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)

Dream Memoir

Tim O'Brien wrote "The Things They Carried" as a dream memoir for all of the soldiers that fought in the Vietnam War. This war unlike other wars is too hard for most Veterans to talk about. I have never met someone who was opened to talk about their past in Vietnam. Maybe that is why there has been so many films on this history of the war, to capture the senseless event. When the United States went into Vietnam, the country was in the state of puberty. Free love, middle class and people had a purpose to follow through. Men left their sweethearts to be drafted into the unknown. When they came back, the country didn't really celebrate by having a ticker tape parade on Main Street. Our soldiers was forgotten and asked to be blended in the new population that matured.

It took me a while to understand this book. I really thought that I was reading an action pack story, but as I got to the end, I understood that Tim O'Brien was writing about some of the soldiers' PTSD and recalling his own.

Great Book - Great Performance by Cranston!

The things they carried was a great book. I read it back in high school but remember none of it. I think I would have liked it back then too, but I simply can't remember feeling one way or another about it. Maybe it was even a book others read while I read For Whom the Bell Tolls or some other war novel.

I read by listening to the audio book. It's narrated by Brian Cranston, which is the real reason I picked this book up. He did an fantastic job narrating it. That man can tell a story, and his gritty voice was perfect for this book. He did a fine job with the different characters too.

At first I thought this book was pure fiction and so I didn't like it because it just kept listing off "The Things They Carried." Then I saw that it was a bit of a memoir or autobiography, and a bit fictional stories drawn heavily from real things that the author or one of his friends went through.

This book is valuable to America as it shows a slice of what it was like for some soldiers to go to war in Vietnam. There is startling imagery in this book. Many times you see it through the eyes of the soldiers who sometimes make light of things like corpses just so they can get by.

There were great descriptions of what the soldiers went through and though the book is comprised of many short stories, it's kind of tied together with on long narrative of Tim's time at war as well. It also cuts to him going back as a Father with his daughter and visiting Vietnam to the sites where he saw atrocities.

If you want to know what it was like for many soldiers in Vietnam I highly recommend this book. It was a great read and one that I'm not ashamed high schoolers have to read because they'll learn history and I think enjoy it.

The last thing I'll comment on is the writing itself. Yes these stories are important and should be read - but besides that Tim O'Brien is a great writer. He knows his way around words and pushes them into place in a way that really makes the stories shine. You can see, hear, sometimes even smell the experiences he's describing - and his prose is really a joy to read. Great book.

Great story

I wish that Brian Cranston could do every book I listen to, just got lost in the story as he was telling it.

Excellent Ready

Would you consider the audio edition of The Things They Carried to be better than the print version?

Bryan Cranston's reading made a great book better.

What about Bryan Cranston’s performance did you like?

Bryan's ability to get into the character's brought them to life.

one of the best audible books I have listened to

Tim O'Brien's story runs the full emotional gambit. Bryan Cranston's narration is award winning. This is more than a war/military book.

I'm mixed on this one....

I loved the first half of the book, the rest seemed to stray from the original intent as to just fill chapters. As one who has been to war and the son of 2 Vietnam vets, one of whom is legit Vietnamese; I really struggled with the later content of the book. While I have seen the physical scars of that war in my parents and have heard many stories myself, they never seem to be so regretful and victimized. If it were not for men like the author many good people would never have escaped and I myself would not be alive in America to have been given the chance to serve my country. That is the real point. Thank you for your service.

Great Listen

Engaging and eye opening story read by a great performer. Just another audio book that you don't want to turn off.

sad, but a good read

What did you love best about The Things They Carried?

provided a raw insight to lower level soldier's experience

What did you like best about this story?

isn't this the same question as above?

Have you listened to any of Bryan Cranston’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no.

If you could take any character from The Things They Carried out to dinner, who would it be and why?

is this a serious question?

amazing book and great listen.

Cranston does a great job reading this amazing book!! Very detailed accounts of war and the effects of war on those who fight for our freedoms in America. I also loved the short at the end.

Heisenberg narrates it!

The one Who knocks is the narrator of this audiobook. The story is great and is without a doubt a classic book on the american Experience in Vietnam. Thoughtful, personal, vulnerable. A great book!