For me, Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is the most powerful book that I have every read and it's the standard against which I judge all things O'Brien. In The Things They Carried, O'Brien utilizes a nonlinear and fragmented narrative structure, magical realism, and the power of storytelling to capture the visceral truth that telling the real story can't quite capture. For O'Brien, we must sometimes turn to fiction to capture what is "emotionally true" and, in doing so, be less concerned with an objective reality. In a way, If I Die in a Combat Zone makes this point for him. Written 15 years before Things, If I Die is a memoir of Tim O'Brien's experience in the Vietnam War. There is no metafiction razzle-dazzle, but rather a straight-forward, linear narrative that begins when O'Brien is drafted and ends as he boards the Freedom Bird headed toward home. It's powerful stuff, but not nearly as powerful as his fiction work. Despite that, anything by Tim O'Brien is better than almost anything else out there--fiction or non-fiction.

Having grown up in the post-World War II glow of American military might, O'Brien was raised in the ask-no-questions patriotic culture of the Midwest. Real men were expected to fight. Real men were supposed to look forward to war. Real men craved the opportunity to serve their country and protect their families. O'Brien doesn't reject these values, but these views are complicated by his own philosophical inclinations. He questions the nature of bravery, as well as how American intervention in Vietnam is protecting the average American's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the aftermath, he's left with no certain answers: "Now, war ended, all I am left with are simple, unprofound scraps of truth. Men die. Fear hurts and humiliates. It is hard to be brave. It is hard to know what bravery is. Dead human beings are heavy and awkward to carry . . . Is that the stuff for a morality lesson, even for a theme? . . . Can the foot soldier teach anything important about war, merely for having been there? I think not. He can tell war stories."

And that's what O'Brien does in the novel--he tells war stories. He tells of the tedious days of repetition, punctuated by brief bursts of action; he tells of military incompetence and the frustration of not knowing who the enemy is in a land where farmers by day picked up guns at night; he tells of how cruel being sent on R&R was, knowing the brief return to normality would not last. And he does all of this without being preachy; he simply shows us what life was like for the average soldier and leaves us to draw our own conclusions. His language is at once poetic and precise, getting to the heart of all things. No one can capture the peculiar mix of fear, adrenaline fed excitement, and remorse of a soldier's most introspective moments like O'Brien.

At one point, O'Brien ruminates on Ernest Hemingway's fascination with war: "Some say Ernest Hemingway was obsessed by the need to show bravery in battle. It started, they say, somewhere in World War I and ended when he passed his final test in Idaho. If the man was obsessed with the notion of courage, that was a fault. But, reading Hemingway's war journalism and his war stories, you get the sense that he was simply concerned about bravery, hence about cowardice, and that seems a virtue, a sublime and profound concern that few men have." It's a concern that permeates all of O'Brien's work and his treatment of it is indeed sublime.

Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder and at Shelf Inflicted

Absolutely HATED this book. The writing was long and dull. The story (actually it is a memoir) is just another anti Vietnam rant. I will NOT be reading any of his other works and DO NOT recommend that anyone read his stuff. It is awful!

In fairness, I didn't really choose to read this book now, I decided to read it along with my daughter, for whom it fulfilled a summer reading requirement.

Part of my less than stellar reaction I think has to do with the fact that I have read an awful lot of Vietnam books in the last few years. And so at the risk of sounding cynical, this book sort of felt like more of the same - incompetent officers, tons of swearing, whorehouses, gallows humor, lots of drinking...

If I try to step back and look at this book objectively, especially considering it was written when the war was very much still a raw memory for our country, I can see how important and ground-breaking and revelatory and -- to cite a central theme of the book -- courageous.

I really love "The Things They Carried", so I was so excited to start this one! I was really very disappointed :( It was very repetitive with hardly any "action", just long bouts of sitting or walking or talking about courage/morals/heros. A new concept would be introduced without any explanation, so I couldn't understand why "x" was the effect of "y" happening. Military terms, abbreviations, and names for weapons/trucks were used with no definition. For the most part, that was easier to work around, but some parts became extremely confusing from not knowing what a word meant.
A lot of his thoughts were very jumpy, like he was really excited to finish the point of his sentence and forgot some of the vital parts or didn't describe it in a way that made sense. He rehashed dull points, and then flew by others, somehow making the latter take up entire chapters. I left most of those chapters without a single clue as to what he was saying.
His writing style IS very different than other authors, and I appreciate that and know that going into the novel, but I understood "The Things They Carried" very well, and this seemed jumbled without much structure or explanation and depth.
That being said, there were some parts that were written beautifully and some chapters that really struck a chord in me. He so wonderfully uses metaphors and similes; they really leave you in awe.
I enjoyed parts, but not the book as a whole. I finished only so I could say I read the whole things, and because I was desperately hoping SOMETHING large would happen and redeem the book. Sadly, nothing.

