{"product_id":"the-things-they-carried","title":"The Things They Carried","description":"\u003csection aria-labelledby=\"things-carried-overview\"\u003e\u003ch2 id=\"things-carried-overview\"\u003eAbout The Things They Carried\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTim O’Brien’s linked stories follow the fictional soldiers of Alpha Company through the Vietnam War and its aftermath. The objects they carry reveal personal attachments alongside military burdens. A narrator bearing the author’s name returns to the experiences of those men, making the act of telling central to the book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eMemory, Imagination, and the Weight of Experience\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRead with attention to how a story can change when it is told again. Consider the relationship between an event, a remembered event, and the effect a narrator hopes to produce. The book invites discussion of the responsibilities involved in representing suffering and the ways storytelling can preserve a person’s presence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eElliot’s Reading Perspective\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the Forged interview, Elliot Ackerman identifies O’Brien among the veteran writers he read while preparing to enter the Marines. He describes discovering new meanings when he returned to those books after combat. On Green Door, he likewise names The Things They Carried among the works that helped shape his own ambition to write.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/book-club\/book-club-reading-guide-the-things-they-carried\"\u003eRead the The Things They Carried Book Club reading guide\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/section\u003e\u003c!-- Book context: The Things They Carried; Tim O’Brien; fiction in linked stories; Vietnam War; Alpha Company; original publication 1990; listed twentieth-anniversary US hardcover ISBN 9780547391175, March 22, 2010. --\u003e","brand":"Tim O'Brien","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47669780742306,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0717\/9200\/1186\/files\/The_Things_They_Carried_-_Cover.jpg?v=1789686332","url":"https:\/\/elliotackerman.net\/products\/the-things-they-carried","provider":"Elliot Ackerman","version":"1.0","type":"link"}