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!['The Things They Carried' by Tim 'O Brien is a masterful piece of writing that I recently read. I was surprised by the way the story grasps you and I want to share a snippet that was profound to me. If you are interested in the (vietnam) war, the experiences that civilians and soldiers had to go through, in a way that won't let you put down the book, this one is a treat.
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Snippet from the book - page 195.
Psychology - that was one thing I knew. You don't try to scare people in broad daylight. You wait. Because the darkness squeezes you inside yourself, you get cut off from the outside world, the imagination takes over. That's basic psychology. I'd pulled enough night guard to know how the fear factor gets multiplied as you sit there hour after hour, nobody to talk to, nothing to do but stare into the big black hole at the center of your own very soul. The hours go by and you lose your gyroscope; your mind starts to roam. You think about dark closets, madmen, murderers under the bed, all those childhood fears. Gremlins and trolls and giants. You try to block it out but you can't. You see ghosts. You blink and shake your head. Bullshit, you tell yourself. But then you remember the guys who died: [...]. Ghosts wiping out a whole squad of Marines in twenty seconds flat. Ghosts rising from the dead. Ghosts behind you and in front of you and inside you.
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Tim O'Brien's writing is so vivid and he is able to make you feel the way he felt during the experiences he went through. He also adds double layers within his story to make you rethink every sentence. The Things They Carried is about all the stuff they had, but also the mental toll it took. His detailed descriptions of someone dying or being shot makes you question right and wrong, heroes and villains and certainly empathy for every single one that had to endure the war.
Thank you for reading all this. It is terribly written compared to Tim's book. Have you read a book that made such an impact on you and your perspective? I'm curious to hear about it!
#thingstheycarried #timobrien #bookrecommendations #bookreview by @ruud.exploor](https://scontent-atl3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/623060712_18064307951279585_1791872366741366960_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=105&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiRkVFRC5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=38oS8poaX7MQ7kNvwG3ZR1T&_nc_oc=Adr95xWPV_Vh6_cxVSAW-6_u0vbj_Ds0T9GUB1-o-q6T8yimZrkbacBDRIfpTeAdJbah6qlpZDjJCKvRSYoNvLit&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-atl3-2.cdninstagram.com&_nc_gid=tXXaTeoiUpVX6Dm4PqPeOg&_nc_ss=70580&oh=00_AQT0r0yCXpDfsJK-bLdYQL5qPlesja-Qe_ZPTOkqM6M6xg&oe=6AF166DB)
