“Guys, tomorrow we are starting a new book called The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. It is an interesting book and I am sure you’ll enjoy it” my English teacher announced. Everyone in the class groaned, including me. I never had an interest in books, and I didn’t expect this book to have a great impact on me. Then the next day, as I received the book at first glance it seemed boring. The cover was just simple and ordinary. It had silhouettes of soldiers carrying their rifles and a dark background. I have never given much thought for soldiers or how their life was, all I was told is that they are trained people who just go out to foreign countries and become killing machines. After taking a glance and reading the blurb my teacher said, “Class, I need you all to read the first six chapters of the book and we are going to take a quiz on Monday”. The whole class was in shock when they heard this, nobody wanted to read the book, it felt like a waste of time.

            Later that day, I got home I finished my homework sooner than expected and I still had some time to kill. I decided to check out the book because the test sounded pretty important. As I opened the book I saw the name of the first chapter, “The things they carried”, and I thought to myself “Is this book going to be in third person point of view?”, as I kept reading it seemed more and more that I was right. Until I got to chapter two and that is when the story began. The book changed its point of view from a third-person point of view to a first-person point of view, this allowed the author Tim O’Brien to create vivid images in my head as I read the book. He would describe the jets coming in and dropping bombs, how the mines would go off when a soldier stepped on one, and how he lost his platoon soldiers. This showed me the real harsh truth about war. As I continued reading, I began to appreciate veterans, all that I was told was a lie, these soldiers are real people that share something special between themselves in such a hostile environment. By the time I got to chapter six I wanted to keep reading, the book was very interesting, and I didn’t want to put it down. It was about 9 pm when I finished the first 6 chapters and my dad walked in and he was surprised that I had a book in my hands, he asked me “How come you are reading a book?” and I simply responded, “It is for a test”. He then continued by asking “What is it about?” and I explained everything to him, told him about how the author created a vivid description of war, how he managed to keep me engaged and wanting to find out more about what is going to happen next, and how his point of view changed the rest of the story. My dad was very pleased to see that I like the book so much and even he wanted to find out more.

            Then, the weekend passed, and Monday arrived. I had memorized the first 6 chapters and took the test; I aced it. A couple of months later, we finished the book. I noticed my view on reading and language had changed; I began appreciating reading and language because now I realized that every book has a deep meaning. The author has a deep connection with what they write, and this book made me see war differently because it doesn’t get anyone anywhere, only causes more problems. I didn’t expect this book to change me as much as I thought it would. The book was so vivid and made me experience what life was like during and after the war for veterans in Vietnam. I was upset and intrigued; this book showed me the harsh truth of war, how sane people go insane and do horrible things to themselves, how others can’t go back to their normal lives, and how some commit suicide. This book gave me an appreciation for war veterans and changed many of my opinions I had.