The Things They Carried

This collection of short stories not only stand alone,  but bind together in a long intertwining nonlinear narrative. Initially, I hated this book. The first story about weights and measures of weapons that I didn't understand, and the cast of young male characters that I could not tell apart aggravated me. The story grew on me and I ended up really liking it. I never would have read it if I had not been made to because of school, and I am glad I did.

What I enjoyed about this book was the reflection. We all have something,  some trauma that feels like it nearly did us in. The major tragedy in our life haunts us in the dark night and makes quiet moments inside our head difficult. We hope that we do not have to live through anything worse than that thing. For the first part of my life, mine was the carbon monoxide suicide and accidental death of my grandmother and grandfather respectively. More recently, it was my ugly divorce and the subsequent loss of my family of origin as they sided with my ex-husband and left me by the wayside. Whenever I reflect, there these things are.

The moment the main character struggles with fleeing to Canada was a particularly well illustrated story. Elroy Berdahl is a stranger that does an extraordinary kindness in a dark hour. Tim O'Brien painted that turning point so vividly that my heart ached in throbbing empathy. I set the book down and laid my head back and cried.

The author is grappling. It's difficult. He fought a war he did not believe in. He saw things people should not see. He is still struggling. He cannot sleep. His family does not understand why he does not let it go.

I enjoyed the use of self aware metafiction. The story knows it is a story. It is conscious of itself.  It knows why it is a story and why that helps with the grappling. I felt that the main drive of the novel was that the author wanted to give us a story to give himself closure.