Going after Cacciato by Tim O’Brien

[George]

Please comment here on ‘Going After Cacciato’ by Tim O’Brien, 1979 National Book Award winner.

[Rick]

I have been looking forward to reading this one after finishing The Things They Carried. This is a great excuse to dive in. Now I have to ACTUALLY READ IT.

[George]

I am one third of the way through and find the novel an engaging, interesting reading experience.

I have read 'The Things They Carried', which is a vivid, concise, memorable collection of connected short stories about how it feels to be a foot soldier in Vietnam in 1969 and how the experience lingers on for the rest of a man's life.

Rick, what did you think of 'Going After Cacciato'? Which book did you prefer? 'Going After Cacciato' or 'The Things They Carried'?

[Rick]

Sorry but I still have to open it.
At least it has migrated from my bookshelf to my night table!
I will add comments as I get there.

[George]

Sorry, I misread your comment. I left out the ‘to’.

[Irene]

Started this last night. I struggle with war settings. The violence, the unnecessary suffering of both civilians and soldiers, the greed and lust for power that is so often behind armed conflict, all of it puts my stomach in knots. I find that I tend to hold my breath and plow through books with a war setting, trying not to let any of it get inside. I am doing that with this book which is set in a war that seemed immoral on nearly every level. As a result, I am not sure I let myself find the literary value in it. I just want to finish so I can say I read it.

[Rick]

Awww that is sad. Think of how astonishing it is to create order out of chaos. It is almost a godlike gift to those of us who have not got the firsthand experience and depend on people like O’Brien and Wilfred Owen and Sebastian Faulks to recreate it for us.

[Irene]

True, but everything in me seems to revolt at the context of war. It is a viceral reaction, like someone throwing up at the sight of blood. The only way to get through it is to shut down.

So, I am about 75% of the way through and not sure what to make of much of this. Is this cross continental journey supposed to be an alagory of some journey that society or the soldier makes during war or is it supposed to be the day dreams of the narrator as he works out his experiences, or....? Is Cacciato a spirit guide, an internal part of the narrator's personality, a real squadmate who becomes a representative of something more, or....? I am not sure how to read this novel. Maybe it is supposed to be ambiguous, but I am not sure I like ambiguity.

[George]

I found this novel an interesting, memorable war novel, set in the late 1960s in Vietnam. Paul Berlin was drafted to be a soldier in Vietnam. He thinks about his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam, mainly focussing on his comrades and the tragedy of seeing a number of soldiers he knew die. Paul reflects on his life and his lack of purpose and learnings through his war experiences. At an observation point he drifts off to sleep and dreams about what might have happened to private Cacciato, who has disappeared. Paul is uncertain as to what his future will be. What affect will his war experience have once he leaves the army? What career will he undertake? Will he marry? Where will he settle down? Will he travel? Will he stay in touch with his Vietnam army comrades? Who will his friends be? .....

I thought Tim O'Brien's, 'The Things They Carried', a more powerful, thought provoking reading experience.

Given your comments on war novels Irene, I do not think you would be comfortable reading 'The Things They Carried' as it is more violent and vivid, with some grossly memorable scenes!

[Irene]

Thanks for the warning about The Things They Carried. I have had that on my list of books to read because I have heard that it is powerful and well written, but if it is violent, I would not want to read it.

I finished it and I am still not sure how to read the travel sections which are the primary focus of the book. I don't know if it is simply the fantasies of a soldier trying to day dream his way out of the horror of a war, if it is a symbol of some deeper journey, if Cacciato is supposed to be a projection of some part of Paul's personality or some spiritual guide or simply a squad mate who has gone AWOL and can become the focus of a day dream.

[Rick]

Irene wrote: "Thanks for the warning about The Things They Carried. I have had that on my list of books to read because I have heard that it is powerful and well written, but if it is violent, I would not want t..."

Irene wrote: "Thanks for the warning about The Things They Carried. I have had that on my list of books to read because I have heard that it is powerful and well written, but if it is violent, I would not want t..."

There are at least a few EXCELLENT short stories in The Things They Carried that should not be missed. "On The Rainy River" is probably one of the ten best American short stories of all time; it's that good. If you just take that one, you will be one happy reader. It is not violent, by the way.

[Irene]

Thanks for that recommendation.

[Jessalyn]

I am a little late to the discussion, but I finally finished this. Depiction of death and suffering in war is hard to read for me, but I feel like it is an important thing to do. Reading about the suffering that happened helps to make it real for those of us who weren't there.

It took me a while to pick up on the fantasy part of the story versus the facts. Paul Berlin's way of placing certian events into a story backdrop is very typical of a person suffering from PTSD. Compartmentalization is a common method of coping with horror and trauma.

For a while near the end, I thought the entire plot line was going to be the final thoughts of Berlin as he lay dying, along the lines of Citizen Kane.

A well written novel. I will be thinking about this one for a while.

[George]

Thanks for your comments Jessalyn. The novel is a worthwhile, memorable read. It took me sometime to figure out Paul Berlin and his army colleagues going after Cacciato was part of a dream. I started suspecting the pursuit was a dream when someone in the pursuing party would just happen to see him in each of the different countries they travelled through.

[Jessalyn]

Yeah, I am not sure when it clicked for me, but the Tehran escape was where it started. I was reading a version I got through Paperback Swap and someone had underlined key words that finally made it clear.