Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Going After Cacciato
Book Review: Cool
Summary: 4 Stars
Hey all you book readers! Try reading, "Going After Cacciato," by Tim O'Brien. It's a great war novel about a group of soldiers that are ordered to chase down a deserter. The setting starts in Viet Nam, continues on into South Asia, and finally ends up in Italy. Take note; this is all on foot. Tim O'Brien uses a lot of humor in this story. It sure kept me reading. If war novels don't interest you, or bore you to death, Tim O'Brien will change all that. He changed my attitude about reading. Before I discovered his work, I didn't even think about putting my hands on a book. I will admit, there are a lot of authors and books out there that aren't that good or don't fit your taste. All you have to do is match yourself up with one or more. The results are astounding. I have faith that O'Brien's writings can appeal to the young people out there who suffer from this anti-reading syndrome. Believe it or not, O'Brien actually helped improve my writing skills. From reading so much, I developed composition skills that have breezed me through the last two years of high school with an A to B grade point average. I'm not trying to brag, but going from a fail to an A student based on reading alone made a reader and a believer out of me. So I leave you with this review in hopes of getting through to at least one person. And remember, a book a day keeps the illiteracy away.
Book Review: Down the Hole and on the Road to Paris
Summary: 5 Stars
Tim O'Brien uses an elaborate three-part structure to tell the story of Paul Berlin, whereby three intertwined arcs combine to tell a soldier's story. The first arc is the most literal, where Paul Berlin is on night watch in a guard tower while his squad mates sleep. Berlin makes a small yet monumental choice: rather than wake his squad mates to perform their shift, he takes the entire night to keep the watch himself and dreams his story about the road to Paris. This second arc, the Road to Paris, takes place mostly in Berlin's mind--but intentionally begs the question, `what is real and what is imagined.' It begins with a real event, Cacciato's desertion, but after a perfunctory chase that concludes with his lieutenant informing headquarters that Cacciato is missing in action, the events of this narrative take place in Berlin's mind.
Shortly after midnight, Berlin wades into the sea and contemplates his guard tower: "an observation post with nothing to observe." What is really under observation is Paul Berlin's experience in the Vietnam War, both how it happened and how it might have happened. Control is a constant motif throughout the novel, whether exerted by Lieutenant Martin ordering the soldiers to certain death in the tunnels, seeking control by chasing Cacciato to return him to the ordered existence of Army life, or the control of Berlin's story.
In the real war, he has no control, but in the guard tower he takes control. Literally, he does not wake the others and return to his rightful sleep; he remains awake, voluntarily assuming the burden of the entire night's watch. Figuratively, takes charge of ordering and explaining events. He asks himself, "what happened, and what might have happened." The Vietnam War exacted a monstrous toll: on the civilians who suffered its wrath, the soldiers on both sides who inflicted this carnage, and even the societies that were irrevocably changed by it. In light of this, O'Brien demonstrates the importance of both these questions.
Book Review: Excellent read for anyone and everyone.
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a Junior in High School and recently had to read a short story by Tim O'Brien and enjoyed his writing, so I grabbed a copy of "Going After Cacciato" and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am an avid reader and definitely couldn't put the book down. Even if you know nothing about war or Vietnam, I recommend you grab this book and snuggle up to a cozy place in your living room and let Tim O'Brien take you to a different time and place.Book Review: Following
Summary: 5 Stars
I believe a good novel should not present the details in an obvious manner, but should make the reader examine the details and deduct what happened. If you feel similarly, you are likely to enjoy "Going After Cacciato". Though I do not feel it is Tim O'Brien's best work, it is entertaining and surreal in blending hallucinations with the absurd.
When Cacciato goes AWOL and attempts to walk from Vietnam to beautiful Paris, orders are given to track him down. Cacciato lets it be known that he would go to Paris if given the chance, yet nobody believes he will make it that far. Told from the perspective of Paul Berlin, the trail goes from the battle from to the Middle East before arriving in Paris. The story ends apparently on the hill with Cacciato surrounded. We only know that Berlin is told that it is over.
O'Brien captures modern warfare perhaps better than any other writer. The perspective he gained from his experience in Vietnam adds an intangible quality to his storytelling. You know he was there, and some of the things he saw were like this. This story is fiction, but you have to wonder what parts of the book may not be fiction.
Book Review: Four Stars for this "Hope"
Summary: 4 Stars
Going After Cacciato is a fiction novel of the Vietnam War. A group of soldiers tried to catch a run away soldier who filled with dream of going to Paris. Searched and followed behind him with the adventures, sadness, love, hope, and and understanding of people in different ways. The book confused me bacause an author set up a story that work back and forth, but I would recommend that you read this book since the main point of this book is to believe in hope.