From the 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 just beginning to absorb."

To find out more about this book you can go to this Amazon.com link for further information: Amazon.com The Things They Carried

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I am presently reading this book, and have offered to make it a book ray for book crossers who have it on their wish lists.

I have contacted the folks who had it on their wish lists, and posted it on the Bookring Forum. Here is the list as it stands now:

* calvarez4 (California)
* morpha (Oregon)
* agschoolgrad (Georgia)
* sp4home (Iowa)
* tabby90 (N.C.)
* bodesoda (N.C.)

Will send the book out after the holiday rush to start the book ray!
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Mailed to book crosser "Morpha" on January 17, 2005 via media mail!

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Told you I read fast.

At first, I was disappointed that the book consists of short stories, but the stories are all connected; so entwined, it is as if they are braided together. Sometimes particular incidents are portrayed repeatedly from different viewpoints, or from different states of mind. In this way, O'Brien involves the reader in the intensity of certain things that happened while he was in Vietnam. One can understand how these memories are burned into his brain and at times, cycle over and over. In writing and sharing these stories, O'Brien can begin to let go of some of his pain.
Shockingly brutal incidents become transformed into acts of beauty or love, but underneath it all lies the bottled up horror and sadness that he had to push away at the time in order to survive.
I don't particularly like war stories, per se. However, I have lately been reading real and fictional memoirs of war, particularly of World War I. Certain themes are common to all of these books, a certain emotional numbness that one develops in such situations, intense physical and emotional suffering, knowing that at any moment someone could die, the close camraderie that develops among a group of people that work closely together through prolonged intense situations.

The most poingnant story is where O'Brien tells of how he decided whether or not to avoid the draft by fleeing to Canada. I could almost hear him howling his agony from the deepest roots of his soul.

My favorite story is a nearly mythical tale similar to "heart of darkness" where a soilder arranges to have his girlfriend shipped in country for a visit, and she goes native is a quite unexpected and beautiful way.

The first story in this book is about the objects that the soldiers carry while on patrol. What the book is really about is the memories that the survivors of war carry within themselves for the rest of their lives.

Powerful.

Wil send to next person on the list when I obtain addy.

Mailing to agschoolgrad tomorrow.

Received in the mail today.

I liked this better than another book I have read by this author, but it is not among my favorite books. At times, the flow was hard to follow, and I was not sure if the author was referring to present events or past events and how the past clouded his present and future.

Will be sending to next person this week.

Thanks DoveiLibri for hosting the bookray!

The book arrived today. I have one book to finish first, then I will read this one. Thanks for sharing the book.

UPDATE 29Apr05: I was not overly impressed with the writing style of the author. This was the first time I have read books by Tim O'Brien. This was an interesting book, and I am glad that I have read it...but I am not sure that I would recommend this to my friends. I didn't really care for how the author repeated stories multiple times. I don't plan to seek out this author's other books.

I had thought that the book would focus on 'things they carried' and why and how those things affected their tour of duty. But only the first chapter seemed to deal with this matter.

Thanks again for sharing this book.

RELEASE NOTES:

This is on its way to tabby90.
USPS.com tracking number 02010521297509944781.

Got in the mail, thanks!

Although this is not my normal fare, this book was beautifully written. O'Brien was able to capture that these are not real stories made surreal by telling them but just the opposite. Surreal stories that can only be made real by sharing them with someone else. There is a certain measure of fascination with death and a pinch of immortality that comes from being published. Like morpha, I liked the stories about the near trip to Canada and Mary Ann. I'm sure Mary Ann is still there, a ghost in the jungle in a pink sweater.
Contacting bodesoda to send on.

Came in the mail today. Thanks for sending it my way.