The Things They Carried - W. Elison Crum

Title of the Book: The Things They Carried
Author: Tim O'Brien
Number of Pages: 233
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a non-fictional book about war, throughout the book the author talks about story truth and emotional truth. It battles the idea of perspective and truth. The book character kills a man, Tim immediately pictures this mans life story and this burdens him for the rest of his life, eventually Tim creates a story of this man in order to make the victim more human.

This book is incredible unique because not only does it depict the sad reality of war it also battles reality within the time of war. In the book the main character Tim O’Brien is stated not to be Tim O’Brien although the similarities even with their names. This gives a unique outlook not only on the author's perspective but the perspective the author had in the time of war.

Tim O’Brien wrote this book in a style that I have not seen before. It jumps from different realities most commonly being ones from war and after war. This gives an amazing perspective of war because not only does it give the truth of the characters during the time of war but also after the war.

A memorable moment within the book is when an individual so hurt emotionally by the war did something just as evil as the war. He killed a baby buffalo in a painful and disgusting way because he had been hurt by events in the war. Another memorable moment is when an individual visiting the base eventually became so entranced with the war they became apart of the war.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. I believe that developing an understanding of an individual's life is a better way to develop your own morals and ideas. Although this book tends to show more of an emotional truth than a factual vague truth it is important to understand both sides.