
by New York Times,
"[B]elongs high on the list of best fiction about any war....crystallizes the Vietnam experience for everyone [and] exposes the nature of all war stories."
"Review"
by Washington Post,
"Rendered with an evocative, quiet precision, not equaled in the imaginative literature of the American war in Vietnam. It is as though a Thucydides had descended from grand politique and strategy to calm dissection of the quotidian efforts of war....O'Brien has it just right."
"Review"
by Wall Street Journal,
"Powerful...Composed in the same lean, vigorous style as his earlier books, The Things They Carried adds up to a captivating account of the experiences of an infantry company in Vietnam....Evocative and haunting, the raw force of confession."
"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
Since its first publication, The Things They Carried has become an unparalleled Vietnam testament, a classic work of American literature, and a profound study of war that illuminates the capacity, and the limits, of the human heart and soul.
"Synopsis"
by Firebrand,
Tim O'Brien's most renowned work returns to Houghton.
"Synopsis"
by Firebrand,
A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling.
"Synopsis"
by Firebrand,
"The best American writer of his generation." — San Francisco Examiner
A New York Times Book of the Century
A Pulitzer Prize Finalist
A National Book Critics' Circle Award Finalist
Winner of the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (France)
Winner of the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize
Now with over two million copies in print, The Things They Carried is a classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene. Itis a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling.
"The Things They Carried is as good as any piece of literature can get." — Chicago Sun-Times
"This is writing so powerful that it steals your breath. ... The Things They Carried is about more than war, of course. It is about the human heart and emotional baggage and loyalty and love. It is about the difference between 'truth' and 'reality.' It is about death--and life."--Milwaukee Journal
"Rendered with an evocative, quiet precision, not equaled in the imaginative literature of the American war in Vietnam." --Washington Post
"Youve got to read this book… In a world filled too often with numbness, or shifting values, these stories shine in a strange and opposite direction, moving against the flow, illuminating life's wonder, life's tenuousness, life's importance." — Dallas Morning News
"A book so searing and immediate you can almost hear the choppers in the background. . . This is prose headed for the nerve center of what was Vietnam." — The Boston Globe
"[An] ultimate, indelible image of war in our time, and in time to come." — Los Angeles Times
Tim OBrien received the 1979 National Book Award for Going After Cacciato. Among his other books are In the Lake of the Woods, Tomcat in Love, If I Die in a Combat Zone, and July, July.
"Synopsis"
by Firebrand,
A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling.
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 OBrien, 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.
The Things They Carried 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.
Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.
