Veteran's Day Review: The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It took me a while to read this book, and I'm not sure why. It's not very long, but it seemed really dense. I'm not sure I could have told you if I liked the book as I was hearing it, but somewhere towards the end, I just fell in love. I think it was when he told about the girl who went to Vietnam and became addicted to it. That part rang so true that the whole thing, all the talk about war stories and how they didn't have to be true, it all fell into place. I understood what he meant. Just as there is truth in fiction, truth to the stories, truth to the characters, so could a war story be true even if it wasn't, in the strictest sense, factual in all parts.
After the story of Maryanne (pardon if I'm a little off on names, I listened to this one so my spelling might not be correct), I wanted to hear all about the rest of the characters. And it was the characters who really made this story. It's not so much a story, in the linear-progression, plot-arc kind of way. But all the stories together made something beautiful. I wanted to hear all about Jimmy and Henry, about the suicides and the 'accidents,' about the medics and Tim and the shit-fields and, yes, the things they carried. It didn't matter a bit which parts actually happened.
Really the book wasn't so much about what happened or didn't happen, it was about the characters and about humanity, about maintaining humanity in the face of the most horrid circumstances, about finding joy in the sickest places imaginable, about the horror and pettiness and cowardice and beauty not of war, but of the human spirit and of life.



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YA Wednesday: Memorial Book Review: Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've been meaning to read this book for years, and I'm so glad I finally did.

It started out a bit slow, but as the book went on, I realized that everything in it was intentional, even that slow start. It was like the war itself, or Perry's experience of it. He wasn't dropped in the middle of the action. His squad was eased into it. At first, not much is happening. He's kind of bored, which left me a little bored. But as tensions build in Vietnam, so do they build in the book. The first time Perry sees someone killed, he's shocked. By the end, the body count is so high you barely notice one person. He's lost so many, he doesn't even mention that first death he witnessed that upset him so much in the beginning. And yet, he never grows complacent, never grows hard to the death surrounding him.

The was this book was laid out was perfect. It starts slow, then builds to more and more dire situations as Perry and PeeWee are forced to confront mortality, their own and that of the enemy, towards the end. The saddest part for me was knowing that even when the book ended, so many were left still fighting, still dying, in Vietnam. There were several parts where I teared up from the intensity of the book. It was so real, I was there, I was in it with them, longing for The World. This book may have started slow, but it grabbed me by the throat about third of the way in and never let go. I loved the characters, all so different and so real. I could feel the intensity of their fear, their boredom, their panic, and especially, their bond with each other. 

A wonderful book. My favorite WDM book so far.

Content: Appropriate for Age 14+. M/F audiences will enjoy.





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