The Things They Carried

If you have a good memory, you may recall that I published a review of Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried over at Thermidor Magazine on July 27, 2017. With Thermidor in the same condition as Old Howard, I’ve been republishing my old articles here, but for this one I’m making an exception - you can find it over at The American Sun [Note: As of July 2026, the link to American Sun’s original website is dead; I’ve updated it to point to their verison on Substack]. I think it was one of my best reviews from last year, so please give it a read, then give The Things They Carried a read.

After writing about Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried, an acquaintance recommended that I also check out another of O’Brien’s novels, Going After Cacciato. That sounded like a good idea to me, so I got a copy of the audiobook edition expecting another war novel along the lines of The Things They Carried.