"To call Going After Cacciato a novel about war is like calling Moby-Dick a novel about whales." So wrote "The" "New York Times" of Tim O'Brien's now classic novel of Vietnam. Winner of the 1979 National Book Award, Going After Cacciato captures the peculiar mixture of horror and hallucination that marked this strangest of wars. In a blend of reality and fantasy, this novel tells the story of a young soldier who one day lays down his rifle and sets off on a quixotic journey from the jungles of Indochina to the streets of Paris. In its memorable evocation of men both fleeing from and meeting the demands of battle, Going After Cacciato stands as much more than just a great war novel. Ultimately it's about the forces of fear and heroism that do battle in the hearts of us all.
Reviews
"Simply put, the best novel written about the war. I do not know . . . any writer, journalist, or novelist who does not concede that position to O'Brien's Going After Cacciato." --"Miami Herald" "A novel of great beauty and importance." --"Boston Globe" "Stark . . . rhapsodic. . . . It is a canvas painted vividly, hauntingly, disturbingly by Tim O'Brien." --"Los Angeles Times" "As a fictional portrait of this war, Going After Cacciato is hard to fault, and will be hard to better." --John Updike, "The New Yorker"
