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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
misery miserable remember reading the things they carried as a teenager and crying? this wasnt like that it was more like abdominal discomfort
"HOPE COMES HARD" IN O'BRIEN'S "JULY, JULY"
Tim O'Brien's 2002 "July, July" highlights the dreams deferred of the Vietnam War era. The story centers on ten individuals attending their 30-year college reunion. It then breaks into short stories about each character and focuses on a flaw, a desire dashed, of this '60s generation.
These stories are dark. The 60's hang over the characters like a deep shadow; shadows of past ideologies... women's liberation, dreams of suburban home-life, a draft deserter, a war hero, etc. Unless you are willing to step back and analyze the text and the way this specific culture shaped America, I would advise against reading this book. It may appear a jumbled, detailed mess otherwise.
With ten different main characters, the need to hold each specific detail in hand isn't necessary. O'Brien evokes the feeling, the philosophy of the time, and deconstructs it. He shows the hold that these ideals had on people and how clinging to those ideals can be damaging. In the end the characters try to reach a messy catharsis by acknowledging and speaking their broken ideology, resulting in one of the most unique and intricate endings in literature.
David, the Vietnam vet, has a particularly gripping story. O'Brien pairs David's wounded war story with the news about the USA landing on the moon. He shows that while America was reaching for and obtaining its dreams, it was dabbling in darkness. All the while this dream gave hope, too. If one can reach the moon, what can't be accomplished? Thus the genius of O'Brien.
Tim O'Brien's 2002 "July, July" highlights the dreams deferred of the Vietnam War era. The story centers on ten individuals attending their 30-year college reunion. It then breaks into short stories about each character and focuses on a flaw, a desire dashed, of this '60s generation.
These stories are dark. The 60's hang over the characters like a deep shadow; shadows of past ideologies... women's liberation, dreams of suburban home-life, a draft deserter, a war hero, etc. Unless you are willing to step back and analyze the text and the way this specific culture shaped America, I would advise against reading this book. It may appear a jumbled, detailed mess otherwise.
With ten different main characters, the need to hold each specific detail in hand isn't necessary. O'Brien evokes the feeling, the philosophy of the time, and deconstructs it. He shows the hold that these ideals had on people and how clinging to those ideals can be damaging. In the end the characters try to reach a messy catharsis by acknowledging and speaking their broken ideology, resulting in one of the most unique and intricate endings in literature.
David, the Vietnam vet, has a particularly gripping story. O'Brien pairs David's wounded war story with the news about the USA landing on the moon. He shows that while America was reaching for and obtaining its dreams, it was dabbling in darkness. All the while this dream gave hope, too. If one can reach the moon, what can't be accomplished? Thus the genius of O'Brien.
I absolutely love Tim O'Brien's writing. I have never been much of a fan of war movies or memoirs, but ever since my sophomore year English teacher taught a unit on war and we read "The Things They Carried" I have enjoyed his work, in spite of such an evident focus on Vietnam. Something about his language is so comfortable to read, and always has some sense of nostalgia, no matter how grand or minute. Additionally, he pays a great attention to character development and can juggle many plot lines and people throughout the course of a novel.
I struggled a bit with reading "In The Lake Of The Woods" and don't think I ever actually finished reading it. So I was excited to find out he had a new(er) book, and didn't even care what it was about. "July, July" was a bit of a departure from what I see as O'Brien's "conventional" writing style, but it still was unmistakably his. The thing I have noticed the most about him is he is definitely a short story writer. Even his books that are meant to be read as novels are written in such a way that it feels like a collection of short stories put together. The flow in this book was natural and seamless, but each chapter still read like its own separate complete thought - which I am beginning to think is my favourite trait of O'Brien's.
What I enjoyed the most in this read was how honest it read, but also how hopeless it was. All the characters were real and relatable, and there was a sense of disparity about the human condition communicated through each of them. But it felt OK, the hopelessness, because it's a part of life. Not the best work of his that I've read, but I definitely don't think there's such a thing as his worst.
Began: January 27, 2009
Ended: February 6, 2009
Page Count: 322
I struggled a bit with reading "In The Lake Of The Woods" and don't think I ever actually finished reading it. So I was excited to find out he had a new(er) book, and didn't even care what it was about. "July, July" was a bit of a departure from what I see as O'Brien's "conventional" writing style, but it still was unmistakably his. The thing I have noticed the most about him is he is definitely a short story writer. Even his books that are meant to be read as novels are written in such a way that it feels like a collection of short stories put together. The flow in this book was natural and seamless, but each chapter still read like its own separate complete thought - which I am beginning to think is my favourite trait of O'Brien's.
What I enjoyed the most in this read was how honest it read, but also how hopeless it was. All the characters were real and relatable, and there was a sense of disparity about the human condition communicated through each of them. But it felt OK, the hopelessness, because it's a part of life. Not the best work of his that I've read, but I definitely don't think there's such a thing as his worst.
