The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brien, 1990)

I believe this is a considered a novel, and properly so.   But O'Brien mixes in his own Vietnam experiences and the effect is really powerful.

I was a bit too young to grasp much of anything about the war while it was taking place - a constant topic, but we never talked with any returning veterans or did much of anything beyond following news accounts and listening to politicians blather on.  The author here permitted my imagination to kick in.

Part of the effectiveness - his Midwest roots.  The story of Norman Bowker is heartbreaking.

Recommended.

The Education of Little Tree (Forrest Carter, 1976)

Book club selection (via Zach; session held July 19, 2016).

Interesting back story - a white supremacist wrote this book recounting childhood experiences of a young orphan boy who spends a few years living with his Cherokee grandparents.  Despite this - I think it works.

The author did display an incredible amount of "local knowledge" - interesting to think that this deep local knowledge exists for any type of place occupied by humans at any time period, I don't think about this enough.

Sometimes too smug - wears out the noble Indian, bad whitey, evil businessmen themes; also the five-year-old seems unrealistically mature and capable throughout (although this is set up as a memoir, so an adult writer might so interpret things).

I did appreciate Grandpa's attitude toward politicians and guv'mint.  Wise man.

Chapters are somewhat repetitive, but as the book goes on this contributes to the effect.  Sad as they look at Sirius.  The Jewish peddler.

Also made me think about the loss of the Nations - which was more than loss of a political subdivision, it led to the loss of a particular way of life - story of John Willow - different than voluntary emigration.

Key characters die off pretty quickly at the end, and then a 8-10 year old goes wandering?