Tim O'Brien
Tim O'Brien
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth1 October 1946
CountryUnited States of America
hated time war
I hated the draft, but at the same time, it's something that made every American take war seriously.
behind best bit delete expressed paragraph phrase possible strikes
If I see a phrase that strikes me as ugly, I'll delete it. Or, if I find a way to say something a bit more freshly than it was expressed originally, I'll do it. Ultimately, you want to try to leave behind the best possible paragraph or sentence.
huge iraq largely signed
In Iraq and Afghanistan, our soldiers signed up intentionally. That's a huge difference from the largely conscripted army of my era.
battle beyond books desirable dramatic ethical general gross moral operate physical
In books or films, it is desirable to have a climactic battle scene, but the world does not operate in those gross dramatic terms. In Vietnam, there was a general aimlessness, not just in the physical sense, but beyond that in the moral and ethical sense.
close consequences hit literal miss tend war
In a war without aim, you tend not to aim. You close your eyes, close your heart. The consequences become hit or miss in the most literal sense.
anger combining compass danger fear felt moral pressure squeeze
I could feel my moral compass as a soldier, in danger of - I could feel the squeeze, the pressure of frustration and anger and fear combining on me... I felt the danger; I felt the squeeze of it.
draft graduation months notice received september three
I received my draft notice right after graduation from college and had three months before going into the Army in September to think about it.
committed interested later love loving stop
If you stop loving someone, did you ever love them? If you say you're committed and later you're not committed, well, was the first thing commitment? You see what I mean? This kind of thing has always interested me.
across age became dad family insurance life manager moved perfectly regional rural seemed several splendid spot state summer town
In the summer of 1954, after several years in Austin, Minnesota, our family moved across the state to the small, rural town of Worthington, where my dad became regional manager for a life insurance company. To me, at age 7, Worthington seemed a perfectly splendid spot on the earth.
blade human infantry knowing life loops writer
The human life is all one thing, like a blade tracing loops on the ice: a little kid, a twenty-three-year-old infantry sergeant, a middle-aged writer knowing guilt and sorrow.
above america came entering fiji good latin photos time travel
This is my first time entering photos. I had some good travel photos from Fiji and Latin America, mostly. Some were above water, and some below. They came out pretty well.
dream world return
But in a story, which is a kind of dreaming, the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world.
years body nine
Even then, at nine years old, I wanted to live inside her body. I wanted to melt into her bones - THAT kind of love.
years adults body
Linda was nine then, as I was, but we were in love...it had all the shadings and complexities of mature adult love and maybe more, because there were not yet words for it, and because it was not yet fixed to comparisons or chronologies or the ways by which adults measure such things...I just loved her. Even then, at nine years old, I wanted to live inside her body. I wanted to melt into her bones -- that kind of love.