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Absolutely gorgeous.
My favorite passage so far, from the short story, "On the Rainy River."
First sentence (p. 37): "This is one story I've never told before."
Last paragraph (p. 58): "The day was cloudy. I passed through towns with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, were I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war."
As my daughter Madeline noted in her review of "The Things They ...more
My favorite passage so far, from the short story, "On the Rainy River."
First sentence (p. 37): "This is one story I've never told before."
Last paragraph (p. 58): "The day was cloudy. I passed through towns with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, were I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war."
As my daughter Madeline noted in her review of "The Things They ...more
Some parts of this book (of course) I found excruciating to read ... the torture/murder/war crimes ....
but the way it's written is AMAZING and I'd give it a 4.5 ...
certainly I've only learned of Vietnam previously through movies like Apocolypse Now ... the written word is often so much more Powerful. ...more
but the way it's written is AMAZING and I'd give it a 4.5 ...
certainly I've only learned of Vietnam previously through movies like Apocolypse Now ... the written word is often so much more Powerful. ...more
O'Brien takes the groteque and writes about it beautifully. War is ugly and awful but his writing lets it read like silk. This ranks right up there with my other favorite war novels, Catch-22, Slaughterhouse Five, and A Farewell to Arms.
...more
Wow.
Captivating. Lovely. Frightening.
A great book.
I loved this book. Every character different, a whole different story, a whole different purpose and matter and drama. O'brien writes incredibly.
I think the quotes speak for themselves.
"He should've carried her up the stairs to her room and tied her to the bed and touched that left knee all night long."
"You can tell a true war story if it embarrasses you. If you don't care for obscenity, you don't care for the truth; if you don't care for the t ...more
Captivating. Lovely. Frightening.
A great book.
I loved this book. Every character different, a whole different story, a whole different purpose and matter and drama. O'brien writes incredibly.
I think the quotes speak for themselves.
"He should've carried her up the stairs to her room and tied her to the bed and touched that left knee all night long."
"You can tell a true war story if it embarrasses you. If you don't care for obscenity, you don't care for the truth; if you don't care for the t ...more
Apr 19, 2007
Kristen Iworsky
marked it as to-read
Jul 13, 2007
Heather Gassman
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Feb 20, 2008
Seema Shah
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Nicole
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Aug 27, 2011
Chas
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Dec 18, 2011
Jim Zubricky
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Oct 26, 2013
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Feb 08, 2014
Mandy
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