Written by author Tim O'Brien and winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1979, this complex novel is set during the Vietnam War and is told from the point of view of the protagonist, Paul Berlin. The story traces the events that follow after Cacciato, a member of Berlin's squad, decides to go AWOL by walking from Vietnam to France by way of Asia.

Plot introduction

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Typical of many stories that deal with themes of psychological trauma, Going After Cacciato contains distinct ambiguities concerning the nature and order of events that occur, which often requires readers to look beyond superficial appearances conveyed by the narrator's language. It is a chronologically unstable book.

Explanation of the novel's title

Cacciato, pronounced "catch-ee-ahtto," means pursued in Itallian.

1978 novels | American novels | War novels