Editors Reads Verdict
O'Brien's most formally inventive novel, and the one that won the National Book Award — the tripartite structure (past, present, fantasy) is not a trick but a model for how the mind processes an experience too large and too violent to be understood linearly.
What We Loved
- The formal structure — three simultaneous time-streams — is used with genuine rigour
- The fantasy sections are genuinely dreamlike rather than escapist — the war keeps bleeding into them
- The National Book Award was warranted — this is the novel that established O'Brien as a major writer
Minor Drawbacks
- The tripartite structure requires patient reading — the movement between time-streams is not always clearly signalled
- Less immediately accessible than The Things They Carried
Key Takeaways
- → Fantasy and imagination are not escapes from trauma but ways of processing it — the mind runs alternatives even when it knows they are impossible
- → The Vietnam War was specifically about confusion — confusion of purpose, of loyalty, of what was real
- → Desertion and staying are not simple moral categories when the cause itself is morally unclear
| Author | Tim O'Brien |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Delacorte |
| Pages | 338 |
| Published | January 1, 1978 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction, War Fiction |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Readers of literary war fiction and formally inventive novels — O'Brien enthusiasts and readers of Vietnam literature. |
The Walker
Cacciato is a soldier who simply walks away from the Vietnam War. Not during combat, not in panic — he simply picks up his rifle and begins walking west. Toward Paris, supposedly. His squad is ordered to catch him.
O’Brien uses this premise to construct a novel in three time-streams: the observation post where Paul Berlin sits on watch through a single night, recalling the war’s events; the actual combat past; and the fantasy of following Cacciato through Afghanistan, Iran, and Europe to Paris. The fantasy keeps being interrupted by the actual, and the actual keeps being distorted by what Berlin wishes had happened.
The Formal Structure
The three-part structure is O’Brien’s way of modelling how the traumatised mind works — not linearly, but in loops, substitutions, and alternative histories. Berlin knows what actually happened. He knows the fantasy is fantasy. But the fantasy is also doing real work, processing what the reality cannot be processed directly.
Our rating: 4.2/5 — O’Brien’s most formally ambitious novel — war, fantasy, and the mind’s resistance to unbearable fact.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Going After Cacciato" about?
A soldier named Cacciato walks away from the Vietnam War, heading west toward Paris. His squad is ordered to follow him. The novel weaves between three time-streams: the observation post where Paul Berlin sits on watch, the actual past of the war, and the fantasy of following Cacciato from Vietnam to Paris.
Who should read "Going After Cacciato"?
Readers of literary war fiction and formally inventive novels — O'Brien enthusiasts and readers of Vietnam literature.
What are the key takeaways from "Going After Cacciato"?
Fantasy and imagination are not escapes from trauma but ways of processing it — the mind runs alternatives even when it knows they are impossible The Vietnam War was specifically about confusion — confusion of purpose, of loyalty, of what was real Desertion and staying are not simple moral categories when the cause itself is morally unclear
Is "Going After Cacciato" worth reading?
O'Brien's most formally inventive novel, and the one that won the National Book Award — the tripartite structure (past, present, fantasy) is not a trick but a model for how the mind processes an experience too large and too violent to be understood linearly.
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