The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

This is a book of connected short stories. The setting alternates between Vietnam and "present day". (1990s) The narrator is Tim O'Brien, who is also the author, but he states several times that these stories are fictional. They are fictional, with elements of truth. It reads like an autobiography. His point is that fiction reads like the truth and reality reads like fiction, and sometimes it's really hard to know the difference. Tim says, "In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen." And also, "And then afterward, when you go to tell about it, there is always that surreal seemingness, which makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed." Whether these stories are actually true or fiction - or a mix of the two - the sentiment is the same: War is Hell. 

War changes people, and never for the better. Tim's first story is the title of the book. He talks about what people carry to war. Different things matter to different people. Soldiers carried things that reminded them of home and things they felt they needed to protect themselves in battle. Everyone carried a heavy load, and I don't just mean possessions. Tim, and so many others who fought in Vietnam didn't believe that this war was just, or had a specific purpose. Most didn't know what they were doing there. During World War II, people knew they were fighting against Nazism and the persecution of Jews, the disabled and the non-Aryans that were not perceived as part of the superior race. Vietnam was different. Soldiers didn't know what they were fighting and dying for. So in addition to carrying their heavy packs, guns and ammunitions, they carried their emotions which were equally heavy. Sadness, guilt, shame, anger, distrust, anxiety, depression, feelings of helplessness, loss, lack of control. 

A few of the stories focused on the loss of Tim's friends, Ted Lavender, Curt Lemon and Kiowa. An unique story told of a soldier who sent for his 17 year old girlfriend, who arrived from the US, and "joined" the unit. Can something like that really happen?? I have no idea. They were out in no man's land with no superior officer on site, so maybe?? Anyway, she was this sweet little thing who got so wrapped up in the war that she actually left her boyfriend's unit and stayed with a small group of green berets, who were loners and had a different "mission". Soldiers felt responsible for the loss of their friends and didn't know how to process their grief and feelings of guilt. Some did horrible things to their enemies, animals, each other. Some killed themselves after the war. Some shot themselves to get out of the war. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

The last story is called, "The Lives of the Dead". Tim explains that "stories can save us." Stories give life to those that are dead. That's how some people survive their trauma.

Wendy's Rating:****