Two weekends ago, I went to a conference about 5 ½ hours away from my house (300 miles, I think? I’m so American for thinking in hours and minutes…). To prepare, I decided it would be time to reinstate my habit of listening to audiobooks. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried caught my eye, because it’s one of The Chancellor’s all-time favorite books. And then, I saw the narrator for the audiobook and instantly decided that yes, I needed to read it.
You guys, BRYAN CRANSTON reads the audiobook.
OMG. His voice is rich and…and…plummy. It made my listening experience incredible, and made me want him to read ALL the things.
Also, The Things They Carried is an amazing book. O’Brien tells us the stories of war, of his platoon, of their stories, and the stories they tell each other. Here, O’Brien plays with the nature of truth. While there is a character named “Tim O’Brien” in the novel, not all the events in the novel are based on his own life experiences, nor did all these things happen to him. Yet they happened to someone. And that’s the point. “How to Tell a True War Story” is one of the most incisive stories in the collection—it plays with truth and reality, while also examining the way we construct history and mythology in American culture.
I really, really want to teach this book now. It’s an incredible experience, and it uncovers the way we tell ourselves and each other stories to save ourselves from despair.
