The Things They Carried Options

[karmakiller]

I tried to search this, but didn't get anything.

At my school it's required reading. You either read it Sophmore or Senior year, and I ended up reading it this year. I just hope it's not one of those books that constantly reminds me of the current war.

Have any of your read this? Thoughts? Comments?

[moorepocket]

i never heard of it.

[krnxswat]

I didn't get a chance to read the whole book, but I did have to read an exercerpt for my writing class in my freshman year of college. It's basically about how the soldiers had to carry many, many objects with them and it was evidently a load because it was so heavy. However, the real burden was the fear, and/or worry, of dying and so, ironically, the psychological aspects outweighed the physical aspects. Moreover, there's this lieutenant(?) that always carried pictures and letters of this girl he had a crush on back at home. However, he ended up losing a man in his unit due to his carelessness so; he realizes his faults and throws away the objects he "carried" and is more strict with his soldiers from then on.

Sorry, the wording might be a little confusing. But, do you get it?

[tokyo-rose]

I read it this year, and I'm a junior.

I thought it was a pretty good book. Some parts of it were pretty graphic, like when O'Brien describes the man he killed. My class discussed the grand narratives that O'Brien presents and challenges. It was interesting. It's one of my favorite books that I've read for school.

[treschicgeek]

I read it last year. It was a pretty good book to me, considering I'm not the type of person to like reading about wars.

The thing that was most interesting to me is that the book is basically all a lie, or an extremely exaggerated truth. Dunno why...but that kinda killed it for me. When you finish reading the book I'll tell you what I'm talking about. Don't really wanna spoil it for you

[hypnotique]

I'm currently reading this in my world literature class,Its very war heavy.

The issue is a majority of it is a narrative unless he refers to stories about himself.Then hes telling the truth.

[karmakiller]

People who have read this before said that it switches from third person to first person or something. I just don't want to read a book about war, because I think I'll end up getting depressed from it reminding me of Iraq. I can handle graphic things, though, so that doesn't worry me.

[krnxswat]

Stop being such a pussy.

[Relentless]

o.O This book.

The school's senior AP English 4 is reading this right now. (x 2 of my friends said its good so far. They also said it was the time of the Vietnam War and stuff.

[karmakiller]

Stop being such a pussy.

How am I being pussy? lol. I just don't want to be reminded of sad things.

[tokyo-rose]

Bump, since Betty was thinking about making a topic on this book.

[fig]

A beautiful book.

One of my favorites of all time.

[brooklyneast05]

it's pretty good.

[Teesa]

i absolutely loved this book! definitely one of my favorites. it made me so sad though, but the way everything was described and the way the different soldiers acted was so well-written.

[*paperplane*]

I was supposed to read the story for English last semester (one of the few things I hadn't read already), but it was assigned for a week in which I had too much else to do. Maybe I should go back and reread that..

[dustbunny]

O<MGDGSED!!!

lol I loved this book. O'Brien had an amazing way of describing death; he described some deaths to be just so incredibly beautiful. if anyone remembers the story about Kurt Lemon and the way he dies...yeah it's just gorgeous. the point was that death could be beautiful, and so could war. War makes soldiers aware of life, infinitely more sensitive to their surroundings and their aliveness than they would be without it. The problem of course, is finding a meaning in life after returning from war. The war wasn't in america's backyard, it was across an ocean: soldiers came back and weren't understood, weren't acknowledged.

The story of Norman Bowker is amazing in describing the alienation felt by soldiers upon their return to normal life and their struggle with fitting back in; of course Tim O'Brien uses brilliant imagery and parallels to convey nostalgia. zomg technicolored flares in a shit field vs 4th of July fireworks over a lake.

the book gives great insight into the mindset of war veterans and the ways in which war haunts them for the rest of their life.

anyways there's a lot to talk about, but I don't want to get too carried away at the moment heh

[The-March-Hare]

I was supposed to read this for my American Lit class this semester, but never did... I really generally don't care for war lit... had to do an entire year of it as a senior, and enough was ef**kingnough.

[venti-anemoi]

I read it earlier this year for American Lit, and it's very good. My favorite parts are the one about Norman Bowker when he goes back to his hometown, and the Lemon tree. XD

What's fact and what's fiction is really confusing, and you don't really know which is which. That kind of frustrated me a lot.

[lkajsfklajskds]

Who's it by?

[venti-anemoi]

Who's it by?

Tim O'Brien