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Jul 26, 2019EljayJohnson rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This is a novel told in the form of short stories that could individually stand alone (and many did, according to the publishing history). O'Brien both tells his stories about his experiences as a "grunt" in the Vietnam War and discusses writing war stories (and even any stories) as cartharsis. He's also interested in how much "truth" there can ever be in writing - does the very process of writing change the experience being written about? That might sound like so much mumbo jumbo, but I found all of it very interesting, although reading the book was a fairly schizophrenic experience as you go from a very powerful story taking place during the war to an intellectual discussion on writing. O'Brien is an extremely gifted writer and as I was reading this, I felt like he was sitting next to me telling me his stories. I've rarely read something that felt so --- "immediate," I guess is the word I'm looking for. So all of that, plus I fell in love with Kiowa. A really great surprise all in all, especially since I had read his "In the Lake of the Woods" several years ago and didn't like it at all.