I think my overall reaction to this book was quite different from most people's, based on the posts and comments I have been reading. So far, I have a bit of a mixed opinion on this book. Some parts are very interesting and well written. For example, one of my favorite parts was when he couldn't decide between going to war, or going to Canada. I really liked how he created such a vivid image. The audience watching him made the story that much more dramatic. That was one of the best parts of the book, in my opinion.
But there were parts of the book that I didn't like. I think I am going to talk about this more, since most people have mainly positive things to say about it.
I don't really like war books in general. I'm also very sensitive to gore, cruelty, and violence. I can barely watch scary movies, and it makes it that much worse when what I am reading is real. Also, Tim O'Brien's style of writing is a little bit jumpy and fragmented for me. Don't get me wrong, I think he has some very original ideas, and certain parts worked out great, but not all of it worked for me.
The repetition of the different weights and lists of items at the beginning got redundant after the first few pages. I think he went a little bit overboard on that. Also, his writing style is more fractured than I'm used to, so maybe I am just not really adjusting to that.
Another thing I thought that didn't really work for me was the unnecessarily detailed description of the water buffalo. I didn't really find that effective in proving his point. Sure, it had some shock value, and it was disturbing, but what is the point of those vivid descriptions? How did it improve the story? Some may think that it emphasized the way we look at animal cruelty vs. human cruelty, and it did on some levels, but I personally think that I wasn't right, or worth it to include this.
When I heard that there was the possibility that the buffalo story wasn't even real, I felt kind of cheated. Did he just make the whole thing up? What parts are true, if any?
I keep asking myself these same questions about the rest of the stories in the book. What is true? What is fiction? It's so difficult to decide. Perhaps no one will ever know.