Great book

Made my blood boil, as intended

4/5

VOTO = 3,5
Di film sulla guerra del Vietnam, famosi e meno famosi, premiati da statuette Oscar e da vari altri premi cinematografici, ne abbiamo visti tanti negli ultimi 50 anni con i soldati americani rappresentati dai volti sorridenti di Robert De Niro, Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe e Marlon Brando, per dire alcuni degli attori Hollywoodiani comparsi in queste pellicole che hanno fatto epoca, e abbiamo letto anche qualche libro sull’argomento come “Eravamo giovani in Vietnam” o “Vietnam, una sporca bugia”, “Matterhorn”, “Nato il 4 luglio”. Questo libro che ho appena terminato di leggere non è un’opera di fantasia o un saggio storico, ma le semplici memorie di un giovane americano che, pur fantasticando di sfuggire alla chiamata di leva che prevedeva un “soggiorno” in Vietnam a combattere i “rossi” invasori Vietcong, si fece la sua brava dose di guerra e qualche anno dopo il suo ritorno a casa scrisse questo libro in cui rivivere la sua guerra personale in Vietnam, le sensazioni, le paure, i pensieri condivisi con i commilitoni suoi coetanei, le azioni di guerra e le libere uscite: niente di sensazionale o di eclatante ma semplicemente la realtà quotidiana in un paese in guerra da parte di chi quella guerra l’ha vissuta senza sentirla “sua”.

Whoever gave Tim O'Brien a publishing deal should be ashamed of their selves. As a result of publishing, humanity has been exposed to the most disgusting writing skills known to man. The world is a darker place for seeing any O'Brien novels.

Compared to The Things They Carried, which is a compilation of war stories from Vietnam, and one of my favorite books, If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home is a much more personal account. It is O'Brien's memoir of his own experience in the war, and his own views on its morality. Thus, this work contains some drudgery that would not normally be seen in an action-packed war novel. But that is why I love it. The accuracy and honesty of the memoir, and O'Brien's dependable writing style made me fall in love once again.

I finished this in less than a day, due to both my interest and its short length. However, I finished wishing that it had been longer, so I could take more time to digest O'Brien's story. He leaves nothing out, from the Vietnamese prostitutes to his dislike of his own officers.

O'Brien has managed to capture once again the accuracy and wonder of war that can only be captured by someone who has experienced it firsthand. Add this to his charming yet straight forward writing style and I was hooked.

Author Tim O'Brien's memoir, If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home tells about his experiences during the Vietnam War. As one of the first autobiographies of the Vietnam War, several critics have regarded this novel as one of the best pieces of literature that came out of the Vietnam War. His service in Vietnam lasted a year, from 1969 to 1970. Throughout the novel, he emphasizes his opposition to the Vietnam War, considering it pointless and not worth the thousands of lives lost. That being said, he also emphasizes how brave the soldiers unwilling sent to war, even while confronting their misgivings.
The novel generally follows in chronological order, although at the beginning of the novel there are a few inconsistencies. During the first chapter of the book, O'Brien and another soldier hold still as bullets shoot over their heads as they lie motionless. Time and location are not named in the first chapter which is somewhat confusing. Although they are clearly in Vietnam, O'Brien says, "Tell them St. Vith," naming a Belgian town that played a crucial role in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. This chapter was written to put readers in the shoes of a soldier and shows that even though war changes, the emotions soldiers feel don't.
After the first chapter, the book follows something close to chronological order. The book examines how O'Brien wound up in Vietnam by going back to the beginning, his childhood in Worthington, Minnesota. He explains that his family and community were very patriotic, but oddly enough he had decided that he was against the war. He then receives his draft notice, which prompted him to flee to Canada to dodge the draft. He decides not to flee because he didn’t want to feel ashamed and he didn’t want to tarnish his family's reputation by dodging the draft. He was assigned to the Alpha Company of the Landing Zone Crocodile. During his time in Vietnam.
As the book comes to an end, If I Die in a Combat Zone discusses both the moral and legal issues surrounding the war. Alpha Company was protecting a village when it accidentally got bombed, O'Brien was airlifted out of the village and offered a job as a typist at the rear. Major Callicles, who O’Brien is under order, is an officer under investigation due to the My Lai Massacre. As the investigation gains more public attention it causes him to second-guess himself yet again..
When O'Brien leaves Vietnam and boards a plane back home, he arrives in Minnesota. As the soldiers boarded the plane, O’Brien could feel the feeling of depression seeping out of the other soldiers. The moral complexity of the war had taken such a heavy toll on them and had each of them weighing their own scales pondering their fate. In contrast to other war stories, If I Die in a Combat Zone does not end on a triumphant note. Rather, he sees himself as a pawn on a chess board, being served up to a war he doesn't believe the U.S. can win.

Originally published in 1973, this book marks the author's debut and offers an analysis of human and moral ambiguities during the Vietnam War. The narrative stands out for its frankness and brutality, conveying a stark awareness: wars are essentially ruthless. In Vietnam, American soldiers often realized they were not defending any lofty principles, but simply wished to return home as soon as possible. They were perceived as invaders, arousing hatred rather than admiration. War is far from heroic: the group often finds itself committing atrocious acts against innocent civilians, as the threat of an enemy is constantly present, and the fear of being killed drives them to react with preemptive violence.

Parts sounded so much like a couple of his other books I’ve read. Goes back and forth between story and philosophical wondering. It’s just hard to follow, but there are some really poignant parts.