This month, in honor of Veterans Day, we’re changing up our book review. Instead of one author and one book, I’m featuring two novels written about being a soldier. These are books I’ve read that focus on war from a soldier’s perspective.
Full disclosure, I’m not a fan of war stories. My dad rarely spoke of his experiences as a paratrooper and infantryman in the Philippines during the end of World War II. My stepdad, who served in Korea and Vietnam and retired from the Navy, also preferred not to relive his time on the battlefield. Instead, he spoke of his fellow soldiers and the bonds they formed.
Parades, speeches, and fireworks honoring our veterans have their place. We should also honor their service by trying to understand their collective experiences along with celebrating battlefield wins. If we do this, we will not lose sight of the importance of providing services for our veterans. Many wounds cannot be seen by the naked eye. Some may never heal without proper support as our veterans transition back to civilian life.
All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) by Erich Maria Remarque – Remarque was a German soldier during World War I. He was drafted by his country and fought for a cause he didn’t fully understand. The honor of his homeland was at stake, or so they told him. Countless soldiers on both sides of the war fought bravely for their countries because they weren’t given a choice. As the war progressed, he saw soldiers and civilians killed and maimed. A major victory could be reversed the next day.
When Remarque returned home, his country was in ruins. Many of his friends were dead or permanently disabled. He turned his disillusionment into a powerful novel exposing the futility of war written from the perspective of a fictional character who is a soldier on the losing side.
Other Novels by Erich Maria Remarque (Titles in English with original German publication dates):
The Dream Room (1920) The Spark of Life (1952)
Station at the Horizon (1928) A Time to Live and a Time to Die (1954)
The Road Back (1931) The Black Obelisk (1957)
Three Comrades (1937) Heaven Has No Favorites (1961)
Flotsam (1941) The Night in Lisbon (1964)
Arch of Triumph (1945) The Promised Land (1970)
Shadows in Paradise (1971)
Photo of Erich Maria Remarque: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R04034 / Unknown author / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=95448188
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien - In 1968, O’Brien graduated from Macalester College with a B.A. in political science. Immediately after graduation, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Vietnam. He served from 1969-1970 in 3rd Platoon, Company A, 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment. His regiment was part of the 23rd Infantry Division which contained the unit that perpetrated the My Lai Massacre a year before his arrival in Vietnam. He and his fellow soldiers were unaware of the massacre because the Army initially covered it up. After learning of the atrocity, they finally understood why the people in My Lai were so hostile compared to other civilians they encountered.
The Things They Carried (1990) is a collection of semi-autobiographical short stories about his war experiences in Vietnam. The book includes some fictionalized events that are composites of his experiences as a soldier and a Vietnam veteran and the experiences of fellow soldiers. O’Brien purposely chose to blur the lines between fact and fiction in his work by blending actual events from his life and war recollections from fellow soldiers with unconfirmed stories that circulated in combat zones.
He contends that the “truth of fiction” is often more accurate than the “truth of fact or occurrence,” because “story truth” is emotional truth.
Works by Tim O’Brien:
Memoir:
If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up, and Send Me Home (1973)
Dad’s Maybe Book (2019)
Fiction:
Northern Lights (1975)
Going After Cacciato (1978)
The Nuclear Age (1985)
The Things They Carried (1990)
In the Lake of the Woods (1994)
Tomcat in Love (1998)
July, July (2002)
American Fantastica (2023)
Other Works:
“Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?” (1975) a short story
Photo of Tim O’Brien:
By Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=141256663