Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

29 reviews

134340's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Drug abuse, Cursing, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Gore, Drug use, and Blood

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Cancer and Sexual harassment

nataliegoodman13's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

For me, the difference between a 4 star and a 5 star is how often I think about it. I’ve thought about this book so frequently, and I’ve talked about it with practically every veteran I know. Can’t recommend it enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

sunn_bleach's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Harrowing yet gorgeous. This book blends the line between reality and story so strongly that I still don't really know what happened to O'Brien and what didn't - and I also don't think that's really the point. This is a meta book, as much about how to write a war novel and the fantasies we tell ourselves as it is about the Vietnam War itself. Hopeful? Perhaps, if survival itself is hopeful. I feel like that's almost an insult to the platoon, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gun violence, and War

Moderate: Child death and Cancer

Minor: Sexual violence

theminnesotawitch's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

A book about the horrors of the vietnam war. It's very reflective and beautifully written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, Colonisation, Drug use, War, Grief, Gore, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Cursing

Moderate: Suicide

brotestantethic's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

(Reread.) I read this mainly because I knew I wanted a good book, and I wanted to know if it’s held up since I was 17. It has. O’Brien has an imaginative and unique literary voice that sticks with you and influences the way you see the world. His magical realism—both hidden and self aware, to the point where you’ll never know where he’s going—makes this one of the most completing reads of all time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, War, and Gun violence

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Animal cruelty

inkandbooksforever's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Drug use, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, War, Self harm, Gore, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Colonisation, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

ada_elisabeth's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

"I'm skimming across the surface of my own history, moving fast, riding the melt beneath the blades, doing loops and spins, and when I take a high leap into the dark and come down thirty years later, I realize it as Tim trying to save Timmy's life with a story." 

The Things They Carried is a slim novel, less than three hundred paperback pages, but Tim O'Brien managed to pack so many emotions, horrors, and stories into them. Told in a collection of interlocking short stories, the novel is about the Vietnam War, and O'Brien doesn't leave out a single gory detail.

The characters, especially Rat Kiley and Jimmy Cross, were dynamic, well-written, and astonishingly real. The triumph and the pain these characters felt was tangible; O'Brien's book is an extremely effective anti-war novel. 

This book was horrible in the best way, and in the horror, O'Brien managed to create something of beauty: the poetic prose and amazing story-telling of The Things They Carried made it one of the most impactful books I've ever read. 

5/5 stars. A must-read for everyone. The heartbreak, fear, and misery that this book brings is not to be ignored. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Death, War, Animal death, and Gun violence

alliekaye23's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I know cruelty was a part of the Vietnam war, but one particular chapter featured extremely unwarranted violence against an innocent, and it was very hard to read. It got its point across though, absolutely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Drug use, Excrement, Torture, Cancer, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Gun violence, Grief, Terminal illness, and Violence

serenity_by_jan's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Well-written reflection on the experience and consequences of war. The writing style is rather flowery and can be verbose at times, but overall it was a good read. although it is a compilation of “war stories“, it is very centralized around characters and their relationships with one another and themselves. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Violence, War, Gun violence, and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual content and Suicide

Minor: Racism, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

huddlekay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

What a Beautifully written picture of a horrible time in History. O'Brien's storytelling is unique and fantastic. Beautiful writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Torture, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and War