The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried
By Tim O'Brien

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1990.

The Things They Carried is located in the LFHS Library Media Center with the call number SC OBR (“Story Collections).


The Things They Carried is Tim O'Brien's ode to his comrades and their time in Vietnam. He holds nothing back, describing the horror and the ecstasy of war. While the inspiration for his story collection is the depth and breadth of his experience, he fully admits to exaggeration. He writes that “[Storytelling] is not a game. It's a form. Right here, now, as I invent myself, I'm thinking of all I want to tell you about why this book is written as it is... I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth” (179).

With the skill of an adept storyteller and with the happening-truth of his tour of Vietnam, O'Brien intensifies his experiences, drawing parallels between the brutality of war and the complexities of life. He pulls his audience into the muck, into the woods, onto the roads he walked with his fellow soldiers. He writes of life before, during, and after the war, of lives lived, lost, and found. He tugs at the audience's emotions and activates its gag reflex. In the end, he is telling his story, inflated with the intention of making his audience flinch and cry and feel with him.

The Things They Carried is an engaging but taxing read. It requires time to digest, even as the brevity of its stories makes it a quick read. For those interested in the art of writing, in the Vietnam War, and in the complexity of human nature, The Things They Carried is an excellent choice.