This is heavy stuff.
These short stories show aspects of being a soldier that civilians can't possibly imagine, and can't possibly come close to experiencing or feeling. The fact that I have literally no connection to the military life is what makes Tim O'Brien's writing even more incredible: he makes me feel it. Some sentences and realizations can take your breath away.
Anyway.
I decided to discuss "On the Rainy River," one of the longer and more involved stories. Also, it's one of the most personal: the first thing O'Brien says is that he's never told anyone this story before. Briefly, the story covers a young, college-grad O'Brien who just got a draft notice for Vietnam. He does not want to go. He decides to drive for Canada, and stops at a lodge only occupied by an elderly man. He stays there for 6 days, struggling with his choice and life, then eventually decides he can't leave for Canada. He decides to go to war. He drives home.
A simply "plot" line, yes, but the incredibly magnitude of this decision is transferred to the reader through O'Brien. His writing style is very matter-of-fact and clear, and sometimes very detailed. He occasionally writes huge lists of very specific items, or goes into great detail about how his job at the meat-packing plant worked. Then he'll go back to his private thoughts, mostly the colossal struggle between leaving his old life behind for freedom, or staying and fighting a war he can't believe in.
Then he'll get surreal, and beautiful.
The climax of the story comes when he and the elderly man go out on a boat for fishing. O'Brien finds himself literally staring at the shoreline of Canada. It's his chance to make it. He sees his life flow before his eyes into the river, and then on the American side his entire family appears, cheering for him to come back. Then his friends, and school teachers, the mayor, the townsfolk, everyone is there yelling and cheering for him, and this visual representation ("A hallucination, I suppose, but it was as real as anything I would ever feel.") of the internal struggle is amazing.
Love it.
Will keep reading.
I really like your description of O'Brien's writing. The way he flows from his inner thoughts to his external experiences to his analysis of his own thoughts is both smooth and drawing. I feel myself being pulled into the story. The way he writes is so personal and even though most of us don't know what it's like to experience something like that, it is almost like O'Brien is trying to get us to relate to his experiences. His writing flows from an almost dreamlike state to real representation of facts. Of all the novels we have read, this feels the most real and engulfing for the reader.
ReplyDeleteThe way you described On The Rainy River was very original. I liked how you described Tim O' Brien's style of writing and how there was your personal touch about the whole story. Each and every description that O' Brien made in this story was very visual and imaginable yet it is very hard to feel what it was actually like to go through all those kind of experiences. His writing is very intense yet kind of comical to me. I really liked your way of presenting this story and how you described the plot and also the climax of the story.
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