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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
5 years later, not in high school English class anymore, and this book is still so good. Every story is visceral and gut wrenching and each character has so much personality.
Here are my favorite chapters organized loosely on theme:
Speaking of Courage & Notes & In the Field
How to Tell a True War Story & Good Form
Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong
The Ghost Soldiers
The Lives of the Dead
One of my absolute favorite parts of this book is how aware Tim O’Brien is of the “mythology” of himself and the war and how stories are told - just so so so beautiful I can’t say it enough.
“I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth… “Daddy, tell the truth,” Kathleen can say, “did you ever kill anybody?” And I can say, honestly, “Of course not.”
Or I can say, honestly, “Yes.””
Here are my favorite chapters organized loosely on theme:
Speaking of Courage & Notes & In the Field
How to Tell a True War Story & Good Form
Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong
The Ghost Soldiers
The Lives of the Dead
One of my absolute favorite parts of this book is how aware Tim O’Brien is of the “mythology” of himself and the war and how stories are told - just so so so beautiful I can’t say it enough.
“I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth… “Daddy, tell the truth,” Kathleen can say, “did you ever kill anybody?” And I can say, honestly, “Of course not.”
Or I can say, honestly, “Yes.””
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I got goosebumps as I closed the book for the last time.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
woah
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Injury/Injury detail
5 stars. wow. wow. wow. genuinely one of the most impactful books I’ve ever read. o’briens storytelling skills are sheer perfection, and I cannot praise this book enough. even if you aren’t a “war story” kinda person, I guarantee you, you will find something to cherish within this book. forever thankful to my ap lang teacher for introducing me to this masterpiece that I’ll take with me forever & ever.
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A well-crafted novel about Vietnam. I didn't find it as enthralling as Going After Cacciato, but then it's a very different kind of book. It's in the form of short episodes, and based, I believe, much more directly on his own experience of war, incorporating real events and real feelings, death and terror, rather than the fantastic, picaresque adventure of the earlier book. My favourit part was the very earliest section, in which the actual physical items carried by the soldiers are central to the narrative.