Tim O’Brien: A Critical Companion

After growing up in Minnesota and graduating from college, Tim O’Brien received a draft notice and joined the war effort in Vietnam. He chronicled his combat experiences in his memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home , and then went on to write the eight novels that are discussed in this volume. The novels reflect their characters’ struggle with the effects of place, namely small-town America, in the Vietnam Era.