The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried (Audiobook)
Written by Tim Obrien

Usually after a few pages, or at least a chapter of a book, I know whether I’m going to like, love, or hate a book. In my experience it’s all down to the author’s voice, not the actual plot. So if it’s not working for you in the first chapter, that’s not going to change by the time you get to the end. That’s why I no longer persevere with a book that isn’t working for me. Life’s too short. And finding out what happens at the end rarely balances out the torturous perseverance.

With this book however my initial perception was turned on its head. After the first chapter, I thought it was going to be an average Vietnam war novel. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it at all.

And then suddenly the story stops and the author starts talking about writing, and story-telling, and truth, and real truth, and story truth, and memory, and and rose-tinted glasses. And suddenly we’re in the territory of metafiction and narrative non-fiction. Which is when I really perked up. This was suddenly an altogether different book. The writing was so sharp, and dripping with a life experience that few of us could imagine, and even fewer of us could so expertly depict.

Where it falls down slightly is that there is a lot of overlap between the stories, and it becomes more and more obvious that this is not a book but series of previously written essays. A collection of brilliant essays, but still, a bit of editing could have possibly reduced the overlap and repetition.

On the audio end of things, it’s narrated by none other than Bryan Cranston. And if you think it couldn’t get any better than that, there’s a bonus chapter where the author revisits Vietnam with his daughter years later, and he narrates that chapter himself which is dripping with that old soul life experience. And it’s a perfect finish to a great audiobook

The Things They Carried (Flamingo)

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