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 The Things They Carried 
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Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2004 6:04 pm
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I don't know how many of you have read any of Tim O'Brien's work. I discovered him around my junior year in high school and read his books The Things They Carried, Going After Cacciato, The Nuclear Age, and Tomcat in Love in quick sucession. They are all, in some form or fashion, about his time spent in Vietnam.

He spent a lot of his time in the Quan Ngai provice, where the Mylai Massacre took place. It really reminded of the scene in The Things They Carried when Rat Kiley shoots up a baby water buffalo after his friend Kurt Lemon is killed by a land mine. It is an act of extreme violence on an innocent without any provocation, made by a rational man in an irrational situation.

I would really recommend anything written by O'Brien. I own but have not read his autobiography If I Die In a Combat Zone (box me up and carry me home) about his time spent in the Quan Ngai. Has anybody read any other applicable books to suggest?

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Tobey Mitchell


Thu Jan 29, 2004 4:16 am
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I, too, read The Things they Carried in high school, and was reminded of this book while we were watching the video. I can't think of any books, necessarily, to recommend, but I do have a movie option. I'm not sure if you've ever seen Platoon, but Oliver Stone(the director) spent time in Vietnam and wanted to portray to the world what he saw. There's a scene in Platoon where they visit a small fishing village that reminds me (scarily) very much so of the MyLai massacre. If you haven't seen this movie, I would strongly recommend it, because it really encompasses what can happen to some men during war.


Thu Jan 29, 2004 1:04 pm
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I am currently reading Tour of Duty about John Kerry's experience in Viet Nam.

I am also reminded of a writer who came to ASU as a visiting professor in the English Department. I came to know him because his daughter was in my preschool at Lucy Brock. His name is Jade Huynh, born in Vietnam. He wrote a book, a story about what happened to his family, called South Winid Changing. He has also written poetry. He said he could never look at anything superficially anymore after all the trauma. He was very intense, and cared immensely about every little thing.

I get the sense that things matter very much to John Kerry, too. He has his own story in Vietnam, and with his trauma came a new set of lens to examine the world, and to see and feel more deeply.

I am glad you are interested in the arts, because I believe the arts carry the stories for us, over the generations, as nothing else can. Rebekah

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Rebekah Smith


Sat Jan 31, 2004 7:37 pm
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