Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien is a National Book Award for Fiction winning American writer. His work often has Vietnam War as the main theme as he himself is a Vietnam Veteran. He has told the experience in many different ways. One of the recurring theme of his novels is the apparent lack of  bridge between reality and fiction. The best example of this is in Going after Cacciato where he portrayed psychological trauma and unquestionable brutality of war while remaining funny somehow by following a squad member, Paul Berlin, to find a fellow soldier, Cacciato, who went AWOL by deciding to walk from Vietnam to Paris for a peace talk. He has shown signs of move away from Vietnam War related stories since the release of Tomcat in Love (1998).