The relationship between the reader and writter

In "How to Tell a True War Story" Tim O'Brien talks about how he formed different relationships with different people throughout the story, as well as other soldiers who formed relationships with other soldiers.  And the reason Tim does this is to form not only bonds with characters in his story, but to build the reader’s emotional interest and attachment to the different characters, mainly so that when something tragic or fatal happens to one or more of the characters, the reader feels it and nearly witnesses it for him or herself.  That is the biggest trial in writing a war story, or at least the biggest thing to strive for.  Tim even mentions that war stories cannot even be described due to many of the emotionally shocking events that happen in them.  Perhaps one of the biggest examples of  showing the severity of war in Tim's story is the part where Rat's best friend, Lemon, steps on a 105 round mine and blows him to pieces; this shows not only the grotesque, sudden-death nature of war, but it also shows how much it changes a person.  After Lemon is killed by the mine, it completely changes Rat and he becomes almost a different soldier for the rest of the story, obviously forming a form of PTSD.  One of the many different techniques that Tim uses in this fantastic writing is the method of almost bouncing all over the place, yet staying in the same atmosphere and setting in his story.  The way I saw it, it was almost like O’Brien was constantly having flashbacks whilst writing his story and sharing them with his reader.  This certainly captivates his readers even more because they are able to see the struggle in simply writing the story.  From the reader’s perspective, it not only forms a greater interest in the events that occur throughout the story, but it almost forms more of a bond between the reader and the writer.  You are able to feel his pain and get a good understanding of what he is doing.   Perhaps the biggest possible explanation for why O’Brien does this in his story is to not directly imply that he has some sort of mental illness that was a result of the war, as a matter of fact I can’t imagine that was his intention at all, but it still strikes on the heartstrings of the reader, and that makes them just that much more interested in the writing of the war story.