I finished reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien and started reading Shadows of Blue and Gray by Ambrose Bierce. Common criticisms for The Things They Carried is that it is written in such a way that the characters feel real, even though O'Brien has said the stories are made up. From that point of view, it could be true, but when looked at from the point of view that the stories are not real, the book itself is sub-par.
To be clear, the book is a collection of short stories with recurring characters. The failing point for the book is the order in which the stories are placed in the book. A few times, stories in which a character is killed is told before stories of their life. Essentially, the stories are not told chronologically, and as far as I can tell, there is not an order to it. If the character is not killed before another story begins, the character typically dies in the end.
The book as a whole is one big contradiction. It says there's no moral or point to a war story, yet tries to make some explanation of the reasoning behind writing them. Each short story should be able to stand on its own even if it has recurring characters, yet opening up to the middle of the book will leave you lost with no clue as to who any of the characters may be.
While The Things They Carried is about the Vietnam war and after, Shadows of Blue and Gray is about the Civil war. The level of writing is much higher than Tim Obrien's. Although Bierce does not have recurring characters, each story stands on its own with no problem. Some of the stories are based on facts, but all are enjoyable to read. Many of the stories have a twist of fate, some slightly supernatural, and others have high levels of irony.
Each book is a military book, but one is far superior, both in its story telling ability and content. Bierce offers a brutal glimpse into the life of the soldiers during one of the bloodiest war in American history.
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