The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Back Cover: They carried malaria tablets, love letters, 28-pound mine detectors, dope, illustrated Bibles, each other. and if they made it home alive, they carried unrelenting images of a nightmarish war that history is only beginning to absorb. Since its first publication, The Things They Carried has become an unparalleled Vietnam testament, a classic work of American literature, and a profound study of men at war that illuminates the capacity, and the limits, of the human heart and soul. I had to read this for english, but it was really good. Of course I was looking for things having to do with masculinity and violence, but it still catches your attention. There's short stories within the book, some have the same things and repeat themselves, the same event coming up 6 times in the book, but it's amazing. A really great book about war and the things that men, or you can even say, boys go through. Because all these things happened when they were my age, only 19 20 21 around there. And how these things they carried transformed their lives. Some couldn't take it, while others are still here today. Either way, they won't be the same ever again, no matter what they do. Going to war is an experience only those who did it can relate to each other. And the story at the end is the saddest, about a girl he knew when he was nine, Linda and she died of a brain tumor. Very sad. But the people he has in the book and the stories they go through is just amazing.