The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien

This was a college literature class reading. It must have been during my senior year because I read it while Ben was in Iraq. The book takes place during the Vietnam war and so, while I read of the horrific war scenes and details, I became angst-filled knowing Ben was in a war zone himself.

Tim O'Brien writes about a unit of soldiers fighting in the war. I think I remember that this book is kind of autobiographical in the sense that the characters in the stories are based on people O'Brien himself knew during the war.

As the title implies, the basis of the book is talking about the things these soldiers carried and the significance each item played in that soldiers life. They carried things like love letters, dope, Bibles and other personal belongings. In contrast, they also carried each other's bodies, they carried the images and memories of the battlefield, they carried nightmares. The whole first chapter is a basically a list of what these soldiers carried. Subsequent chapters talk about what they carried when they returned home.

I remember having a profound interest in the military aspects of this book both because Ben was in Iraq but also because my oldest brother was a Marine. I gained a new respect for soldiers, no matter what position or if they ever fought in a war.

Flipping through my copy of the book I see notes and questions I wrote. In the front cover I wrote: "Why do we carry things? What happens when we carry too much?" This is an interesting way of applying the stories in the book to real life.

A great read!