Going After Cacciato is many things. It's a masterfully told story, rich in imagery that wavers between harrowing and beautiful, studded with finely rendered, evocative set pieces. It's a compelling narrative that faces down timeless questions: the tension between purpose and justice, truth and fiction, imagination and reality. One thing it's not is a typical war novel. The kinds of unfathomable, grotesque violence you find in other novels about Vietnam—Tree of Smoke, one of my favorite books of all time, comes to mind—are largely absent here. Instead, a sense of hopefulness prevails. O'Brien leaves behind the chaos and carnage of the Vietnam War to dream about a better world.

a cross between The Naked and the Dead & Catch 22 all the while retaining an originality of its own. a harrowing, slightly hallucinatory trip from hell to heaven and back again, breathlessly alternating from reality to fantasy never sure which is true but in the end that luxurious distinction is lost or scattered not unlike Cacciato's gear along the path of lost innocence, redemption and the collective ideas of duty, mission and free will.

National Book Award 1979

Creative narrative structure, lyrical writing, endlessly compelling, great flow, 10/10

This book took a few tries to finish. I understand it better now as I’ve researched the Vietnam War more and I appreciate what the author was attempting.