The Things They Carried
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Narrated by:
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Bryan Cranston
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By:
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Tim O'Brien
About this listen
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.
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Critic reviews
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The spirited (but friendly) debate over these titles could have gone on indefinitely. With years of listening, countless customer reviews, and a catalog of seemingly infinite great listens, 100 suddenly felt like a very small number. What we know for sure—each title that made it to this collection is elevated and made special in some way by audio, whether by a layered performance from a single narrator, a brilliantly cohesive full cast, original music, or immersive sound effects. Discover an audio experience for the ages.
Editor's Pick
Bryan Cranston is probably a sorcerer
"You don’t even have to be into war stories to get swept up in the witchy magic of Tim O’Brien’s classic about the Vietnam War. He himself served in the army after being drafted as a young, promising college grad. His Vietnam stories are semi-autobiographical, tender like a bruise, and—in the vein of Kurt Vonnegut—filled with razor-sharp reflections about humanity’s beauties and ills. The best part? It’s brilliantly narrated by Bryan Cranston. It’s probably impossible to listen to this one without getting chills."
—Rachel S., Audible Editor
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Winner of the 1973 National Book Award, Gravity's Rainbow is a postmodern epic, a work as exhaustively significant to the second half of the 20th century as Joyce's Ulysses was to the first. Its sprawling, encyclopedic narrative and penetrating analysis of the impact of technology on society make it an intellectual tour de force.
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"Time to touch the person next to you"
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By: Thomas Pynchon, and others
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Bullet in the Brain
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- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 mins
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Anders is an angry, cynical man. A book critic known for his scathing reviews, he finds any excuse to dismiss, belittle, or insult. This afternoon is no more agitating than the next. Angers finds himself in a long line at the bank, waiting to reach a teller. Even after two men - wearing masks and carrying guns - take control of the building, Anders is unfazed. It's this behavior that lands him with a pistol against his stomach and a man screamingin his face. And when the bank robber, indignant over Anders' behavior, shoots the book critic in the head, his mind floats through the memories of his life, settling on one particular event....
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The Perfect Example
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By: Tobias Wolff
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The Deep Blue Good-By
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- Length: 6 hrs
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He's a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He's also a knight errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out, and his rule is simple: he'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.
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Before the A-Team, there was Travis McGee
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Zombies: More Recent Dead
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- Length: 20 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The living dead are more alive than ever! Zombies have become more than an iconic monster for the 21st century: They are now a phenomenon constantly revealing as much about ourselves - and our fascination with death, resurrection, and survival - as our love for the supernatural or post-apocalyptic speculation. Our most imaginative literary minds have been devoured by these incredible creatures and produced exciting, insightful, and unflinching new works of zombie fiction.
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A well blended mix
- By The Lone Mopper on 07-30-15
By: Neil Gaiman, and others
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Sometimes a Great Notion
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- Unabridged
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A literary icon sometimes seen as a bridge between the Beat Generation and the hippies, Ken Kesey scored an unexpected hit with his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. His successful follow-up, Sometimes a Great Notion, was also transformed into a major motion picture, directed by and starring Paul Newman. Here, Oregon’s Stamper family does what it can to survive a bitter strike dividing their tiny logging community. And as tensions rise, delicate family bonds begin to fray and unravel.
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Sometimes a Great Novel Pops up out of Nowhere
- By Mr. Eyuz on 06-07-19
By: Ken Kesey
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The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 4
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With tales from Laird Barron, Stephen King, John Langan, Peter Straub, and many others, and featuring Datlow’s comprehensive overview of the year in horror, now, more than ever, The Best Horror of the Year provides the petrifying horror fiction readers have come to expect - and enjoy.
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Only a few decent stories in this bunch.
- By Jerry on 12-06-14
By: Ellen Datlow - author/editor, and others
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Vampires in the Lemon Grove
- Stories
- By: Karen Russell
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In the collection's marvelous title story, two aging vampires in a sun-drenched Italian lemon grove find their hundred-year marriage tested when one of them develops a fear of flying. In "The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979", a dejected teenager discovers that the universe is communicating with him through talismanic objects left in a seagull's nest. "Proving Up" and "The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis" find Russell veering into more sinister territory.
