A review by kellylynnthomas
If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home by Tim O'Brien

4.0

First, I love Tim O'Brien, and this is an excellent memoir of being drafted and forced to fight in the infantry during the Vietnam War. This was his first book, and I think that shows. If I Die in a Combat Zone doesn't have the same surreal quality most of his novels do, although it's still beautifully written. There's a certain starkness to it, a certain emotional deadness. That sounds like a criticism, but it's actually not--I think he perfectly captures how he felt at the time, and it makes sense that you'd have to really dam up your emotions to get through such a horrific experience.

Although I wasn't alive during the Vietnam War, I've always looked to O'Brien's books to help me understand the "wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan, which started when I was a teenager. His work has also helped me understand my father-in-law and my partner's family better (FIL was a helicopter crew chief in Vietnam).