The Things They Carried By: Tim O'Brien
             This novel really made me feel what some of the soldiers of The Vietnam War must have felt. Through Mr. O'Brien's words I felt such things as the loss of companions and the all out horror of war itself. As a whole the novel was very touching. Since this book does take place during a war most of the situations that take place are those I don't have much experience with. Although, I do know what losing a close friend is like. I also understand the value of camaraderie. According to my knowledge of these two things I can see some of the hardships that were bared in this novel, and I can understand at least a part of what some of these men endured. I also understand the horror of war that is so prevalent in the novel. This novel contains many aspects of life all portrayed as a collection of stories.
             The main point of view in this story is usually the storyteller himself, but sometimes another character would jump in and the storyteller would tell the story from another man's point of view. The previous provides a kind of hazy view of where the storyteller actually belongs in the story, but the latter shows the skill of the story teller in being able to recite a story from another man's point of view. This style of writing provides the right amount of mysticism for some very powerful scenes. Although this novel contains many powerful scenes I will name a few that stick out in my mind. First, there is the time when Ted Lavender died. The scene depicts a tranquil man being shot and just falling straight to the ground without any other movement or objection. Even though the whole reason he was so very tranquil is because he was on drugs, the message still gets across. Many times after this you hear some of the other men talking about how calm he was or how he got shot while he was zipping his pants. Another powerful scene is the one where Curt Lemon steps on a booby-tra...