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Stylish modern magic realism
- By Ryan on 04-10-13
By: Karen Russell
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Stories
- All-New Tales
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The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.
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Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
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The Orenda
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Christophe has been in the New World only a year when his native guides abandon him to flee their Iroquois pursuers. A Huron warrior and elder named Bird soon takes him prisoner, along with a young Iroquois girl, Snow Falls, whose family he has just killed, and holds them captive in his massive village. Champlain's Iron People have only recently begun trading with the Huron, who mistrust them as well as this Crow who has now trespassed onto their land; and her people, of course, have become the Huron's greatest enemy.
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Thoughtful and interesting, if not always gripping
- By David on 06-15-14
By: Joseph Boyden
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Eat the Apple
- A Memoir
- By: Matt Young
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
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A gut-wrenching, beautiful memoir which explores toxic masculinity and the devastating consequences of war on one impressionable young soldier Matt Young joined the Marine Corps aged 18, after a drunken night that culminated in him crashing his car into a fire hydrant. The teenage wasteland he fled followed him to the training bases of California. Young survived training and then three deployments to Iraq as an infantryman.
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Annoying and smug
- By Charlie on 01-03-19
By: Matt Young
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Gone
- Gone Series, Book 1
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In the blink of an eye, everyone disappears. Gone. Except for the young. There are teens, but not one single adult. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no Internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened. Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents - unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers - that grow stronger by the day. It's a terrifying new world.
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Please rerelease this book w new narration
- By Kim on 02-12-17
By: Michael Grant
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Jungle of Bones
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Dylan Barstow has finally crossed the line. After getting caught on a late-night joyride in a stolen car, Dylan is shipped off to live with his ex-Marine uncle for the summer. But Uncle Todd has bigger plans for Dylan than push-ups and early-morning jogs. Deep in the steamy jungles of Papua New Guinea, there's a WWII fighter plane named SECOND ACE that's been lost for years, a plane that Dylan's own grandfather barely escaped from with his life. In all this time, no one has ever been able to track down SECOND ACE - but now Dylan and his uncle are going to try.
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Excellent book!
- By t4ester on 10-02-17
By: Ben Mikaelsen
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What listeners say about The Things They Carried
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Staci Morgan
- 12-22-16
Too good to even say
What made the experience of listening to The Things They Carried the most enjoyable?
The way Tim O'Brien wrote this story keeps you pulled in the entire time. Even if you want to stop this book and start another you can't, it will not leave your mind.
What did you like best about this story?
Every aspect of this story was enjoyable. The characters kept me entertained, the amazing stories, and especially the way the stories are told. I love how the book does not only tell a simple story, but gives a real in-depth feel for raw war and the reality of it.
Any additional comments?
I almost did not write a review on this book because I know that any words I write will not do this book justice. It is a book that must be read yourself.
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12 people found this helpful
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- Michael
- 12-23-15
More Than I Expected
I thought this book would be a mildly interesting recounting about the objects carried by American soldiers (alive and dead) during the Vietnam War. It was more than I expected. It did include the objects soldiers carried, but the book was much more about the emotional baggage that soldiers carried before, during, and after the fighting. This was not a great book, the prose are just passable, the structure is hit and miss, the characters are fleeting, but the emotional content is worth the time. It explores soldiers and war from a unique and interesting perspective. I did not find the writing unpatriotic or even particularly anti-war. The narration was good, but not great.
Overall, this was well worth the time.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Calliope
- 02-07-17
the power of storytelling
This is not a book of stories of the Vietnam War. It might look and sound that way, but it really isn't. It's more of a fictionalized autobiography of parts of the author's life, and an example of the healing power of storytelling. It's most interesting when he explains why the stories he's told are both true and untrue, and how stories can make someone alive and dead at the same time. I particularly liked the idea expressed by a character in one story that being dead is like being an unused library book high on a shelf: Safe, but waiting for someone to take you down and read - in essence waiting for someone to resurrect you by becoming involved in who you were and what you know. When someone does that, you become alive again, to them, for that time. That, to me, is the best message in the book. Not that war is hell or that war changes young men, but that the dead can become alive again though stories, and that people can be changed through storytelling.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Christian Crawford
- 10-14-15
"A lot like yesterday, a lot like never."
