I don’t usually enjoy war books. I hated All Quiet on the Western Front when I read it in high school, and it turned me off of the whole genre for a while. I know, I should probably go back and re-read it with my adult eyes that appreciate those things more, and I’m sure I will at some point. I’d been hearing about The Things They Carried for several years and had been putting it off, sure that it was going to feel as dull and boring as I remembered those other war books being. I finally got around to reading it shortly before I started blogging, and I regretted that it took me so long to come around. It’s fantastic and frightening and all too real. It’s no wonder some people are afraid of it.
The Things They Carried is a novel told in stories based on some of the author’s experiences in Vietnam. It’s a gritty book. There are several passages that are very difficult to bring. It brought me close to tears, and it made me feel like I was going to be sick, and I was horrified by the ravages of war and what it does to the human beings who fall victim to or commit unimaginable atrocities. It made me hurt for the young men who were shipped off to Vietnam, barely out of high school, and for those young men and women who are surely experiencing equally terrifying things in the current Iraq War. It was real and painful and powerful.
This book shows up on several lists of frequently banned or challenged books, but I had a hard time turning up specific information about why it was challenged. According to thispiece, a school board member in Arlington Heights, Illinois, who was elected after she promised to bring her religious values to bear on school board decisions, created controversy based on excerpts of the book she’d found on the internet. She probably didn’t like this too much:
Together we understood what terror was: you’re not human anymore. You’re a shadow. You slip out of your skin, like molting, shedding your own history and your own future, leaving behind everything you ever were or wanted to believe in. You know you’re about to die. And it’s not a movie and you aren’t a hero and all you can do is whimper and wait.
My hunch is that this book is just too real for some people, and they’re afraid of what will happen if young people are allowed to read the truth about war—that it is ugly and inglorious, that it changes people and scars them forever—that they may no longer be able to control or coerce them, or to use propaganda to achieve their own agendas.
Knowledge is power, and banning books is all about preventing others from gaining power (social power, political power, religious power, you name it) by denying them access to controversial materials. And I think people attempt to ban and challenge books because they are afraid that their own views might not seem so strong in the face of powerful opposition, so they’d rather do away with the opposition than be forced to examine concepts they want to believe in unquestioningly.
The Things They Carried appears on several high school reading lists in my area, and I think it’s a great selection, especially in today’s global political climate. I encourage you to read it, even if, like me, you don’t really go for war books. This book is about much more, and it has wonderful passages about writing and the writing life that are simply bonuses in an already amazing piece of work.
If you’re coming late to the banned books party, check out my other featured banned books: The Perks of Being a Wallflower—And Tango Makes Three—Catch-22—The Giver.
Devourer of Books is also featuring a banned book spotlight each day. See these: Kaffir Boy—The Grapes of Wrath—The Handmaid’s Tale—Native Son
And don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win a personalized, autographed copy of Matrimony by Joshua Henkin.
Filed under: Book Reviews, banned books week | Tagged: banned books, banned books week, Book Reviews, books, reading, the things they carried, tim o'brien, vietnam
I read this book for a college course and LOVED it.
Gosh I loved All’s Quiet on the Western Front. I do have The things They Carried on my wishlist, though I don’t read many books about war.
Ever read Japrisot’s A Very Long Engagement? That’s a great war novel.
I have never heard of this book. But definitely something I would love to read. And the para you posted is actually quite chilling
I haven’t read this book, but my son did in high school. He loved it and told me I should read it, but warned me that it would probably make me cry.
I read this in high school and it’s pretty intensely informed my opinion of Vietnam especially and war in general ever since. I think part of its power is in being so cinematic: I’ve never re-read it but ten years later I still picture the boy who wrapped his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck whenever I think of young soldiers.
Hi! I read this in college and was deeply affected. I was glad to have read it and I think that Tim O’brien does an excellent job Chronicling the life and an infantry man. Another haunting O’brien book is In the Lake of the Woods. I recommend it. I loved your review and reading your thoughts.
I’m right there with you – I usually don’t like war books. But I really loved this book, so haunting.
Another great review, and another book I am adding to my list!
This part of your review was particularly striking to me: “My hunch is that this book is just too real for some people, and they’re afraid of what will happen if young people are allowed to read the truth about war—that it is ugly and inglorious, that it changes people and scars them forever—that they may no longer be able to control or coerce them, or to use propaganda to achieve their own agendas.”
I find it scary that more and more people realize that the information we are fed is calculated, but that no one makes the effort to break through it… I would have thought that people would make more effort to seek the Truth, rather than the one fed to them, but I guess not…
A poem came to mind when I read this review…about the glorification of war…by Wilfred Owen (1893 – 1918) Dulce et Decorum Est. The last stanza reads (edited for brevity):
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
……………………………………….
My friend, you would no tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory
The old lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro Patria mori.
(Latin: It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s native land)
And, that is why I think war books, poetry and the history of wars are ever important. Especially first hand experiences.
My father and uncle both served in Vietnam (Australians)….I want to read more, so I’ll add this to my list.
I love Tim O’Brien. Haven’t read this one yet, but I will. I’ve read his “If I Die in a Combat Zone Box Me Up and Ship Me Home” and “In the Lake of the Woods.” Both are very powerful.
It makes me wonder – we are coming to realize the horrors of war, what can we do to make it stop? I am sure that we can use literature to not only raise awareness, but also to inspire activism!
hey this book blows a big one