5 Books That Changed My Life: Part 2

In my Junior year of high school our English teacher, Mr. Potchatek, had us plow through some of the most detail-rich and sleep-inducing novels I’ve ever picked up. Works the like of “The Great Gatsby” and “Moby Dick” just to name a few. While, as usual, these books and their related assignments required much more attention than I was willing to give them, Mr. Potchatek made them fun. He helped us approach these books in ways that were different from other English teachers. Instead of telling us why we have to like and appreciate them, he showed us how to find our own reasons for appreciating them.

During that school year, we were given a list of books to check out from the school library. We were to read our chosen book and present a book report on it. I chose “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, not because of its subject matter, but because of the lack of pages. As usual, I put off reading the books, and writing the report, until a day or two before it was due to be handed in during class. As I crammed through the novel the morning before my report was due, I was astonished. Though “The Things They Carried” came at under 300 pages, including larger margins and type than most others, I was taken for a ride I never expected.

“The Things They Carried” is a book about author Tim O’Brien’s experiences while fighting in the Viet Nam War. It’s about the men he trudged through the balmy jungles with; Jimmy Cross, Norman Bowker, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Henry Dobbins and Kiowa. It’s about the locals they encountered and the deaths they were forced to endure. It’s a story about the emotional baggage our soldiers carried with them, mile after mile.

While this book is allegedly about Viet Nam, it’s about much more than that. Tim O’Brien conveys the strongest emotions living creatures are capable of: love, loss, humanity and humility. And he demonstrates these emotions in his writing so clearly and simply that it’s a slap in the face for anyone who considers themselves a writer. Here are a couple of examples:

Norman Bowker lying on his back one night, watching the stars, then whispering to me, “I’ll tell you something, O’Brien. If I could have one wish, anything, I’d wish for my dad to write me a letter and say it’s okay if I don’t win any medals. That’s all my old man talks about, nothing else. How he can’t wait to see my goddamn medals.”

Often in a true war story there is not even a point, or else the point doesn’t hit you until twenty years later in your sleep, and you wake up and shake your wife and start telling the story to her, except when you get to the end you’ve forgotten the point again.

The author’s other books are superb as well and while I highly recommend them, “The Things They Carried” is by far my favorite of O’Brien’s books. Tim O’Brien showed me that a great book doesn’t have to have a lot of fancy words. Nearly half the book has been underlined in pencil because there are simply so many passages that have leapt off the paper at me. He showed me that more often than not, less is more and simpler is better. That is why “The Things They Carried” changed my life – it showed me that you don’t have to write like Shakespeare to be phenomenal.

Related posts:

1. 5 Books That Changed My Life: Part 1
2. Books for Soldiers
3. Books boggle my mind
4. August Happiness Challenge