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Tarfumes.com - The Things They Carried
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $10.17
Your Save: $ 4.78 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Broadway
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780767902892
ISBN: 0767902890
Label: Broadway
Manufacturer: Broadway
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: 1998-12-29
Publisher: Broadway
Release Date: 1998-12-29
Studio: Broadway
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Editorial Reviews:
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One of the first questions people ask about The Things They Carried is this: Is it a novel, or a collection of short stories? The title page refers to the book simply as "a work of fiction," defying the conscientious reader's need to categorize this masterpiece. It is both: a collection of interrelated short pieces which ultimately reads with the dramatic force and tension of a novel. Yet each one of the twenty-two short pieces is written with such care, emotional content, and prosaic precision that it could stand on its own.
The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and of course, the character Tim O'Brien who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three. They battle the enemy (or maybe more the idea of the enemy), and occasionally each other. In their relationships we see their isolation and loneliness, their rage and fear. They miss their families, their girlfriends and buddies; they miss the lives they left back home. Yet they find sympathy and kindness for strangers (the old man who leads them unscathed through the mine field, the girl who grieves while she dances), and love for each other, because in Vietnam they are the only family they have. We hear the voices of the men and build images upon their dialogue. The way they tell stories about others, we hear them telling stories about themselves.
With the creative verve of the greatest fiction and the intimacy of a searing autobiography, The Things They Carried  is a testament to the men who risked their lives in America's most controversial war. It is also a mirror held up to the frailty of humanity. Ultimately The Things They Carried and its myriad protagonists call to order the courage, determination, and luck we all need to survive.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: This Book is a Touchstone
Comment: With nearly 700 reviews already, this book is not a touchstone for me alone. I'm a few years younger than Mr. O'Brien, am also from Minnesota, and participated in the last year of the draft. I remember sitting in a dormroom my freshman year with many other young men watching the draft lottery on TV. Three-hundred-and-sixty-six ping-pong balls bounced in a cage, one ball for every birthday of the year. The order they were removed was the order of the draft. At the ninth ball, someone groaned dejectedly. My birthday was two hundred and something--not likely to be called ever, let alone go to Vietnam.
I've explained this because when I first read "The Things They Carried," it was more out of an interest of how my life might have happened if my ball had come up number 9. Like O'Brien's character in the book, I would have not been brave enough not to go as asked. I would not have fled to Canada.
This book far surpassed my interest in the road not taken, one I'm glad I did not tread on. As a fiction writer, too, I've come to feel the many truths in this book that talk about what stories do for us. Fiction can reveal deeper truths than most autobiographies. We need stories, and sometimes I reread parts of this book when I need these particular short stories. One becomes part of every cell of this book. It's as if O'Brien created a warm bath and then opened his veins. While there's death in this book, it's all about life, our perceptions, and our needs.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Brilliant - Audio version was captivating
Comment: This review is based on the audio version. First let me say, that I generally do not care for short stories, and I have also managed to avoid most books about war. Once I began listening to this book, I would find myself sitting in my car (after having reached my destination) just to hear a bit more. The reader was fabulous and the stories ...all of them....just had me wanting to hear more.
The Things They Carried is a collection of short stories filled with tension. The stories are based on the Vietnam War experience of the author and his buddies. The reader/listener is drawn into each story involving the men of Alpha Company. You feel a part of the bond they have for each other, and you feel their anger, their isolation, loneliness and their fears as you listen to the voices of the soldiers.
This should be required reading for high school students in my opinion.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Powerful read
Comment: Tim O'Brien took me to a place I could not have imagined. At long last I now have a bit of insight into why so many of my friends who fought in Viet Nam, have found it so difficult to talk about. Beautifully written. Heart wrenching, exquisite, humbling - each person who served, and came back with even a modicum of sanity is to be cherished by us all, not by just their families and loved ones.
Customer Rating:
Summary: TIMELESS
Comment: "First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha . . . ." And I will always carry this book in my heart and mind. It is unforgettable.
Customer Rating:
Summary: GREAT!
Comment: I thought this book was good in both what happens physically to soldiers body and what happens mentally to soldiers body. a must read
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