The Things They Carried (Jacen Ballou)

                               

 

Title of Book: The Things They Carried

Author: Tim O’Brien

#of Pages: 233

Star Rating *****

The New York Times: Book of the Century

A Pulitzer Prize Finalist

Why this book has value:

The Things They Carried is a shocking journey to another time, another place. It’s 1968 during the Vietnam War, the journey is very emotional. It’s about a time in our history, where the United States is in an upheaval over the war.  It is about a group of grunts, who are just kids, and the things they carried with them: the courage, the gear, the 14 pounds of ammo, the weapons, the 20 pounds of supplies, the radios and some surprising personal items. These young men wanted to know, this is a Quote, page 38: “Who started it, and when, and why? “” What really happened to the USS Maddox on that dark night in the Gulf of Tonkin?” The book takes you along their journey you learn what it might be like to experience war in the jungle, to experience the horror of tunnels, to be up on the AP. It will also tell you how it ultimately affected the soldiers: both, mentally and physically. It’s one thing to live it out fighting the war, with hoping to have salvaged some rectitude having had to make some hard choices, and then you think about going home at the end of the war. Then you figure out that the war isn’t over for you. Those who died never die in your mind, and those who lived died. Tim O’Brien was one of those grunts, one of those who lived through the Vietnam War and wrote about it. Writing about it is what saved him. Writing a book is what I believe every soldier from every war should do, we are still in a war in another place, we: meaning the soldiers, are still dealing with the same emotions, to the extent of suffering long after their tour of duty with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and as I said above “Those who died never die in your mind, and those who lived died” Perhaps if you read this book you might get a new perspective of what our soldier today deal with and maybe you can help them deal with their emotions on their experiences. We have lost so many of our brave young men to suicide from PTSD, they need your help.