What an excellent war novel by Tim O'Brien. I appreciate war novels but don't always enjoy them when they become too prechy or seems to want to say "I had the worst story, mine was the most tragic". You don't get any of that from O'Brien just a straight story. He doesn't add frills or expect you to believe a certain thing. It's a very moving account of a terrifying war. I'm going to recopy a few of my favorite lines to give you a sense of the book; definitely worth a read! 
 "They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent aw for the terrible power of the things they carried" 
 "They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory..." 
 "Though its odd, you're never more alive than when you're almost dead" 
 "Courage was not always a matter of yes or no. Sometimes it came in degrees, like the cold; sometimes you were very brave up to a point and then beyond that point you were not so brave" 
 "It's safe to say that in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true."