This is an autobiography, or memoir, of Tim O'Brien's tour of duty in the Vietnam War. If you want to understand what the Vietnam War was like for an American soldier then this is a great memoir to read. He is college educated, thoughtful and reflective, but tells it like it is.
I was re-reading this book to decide whether I want to teach it this year with my Year 12 class. I still haven't decided. One of the things I noticed particularly this time around was the way the author switches from first to second person narrative. He uses second person (you) when he is talking about the worst parts of the fighting. I came to the conclusion that it could be more a way of distancing himself from the memories than a way of involving the reader, but it is a bit disconcerting switching pronouns from chapter to chapter.
What I like about this memoir is that he is completely honest about his feelings. He is drafted and doesn't want to go. He believes that the war is not a just war; that the US involvement is wrong. But he also feels his duty as a citizen. He considers dodging the draft, and later considers deserting before he is sent to Vietnam, but he can't bring himself to do either. The memoir starts in Vietnam for the first few chapters and then flashes back to him getting drafted, and after that tells the story in chronological order. For this reason, I think it is a more useful book to teach than his Pulitzer-nominated collection of short stories (The Things They Carried). Students tend to find that collection disjointed and don't get an overall picture. But the short stories are better crafted writing than the autobiography. Meh. Can't decide!
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