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The things ‘This Is Us’ carried: author Tim O’Brien joins show as a consultant

Novelist and Vietnam veteran Tim O'Brien in 2001.
(Matt Houston / Associated Press)
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Tim O’Brien, the novelist known for his Vietnam War-themed books “The Things They Carried” and “Going After Cacciato,” will serve as a consultant on the third season of the popular NBC show “This Is Us.”

Deadline reports that O’Brien, a Vietnam veteran, will advise the show’s writers and producers next season. He’ll presumably contribute to the storyline about Milo Ventimiglia’s character, Jack, who fought as a soldier in Vietnam.

“This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman called O’Brien “a writing hero.”

“It was incredibly intimidating bringing him into our room to discuss a Vietnam plot line — and it was even more rewarding,” Fogelman said. “I’ve never said this before, but I can’t wait to be rewritten by him.”

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O’Brien first gained the attention of the literary set in 1973, with the publication of his Vietnam War memoir “If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home.” He followed that up five years later with “Going After Cacciato,” a National Book Award-winning novel about an American soldier who deserts his squad in Vietnam.

In 1990, O’Brien published “The Things They Carried,” a short story collection about the Vietnam War. The book, and especially the title story, have become a staple of school reading lists.

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Its intertwining structure, which allows the details to take on greater meaning as the reader continues through the book, is not unlike that of “This Is Us.”

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