Why do you think the author chose to disguise the book as memoir even though it is fiction? What impact does this choice have on you as a reader?

Why do you think the author chose to disguise the book as memoir even though it is fiction? What impact does this choice have on you as a reader? How do you think that your experience of the stories would differ if there was no Tim O'Brien presented in the book?

I think it gave the author more freedom

As fiction, there is no one to come and contest what was written. However, there is probably more truth than fiction in this book. The pain and sadness are more easily accepted as fiction.

Other than surprise, the author's choice to fictionalize his Vietnam stories did not impact me at all. I think he did a masterful job in telling these stories and making the book so very readable. I was reluctant to pick this book because the subject of the Viet Nam war carries such negativity and sorrow. But I have enjoyed reading it immensely. O'Brien's ability to mix humor and pathos is remarkable. I suspect O'Brien chose fiction as the genre for the book for the reasons stated by normar and Tired Bookreader.

I was surprised to find this out. I think he was trying to give an all over picture and he could do this if he was talking about only a small group of men.

It is a mechanism to personalize the stories. I have to say it didn't have any impact on me. There are many fiction books written today in the memoir style.

I think the author used this mechanism to make book seem more real and to make the reader feel as if they were there.

It certainly makes the stories more believable, the characters more real, the events credible. The author made me feel as if I was walking in his shoes or at least next to him!

Wow...I'm halfway through this book, and I've been reading it as memoir with SOME fiction. But is this really fiction? It's hard for me think that none of these things happened. The Curt Lemon story is horrific and rings true in a way I wish that it WAS fiction. Also the baby water buffalo. I think this will have an effect on the way I read the rest of the book. It seems SO real. What a storyteller!

I did not really think of this book as fiction because Tim O'Brien was drafted and - despite his stance on being against war- went to Vietnam (where the citizens call it The American War since the USA became involved in their civil war. Many of the events in the book happened to real young American males at that time; I make the gender specification since females were not drafted.

In addition to giving the author more freedom, it offers protection, since he can combine events that occurred at different times or in different places, and protect the identities of the characters. This choice did not take away from my interest or acceptance of the book. His writing is amazing - the stories, hard to read, but I found it difficult to put the book down.