The Things They Carried

I am enjoying the book, The Things They Carried. It is a moving story that carries the reader through the author’s eyes of the Vietnam War as a soldier. He tells about his different encounters with danger, the Vietcong, and death. Many of these stories are sad and include different friends of his dying in sad ways. Many of the characters such as: Kurt Lemon, Kiowa, and Ted Lavender have all died in instances that didn’t even include seeing the enemy. Different emotions also fill the reader while reading each instance of death with each character. When Ted Lavender was shot in the head, I felt bad for the guy but wasn’t really too touched because he wasn’t much of a character in the book. When Kurt Lemon tripped on the rigged 102 round it made me feel sad for Rat Kiley because that was his best friend. They did many things together and the irony was that Kurt had many times when he should have died but didn’t and then while he was playing a simple game with his friend he accidentally tripped on a rigged 102 round and died. When Kiowa died I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Norman because he tried the hardest to save him but just couldn’t.
This book is very interesting and I’m enjoying reading every chapter.
Stephen Bradley