#5 in Short stories
The Things They Carried
- 256
- Pages
- about 4.5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Things They Carried” links stories about an American platoon in Vietnam, and every line of it feels true. Whether or not each event happened matters little: grief, gore and remorse fill the book, and now and then the telling tips into the surreal without losing its conviction. Even some readers with no interest in the war itself are held by it. It is short and heavy, better taken one tale at a time.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Things They Carried (1990) is a collection of linked short stories by American novelist Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers fighting on the ground in the Vietnam War. His third book about the war is based upon his experiences as a soldier in the 23rd Infantry Division.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.2 across 591 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 80% of the weight and the score stays at 8.2 — the Short stories average of 7.8 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.7 | 42 | 7% |
| Hardcover | 8.2 | 549 | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Things They Carried?
It has 256 pages — longer than 59% of the ranked books in Short stories.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Short stories — with scores between 7.9 and 8.1, closest to this book.