What did you love best about The Things They Carried?
The thing I loved the most about The Things They Carried was how real Tim O'Brien made it. Of course a lot of it was real and true.. some of it was made up to add more of a story feel, but most was real events. He goes on to explain this exceptionally well in the book. There was more than once where I sat listening and I wasn't in my car driving anymore, I was sitting in the boat with him and the old man, I was stuck scared sinking in the muck of a field of shit, I was seeing the horrors of what the Vietnam war was. I believe that was what O'Brien wanted. He said that he wanted the reader to feel what happened. For me, I felt it the best I could without actually experiencing it. This book was amazing and it definitely provokes emotions and feelings.
What did you like best about this story?
How it felt like I was part of Alpha company. It made me care about the soldiers and feel the hardships they went through. It also does a good job of showing the other side.. The Vietnam War was a very complicated event in our worlds history.
Have you listened to any of Bryan Cranston’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
This is the only one I've listened to. I've seen him on shows of course, but never listened to him narrate a book. He did an amazing job.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes and no. Yes because the story is engaging and it makes you feel. It's good and you want to know what happens. No because it makes you feel. I mean some of the stories were heart wrenching. I had to take a break just so I could collect my thoughts and process what I was hearing. This is a story that you'll want to sit on for a bit, to really think about what you're hearing.
Any additional comments?
This was my first book by Tim O'Brien. It was a great book and I'd recommend it to anyone. Definitely give it a try. I got it on sale and it was a steal. It's worth every penny.
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2 people found this helpful
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- RueRue
- 11-01-16
Powerful, brutal and beautiful
A perfect match of writer and narrator. Even if you are not interested in war/combat/Vietnam, this is worth listening to. Beautiful prose, brutal and powerful, perfect narration by Bryan Cranston.
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- benjamin drescher
- 02-12-16
First Audio Book
This was my first audiobook. Tim O'Brien's words and Bryan Cranston's voice combined, makes me hate reading paper books.
The story is deep, makes you reflect on your life.
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- Carlotta
- 02-15-14
Just a snippet of what I expected
What did you like best about The Things They Carried? What did you like least?
It's a very important story - but it was too minimal. There was too much jumping around from one person to the next.
What did you like best about this story?
What they carried symbolizes important things that were left behind, undone, or to be looked forward to...
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- Robert Akin
- 01-07-16
Excellent on all fronts
Would you listen to The Things They Carried again? Why?
Avsolutely. Both the work and the performance were absolutely top notch.
What does Bryan Cranston bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Bryan Cranston! Phenomenal actor with a fantastic voice bringing that talent to bear. Sometimes, one can tell that readers aren't putting their all into the work, but not here. He puts effort and an understanding and appreciation of the source material into his narration.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Wanted, yes. Able to, no.
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- William
- 09-11-16
Moving
I started working hard to get into university late in high school. I was pretty scattered and always had trouble sitting still long enough to study and wasn't sure I could handle college. But, I started hearing more about Vietnam. I didn't understand why we were there. The music of my generation was very much anti-war and I started hearing from two cousins who were serving in Vietnam. As they passed through on leave, I heard some talk, but was even more chilled by the silence at times. I decided that I had to go to university so I could at least get a deferment. When I turned 18, I got my draft number and it was low. In my first year of university, the draft was abolished. This book brought back those memories of whispered stories and added more. I am not anti - war, but war is a step that requires serious consideration not only about when to enter, but how to end it. This book underscores that. It shows the human side of war, as well as the inhuman side. It is thoughtful, open, and moving. I recommend it highly.
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- RichA
- 07-26-17
Stories I could relate to
brought back memories and stories that I could relate to, some hood some bad, like the author.
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