To be fair, Schmidt's subject material may just appeal to me personally. I'm a Shakespeare nerd, and Schmidt's first book, The Wednesday Wars, is mostly devoted to celebrating Shakespeare's plays. The book is set in 1969, and centers around Holling Hoodhood, a thirteen-year-old boy just trying to make it through life in junior high, while dealing with a controlling, business-obsessed father, a flower-child sister, and a teacher who he's convinced "hates his guts". This teacher does not, in fact, hate Holling's guts, and she introduces him to Shakespeare's plays, which he comes to appreciate and even love.
Gary D. Schmidt's second book, Okay For Now, is interesting because it is set in the same world as The Wednesday Wars, but the protagonist of Okay For Now is Doug Swieteck, who appeared in The Wednesday Wars as a supporting character. Okay For Now is set about a year later than the events of The Wednesday Wars, and deals more closely with the Vietnam War.
Okay For Now is generally a darker, more serious book than its predecessor. Where Holling's father is uptight and controlling, Doug's father is downright abusive. Doug is also a more reluctant narrator than Holling; he is surly and defensive, and many past events in his life are hinted at, but not told outright, forcing the reader to piece together much of his history. Doug's tough exterior makes it even more heartrending when the reader puts two and two together about his past mistreatment and traumas.
Okay For Now is generally a darker, more serious book than its predecessor. Where Holling's father is uptight and controlling, Doug's father is downright abusive. Doug is also a more reluctant narrator than Holling; he is surly and defensive, and many past events in his life are hinted at, but not told outright, forcing the reader to piece together much of his history. Doug's tough exterior makes it even more heartrending when the reader puts two and two together about his past mistreatment and traumas.
About halfway through the book, Doug's brother Lucas returns from fighting in Vietnam. He has lost both his legs, as well as suffering severe injuries to his eyes. After his family picks him up from the bus stop, they are accosted by a parade of anti-war protesters who verbally attack and denounce him for fighting in Vietnam. For this reason, Lucas's return, which should be a happy event, is one of the most agonizing scenes in the book.
Before reading Okay For Now, I had no idea that anti-war protestors in the Vietnam era would actually personally attack and blame soldiers for being a part of the war. Doug mentions how the protestors berate Lucas for "killing Vietnamese babies". The Things They Carried, if taken as a factual account, shows that cruelty to civilians by American troops was, in fact, a common practice. I did not know this before reading O'Brien's book, and for me, it's really affected how I interpret that scene in Okay For Now. Previously, I had pretty much sided with Doug, who is irate with the protestors for attacking his injured brother in this way. However, with my new knowledge of many troops' behavior in Vietnam, I am not so sure.
So thanks to Tim O'Brien, one of my favorite books has gained many more levels for me to think about. I'm pretty sure this is good. But it complicates things a lot.
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