The Things They Carried

By: Tim O'Brien

Narrated by: Bryan Cranston

Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

This modern classic and New York Times best seller was a finalist for both the 1990 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award and has become a staple of American classrooms. Hailed by The New York Times as "a marvel of storytelling", The Things They Carried’s portrayal of the boots-on-the-ground experience of soldiers in the Vietnam War is a landmark in war writing. Now, three-time Emmy Award winner Bryan Cranston, star of the hit TV series Breaking Bad, delivers an electrifying performance that walks the book’s hallucinatory line between reality and fiction and highlights the emotional power of the spoken word.

The soldiers in this collection of stories carried M-16 rifles, M-60 machine guns, and M-79 grenade launchers. They carried plastic explosives, hand grenades, flak jackets, and landmines. But they also carried letters from home, illustrated Bibles, and pictures of their loved ones. Some of them carried extra food or comic books or drugs. Every man carried what he needed to survive, and those who did carried their shattering stories away from the jungle and back to a nation that would never understand.

This audiobook also includes an exclusive recording “The Vietnam in Me,” a recount of the author’s trip back to Vietnam in 1994, revisiting his experience there as a soldier 25 years before, read by Tim O’Brien himself.

The Things They Carried was produced by Audible Studios in partnership with Playtone, the celebrated film and television production company founded by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and producer of the award-winning series Band of Brothers, John Adams, and The Pacific, as well as the HBO movie Game Change.

For more from Audible and Playtone, click here.

©1990 Tim O'Brien (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Cranston may be the most charismatic embodiment of moral ambiguity we currently possess. There was always something comforting as well as menacing in Walter White's voice, and Cranston attacks O'Brien's sober, sinewy prose with slightly scary authority.... [I]f you were a binge-watcher of Breaking Bad it will be no big deal to spend six hours in his company here." ( The New York Times Book Review)

"Structurally the novel gestures to William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, while Ryan's sensitive observations on Irish life seem responsive to the work of his compatriot Patrick McCabe. That Ryan does not look out of place in such literary company is a measure of his achievement." ( The Financial Times)

"The best of these stories--and none is written with less than the sharp edge of honed vision--are memory and prophecy. These tell us not where we were but where we are, and perhaps where we will be. . . . It is an ultimate, indelible image of war in our time, and in time to come." ( Los Angeles Times)

"O'Brien's haunting collection of connected stories about the Vietnam War is more alive than ever in this narration. Bryan Cranston's resonant, sometimes formal, performance often leaves the listener reeling. Cranston's voice is deep and patient, laying back to let the characters' collective pain take the fore. Memorable scenes include a man's receipt of his draft notice in "On the Rainy River," battle scenes in "The Man I Killed," and aspects of the war's aftermath in "Speaking of Courage." In all the works, Cranston offers a measured, compassionate voice. O'Brien's stories emphasize the importance of telling the truth of war stories, and Cranston's respect for his intent is clear and comforting. At times, his sonorous tone is hypnotic, but this is more an asset than a liability. All the better to make the listener feel." ( AudioFile)

Bryan Cranston did an amazing job

I think this book is actually quite interesting and often makes one uncomfortable. I think this book is fairly realistic in it's view of the war. The only thing I didn't like, to be honest whs that I felt it was really repetitious.

Excellent!!

What made the experience of listening to The Things They Carried the most enjoyable?

I don't want you to think this is an enjoyable story because it is not,it makes you squirm and cringe and ask a lot of why's.

What about Bryan Cranston’s performance did you like?

Bryan Cranston's performance on this is the best I have listened to in three years with audible.He has his heart and soul into this,Excellent!!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Great read

A beautiful an honest glimpse into a part of history becoming more and more forgotten. I cherished the style, the prose, the structure.

Wow.

Just.. Wow.. This book is an incredible, entertaining, heart wrenching, misleading, eye opening experience through Vietnam in broken and fractured storytelling that only a Vietnam veteran could manage.

Fiction based on fact?

I originally purchased this book because I’m a fan of war memoirs but from what I gathered this book is based on the authors experiences but written as fiction. The narrator is excellent but I lost interest many time as I was expecting a factual story but was listening to accounts told in a fictional way.

Amazing

This story is amazing and really gives you a new perspective on what Vietnam Veterans on both sides of the fighting had to go through. Highly recommend!!

LOVED this book.

Listen, I’m a harsh critic. I’m that guy that will not pick just any story, but I just can’t do it here.
Story = Excellent
Characters = Well dream & real
Writing & Style = Superb
Emotional impact = Riveting & genuine. Heartfelt

If you want to read an engaging story that bleeds with genuine feeling, and is well-written to boot, look no farther.

I’ll certainly be looking at more of Tim O’Brien’s work. It’s that good.

Written by a wordsmith and spoken by a sorcerer

If that title is insufficient, then get this book in order to bestow a better review. Both O’Brien and Cranston deserve it.

Great narration but story repetitive

The narrator did very well, but the book just tells the same four stories over a couple times. Meh.

Great writing, as circuitous as it is

This book is written beautifully. It's full of metaphors and imagery that would make any high school English teacher proud. I find that it reads a bit like an essay in that same sense. Bryan Cranston is a great narrator and really has a great performance. Overall, the book felt whiny at times and flip flopped across multiple narratives. I give it a 3/5, I hesitantly recommend it.