Began: January 27, 2009
Ended: February 6, 2009
Page Count: 322
Meh. I finished this a few days ago but hadn't had a chance to write a review. I'm having problems summoning up the enthusiasm to write much about this book. I didn't think it was very good - had problems keeping track of the characters, couldn't relate to them, the book didn't really seem to go anywhere.
I have to admit I don't have a lot of patience for boomers talking about their milestones - I've heard a lot about it over the years and don't care anymore. This college reunion is so mired in its particular set of Vietnam, free love, protest the war memories that it doesn't manage to achieve any kind of universality that one can relate to. I found it surprising that the ten characters the book focuses on all carry such baggage from relationships 30 years in the past. They were all relatively unhappy and all seemed to be maintaining feelings for one another - good and bad - that one thought they should have moved on from.
There is absolutely no reason to recommend this book. If you want a similar experience, go watch the The Big Chill. It's better and shorter.
I have to admit I don't have a lot of patience for boomers talking about their milestones - I've heard a lot about it over the years and don't care anymore. This college reunion is so mired in its particular set of Vietnam, free love, protest the war memories that it doesn't manage to achieve any kind of universality that one can relate to. I found it surprising that the ten characters the book focuses on all carry such baggage from relationships 30 years in the past. They were all relatively unhappy and all seemed to be maintaining feelings for one another - good and bad - that one thought they should have moved on from.
There is absolutely no reason to recommend this book. If you want a similar experience, go watch the The Big Chill. It's better and shorter.
I read this as a teenager, and loved it; then I reread it in the spring of 2010, and was somewhat disappointed. The plotting and characterization are a little facile, honestly, although there are still moments of lovely prose.
Having read some of Tim O'Brien's work before, it had some promising parts to it. His recap of the war and general tragedy was realistic, as well as somewhat depressing at times. Despite the mixture of chapters it was the character's back story that kept the momentum of the story going; the reunion chapters were at times dull; at the lack of closure on most (if not all) was a little frustrating - I guess that was the wider moral. It was alright overall, nothing life-changing.
Uninspired tale of a college reunion; one night with these people was not much of anything.
My mom is a music historian and professor, and when I was little and I stayed home sick from school, I would sit in on the classes she taught. One of these times she was teaching Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, which has remained one of my favorite pieces of music. She said to her class that the Bolero was, the encapsulation of a single, sustained crescendo.
This book is essentially the encapsulation of a flashback. Tim O’Brien is always a lyrical and evocative writer, but he is uniquely able in this book to sustain the feeling of a flashback. I would make the argument also that a flashback is different than books that change timeframes throughout - O’Brien gives his sections in the past the feeling of being anchored to the present, and the cliched feeling of memories coming “rushing back.”
Of the Tim O’Brien books I’ve read this feels the least comfortable for him, as it’s (I think) less-trod territory (disclaimer that I’ve never read Tomcat in Love), and as such it’s a little uneven. All the characters feel well-defined and sharp in terms of personality and history, but the flashbacks of some are more nuanced and complex than others. (David’s war chapters and Billy’s draft dodging chapters are, perhaps obviously, some of the best.) However, this is a quibble born of knowing Tim O’Brien is an incredible writer whom I trust; with someone else this probably wouldn’t even register.
I wasn’t in college in the 70s, obviously, and I don’t think I’ll attend my college reunion (though you never know). I certainly didn’t have the overlapping entanglements with my circle of friends like the ones in this book. But I imagine if I did, attending a reunion after 31 years would feel an awful lot like this: formerly idealistic, unrealistic, naive kids who are exactly who you thought they’d turn out to be, and/or slightly disappointing - kind of like a predictable reunion, off kilter because of a year’s delay and ending mostly how it began - frustrating, unsatisfying, unchanged.
This book is essentially the encapsulation of a flashback. Tim O’Brien is always a lyrical and evocative writer, but he is uniquely able in this book to sustain the feeling of a flashback. I would make the argument also that a flashback is different than books that change timeframes throughout - O’Brien gives his sections in the past the feeling of being anchored to the present, and the cliched feeling of memories coming “rushing back.”
Of the Tim O’Brien books I’ve read this feels the least comfortable for him, as it’s (I think) less-trod territory (disclaimer that I’ve never read Tomcat in Love), and as such it’s a little uneven. All the characters feel well-defined and sharp in terms of personality and history, but the flashbacks of some are more nuanced and complex than others. (David’s war chapters and Billy’s draft dodging chapters are, perhaps obviously, some of the best.) However, this is a quibble born of knowing Tim O’Brien is an incredible writer whom I trust; with someone else this probably wouldn’t even register.
I wasn’t in college in the 70s, obviously, and I don’t think I’ll attend my college reunion (though you never know). I certainly didn’t have the overlapping entanglements with my circle of friends like the ones in this book. But I imagine if I did, attending a reunion after 31 years would feel an awful lot like this: formerly idealistic, unrealistic, naive kids who are exactly who you thought they’d turn out to be, and/or slightly disappointing - kind of like a predictable reunion, off kilter because of a year’s delay and ending mostly how it began - frustrating, unsatisfying, unchanged.