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A review by paul_cornelius
If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home by Tim O'Brien
4.0
You can see the outline of themes and stories that will recur throughout O'Brien's Vietnam War books in this, his first work, a memoir published in 1973. Perhaps because it is closer in time to the events it describes, If I Die in a Combat Zone has the ring of authenticity to it. Authenticity with an attitude. And that is far better than some of his later novels and short stories, which tend towards a preachiness that borders on the self-righteous. Still, I have the idea that sometimes O'Brien is fooling us with this "memoir." Without knowing anything about O'Brien or the time he pulled duty in Vietnam, I nevertheless feel that something is just a bit askew, here. Whether literally memoirs or not, the work stands on its own. And the cynicism, incompetence, lies, fears, and anger all comes through with a sense of actual experience. There are other attitudes and sides of the war, of course, but this particular one of O'Brien's is meted out to a war weary public already alienated from the war at the time of its publication.
It is also an accessible work. A little too much is made over the form of O'Brien's novels. There is a certain amount of gushing over his literary approach and elliptical style. In fact, it's something guaranteed to grab hold of the interest of high school AP teachers who think they've found something edgy and relevant for their students. But in fact almost all of O'Brien's work is accessible. He is not some Vietnam War version of James Joyce or Malcolm Lowry. He is not even a discount version of Jorge Luis Borges as some seem intent on making him. And, truthfully, he sometimes seems so engrossed with the form of his novels that it does seem he takes himself a little too self importantly in this regard.
All in all, however, this is a good work to provide insight to the experience of the war. Like his other works, however, the Vietnamese never appear more than as a sideshow. They generate sympathy, fear, and pity. But you never see them revealed. For O'Brien, it is as if they aren't really there. His world is one of bivouacs, firebases, camps, and outposts. Occasionally he encounters a hamlet, but its people remain mostly faceless, without lives or meaning of there own. I've always found this my main irritation with his writing, this sort of "Yessum, Bwana" attitude. Vietnam is also a country of rich scenery, vivid atmosphere, and a downright mystical air. But you'll never get any of this from Tim O'Brien. It's like he was never really there.
It is also an accessible work. A little too much is made over the form of O'Brien's novels. There is a certain amount of gushing over his literary approach and elliptical style. In fact, it's something guaranteed to grab hold of the interest of high school AP teachers who think they've found something edgy and relevant for their students. But in fact almost all of O'Brien's work is accessible. He is not some Vietnam War version of James Joyce or Malcolm Lowry. He is not even a discount version of Jorge Luis Borges as some seem intent on making him. And, truthfully, he sometimes seems so engrossed with the form of his novels that it does seem he takes himself a little too self importantly in this regard.
All in all, however, this is a good work to provide insight to the experience of the war. Like his other works, however, the Vietnamese never appear more than as a sideshow. They generate sympathy, fear, and pity. But you never see them revealed. For O'Brien, it is as if they aren't really there. His world is one of bivouacs, firebases, camps, and outposts. Occasionally he encounters a hamlet, but its people remain mostly faceless, without lives or meaning of there own. I've always found this my main irritation with his writing, this sort of "Yessum, Bwana" attitude. Vietnam is also a country of rich scenery, vivid atmosphere, and a downright mystical air. But you'll never get any of this from Tim O'Brien. It's like he was never really there.