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Tim OʼBrien

Starts with an event occurring in Vietnam. Then, an inventory of all things, tangible and intangible.

Ted Lavender dies first, he smokes pot. Low ranking. Shot in the head on the way back from the bathroom.

Jimmy cross blames himself for Lavenderʼs death. Cross was thinking about a college crush: Martha. Martha didnʼt like him back. He wonders endlessly about whether sheʼs a virgin. Cross still feels guilty, twenty years later.

Next chapter is about when he was presented with the draft notice. He protested the war, so he drove to the Canadian border.

I think itʼs beautiful that OʼBrien insists that fabrications have to be made for a story to reach its full truth. The inseparability of a story and its purpose.