What is the comparison between Hollywoods version of war stories and Tim O'brians "The things the carried"?

Answer 1

Most of Hollywood's war moives are standard shoot-em-up, storm the hill, sink the battleship stories told from the commander's point of view. Now think about TTTC. It's mostly reminiscences about the grunts with much more detail than a movie could ever offer.

I think this this an unfair comparison. When you read "Sweetheart" how did you picture the girl, or her boyfriends or the others in the story? Now who do you think would play these roles in the movie, Scarlett Johansen? DiCaprio, etc? Kinda gives the story a different flavor, doesn't it? Stick with the book and your own imagination, which is why most books are so much better than the movie.