Reddit reviews The Things They Carried (Flamingo)

Hey, just wanted to drop a Vietnam War book recommendation for Sips and Pyrion (And Lewis i guess although he didnt seem to be into the whole vietnam part) on the off chance they check the thread.

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The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is a great collection of linked short stories about his experiences in Vietnam (some true stories, some not. Verisimilitude is a pretty big theme, that's why it was on my uni reading list)

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O'Brien was a writer before he was drafted in his early 20s so the stories are well written and considered. As a piece of shit English millennial, i'd always seen the now famous Vietnam news footage and seen some documentaries and such like but never really been able to grasp the history and tragedy of it all. Reading TTTC was what really brought the horror of the whole war into focus for me. I think the guys'd really get a lot out of it if they haven't read it already.

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It's not pretentious or gratuitous or exploitative. It's just very honest and raw.

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You can get a pretty cheap used copy on Amazon

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10/10 would recommend

Edit: Just saw a load of study guides for the book so it might be on school curriculums in the US? If so i guess its a lot better known than i thought

Second Edit: Also, looks like O'Brien was interviewed last year for a Vietnam War doc, so if that's the one Sips and Pyrion just watched then they probably already heard from the author!