This book took Vietnam War to be the background to narrate the story of the barrack's life. The story is about three young paratroopers who are Philip, Hubbard and Lewis. They are from different families, and they have different characters. Everything seems so insignificant and common, but actually it is very natural and lifelike. This book shows perceptive clarity, I understood it.

Two things induced me to read this book: 1) Its brevity, and 2) it's status of having won the prestigious Pen/Faulkner award. I dug the book out from one of my banana boxes and read it in one day. I was amply rewarded. Each page added to the intrigue, and I could hardly wait to see what would become of the characters. I wanted to learn the fate of Lewis, who Wolff characterized as one screwed-up dude. I actually felt sorry for him and wondered what experiences in his life could have produced such behavior. As for Philip, he is irrevocably changed by his experience at Fort Bragg and the Vietnam War. But, in my opinion, the ending came too abruptly. Wolff simply tells, in a few sentences, what becomes of the characters after the war. I think the novel would have been more powerful if Wolff would have shown a few scenes in the lives of each character. After I read the last sentence of the book, I wanted more, more than I got. Maybe an epilogue of sorts. But Wolff atoned for this deficiency by revisiting the symbol of the ammunition dump at the end. Life can be volatile and each experience (spark) in our lives can have explosive consequences.

I've read and re-read (multiple times) everything Tobias Wolff has written and I think this book is the best. It has the narrative pacing of a suspense novel, with strange, funny yet very human characterizations. The writing is pristine clear. The primary theme is the percieved benefits of conformity by the main character and his undercurrent of resistence to it.

I thought this would be a good present, but it turns out to be a bit of the magazine, which I like, sandwiched between pieces of cardboard. Esquire should have know better than producing a cheap spin off. This was one present I thought I had taken care of, but now I have to ship it back.

Having grown up as the only boy with two wonderful sisters, I never regretted not having a brother. Until now. This is simply a beautiful book. As you'd expect from Esquire, Brothers is visually magnificent, with great, creative(but never contrived)shots of celebrities and non-celebrities alike, all sharing the joys of brotherhood. The shot of James Garner and his golf pro brother, in a rooftop hot tub in Beverly Hills, is worth the cover price alone. But what really makes this book special, elevates it far above the level of another attractive coffee table volume, are the essays. This is the rarest of literary birds -- a photo book that DEMANDS to be read. Not only have the editors culled essays from some of the leading authors of the day, Tobias Wolff, Frank McCourt and others, but they culled supremely thoughtful pieces from each. Perhaps it's the subject matter, but not one of the literary heavyweights phoned this one in. Not one. And some of the best writing is by writers you haven't heard of. Check out the powerful, evocative piece by a North Carolina law professor named Thomas A. Kelley, about a trip to Africa with his brother. Brothers is a beautiful experience, whether or not you've experienced the real thing.

Good news, guys: You don't have to get your bro another garden weasel for Christmas. A few days ago I had a chance to flip through this book and I instantly ordered a copy for my kid brother. The photos are hilarious and heartbreaking (James and Jack Garner livin' large in a Beverly Hills hot tub, three blind brothers in Rhode Island who build furniture); the essays (by the likes of Tom Junod and Frank McCourt) knock you flat. This isn't some sappy, bogus collection of "Deep Thoughts" and greeting-card cliches. The words and pictures are real, potent, and deeply moving. I can't put the book down, and I highly recommend it to anyone who's looking to buy his brother something better than a batch of golf balls this holiday season.

I absolutely loved O'Nan's "A Prayer for the Dying," so naturally I had to go back to his first book to see where he began. Although I managed to find a copy...

The twelve stories included in this collection are interesting. O'Nan shows a talent for giving us the same story through different perspectives, and his language is beautiful at times, but the collection seems to be a mixed bag. The two stories that I would consider rather weak are "Mr. Wu Thinks" and "The Third of July." It seems in these two stories mainly that O'Nan gives us something but doesn't really lead it into a pleasing direction. I kept wishing these two stories would go somewhere interesting. Both do manage to give us a lot of insight into their characters, but the ten other stories in the collection are superb and do a much better job of delving into the darkness of the human spirit.

I would actively search for this collection of stories. O'Nan almost had a perfect collection of stories on his hand, but even so, the vast majority of these stories are excellent and worth the purchase.