If I Die in a Combat Zone

Tim O'Brien

Those that liked The Things They Carried will like this book, which is in many ways a continuation of (or prequel to, since I'm not certain which came first) this book. In The Things They Carried O'Brien focuses on the baggage that is carried into the war - rabbit's feet, letters, other good luck charms and fetishes, as well as the mental baggage of an unpopular war with no clear objectives and no rules.

"If I Die in a Combat Zone" is similar in that early on it goes back and forth between the US, where again the idea of avoiding the war is explored, and Vietnam. After a few stories the focus becomes entirely Vietnam - and the struggle for survival and sanity. In my memory "The Things They Carried" is not quite as graphic as "If I Die in a Combat Zone", but that could just be the mental fuzz imposed by time. Each story is more or less independent and could stand alone in an anthology in the same way that the title story of The Things They Carried was in one of the "Best American Short Story" collections.