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book_concierge's review
2.0
2.5**
From the book jacket: A ferocious firefight with Iraqi insurgents – three minutes and forty-three seconds of intense warfare caught on tape by an embedded Fox News crew – has transformed the eight surviving men of Bravo squad into America’s most sought-after heroes. For the past two weeks the Bush administration has sent them on a media-intensive nationwide Victory Tour to reinvigorate public support for the war. Now, on a chilly and rainy Thanksgiving Day, they are guests of the Dallas Cowboys, slated to be part of the halftime show alongside Destiny’s Child.
My reactions
My stars, this took forever to take off. For the first 100 pages or so, I was completely bored and had no idea where this mess was going. I didn’t like how the men of Bravo squad were portrayed – hard drinking, foul-mouthed, crude. If this hadn’t been a selection for my F2F book club I would have given up after 50 pages.
Once the squad gets into the private club room to meet the Cowboys’ owner and other high-powered, moneyed VIPs, the book begins to get interesting (pg 108). The last third of the book was very good. Billy Lynn is only 19 after all, from a small town, with limited education and no real exposure to the world at large. He takes his cue from the other members of Bravo Squad, particularly Staff Sergeant Dime, who is more a father to Billy than his own father is. In the space of several hours Billy is forced to examine his role in the war, in the media circus that is their victory tour, in his family. He begins to consider his options and what his future might look like.
This is a satire, so many of the characters and situations are outlandish and exaggerated. This is also Fountain’s first full-length novel, though he won numerous awards for his short stories. I think his experience and skill at short story writing showed in this work. The work seemed choppy in places, lacking any sort of transition from chapter to chapter. Some of the scenes (Billy’s visit with his family, in particular) would make fine short stories all on their own.
From the book jacket: A ferocious firefight with Iraqi insurgents – three minutes and forty-three seconds of intense warfare caught on tape by an embedded Fox News crew – has transformed the eight surviving men of Bravo squad into America’s most sought-after heroes. For the past two weeks the Bush administration has sent them on a media-intensive nationwide Victory Tour to reinvigorate public support for the war. Now, on a chilly and rainy Thanksgiving Day, they are guests of the Dallas Cowboys, slated to be part of the halftime show alongside Destiny’s Child.
My reactions
My stars, this took forever to take off. For the first 100 pages or so, I was completely bored and had no idea where this mess was going. I didn’t like how the men of Bravo squad were portrayed – hard drinking, foul-mouthed, crude. If this hadn’t been a selection for my F2F book club I would have given up after 50 pages.
Once the squad gets into the private club room to meet the Cowboys’ owner and other high-powered, moneyed VIPs, the book begins to get interesting (pg 108). The last third of the book was very good. Billy Lynn is only 19 after all, from a small town, with limited education and no real exposure to the world at large. He takes his cue from the other members of Bravo Squad, particularly Staff Sergeant Dime, who is more a father to Billy than his own father is. In the space of several hours Billy is forced to examine his role in the war, in the media circus that is their victory tour, in his family. He begins to consider his options and what his future might look like.
This is a satire, so many of the characters and situations are outlandish and exaggerated. This is also Fountain’s first full-length novel, though he won numerous awards for his short stories. I think his experience and skill at short story writing showed in this work. The work seemed choppy in places, lacking any sort of transition from chapter to chapter. Some of the scenes (Billy’s visit with his family, in particular) would make fine short stories all on their own.
scavengercat's review
3.0
I liked the second half of the book much better than the first (first half=two stars, second half=four). The writing was great, but it was almost over-written and the wordiness got in the way from time-to-time.
haley6621's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
jacksontibet's review
4.0
A surprisingly well-written "day in the life" of an overwhelmed, underprepared, and shellshocked Iraqi war veteran/combatant. Billy Lynn may not be able to explain his dichotomous relationship with the war that has made him a Fox News NATIONAL HERO to the nina leven jingoists but he doesn't have to. He could have easily been a listless, PTSD ravaged, generic post-military main character type but much credit goes to Ben Fountain for avoiding these pitfalls and climbing inside the mind of a horny, confused, angry, scared, and defensive manboy whose simply trying to keep his head above water, find some advil, and make peace with his life before being sent back to the shit.
nazza_ahmed's review
3.0
I liked this book and it was a nice look at war as a reality in a far away place versus war as a commercial and patriotic boosting opportunity back home in the US. The satire and fetishisation of the squad and the iraq war was good. It's a shame that the book took place in a single day and revolved around an american football game making it quite slow and boring, the romance was also heavily rushed and felt a bit fake taking artistic license a bit too far
laila4343's review
3.0
Very entertaining, occasionally profound. Sometimes the strokes were a bit too broad. But an enjoyable reading experience.
jeffersoneverestcrawford's review
5.0
One of those irreproachable experiences with a novel that breaks your soul and gives you eternal peace on the final page. Could be my favorite book, or, at least, the ideal of fiction I want to write.
bookysue's review
3.0
At first I really liked this book, but then it started to feel a little like a short story that went on for too long. Things that at first seemed really clever -- like the pages of cascading words, for instance -- became tired after being repeated over and over and over. I didn't end up hating it, but I didn't totally love it either.
And maybe it was just me, but I felt like the author kept using question marks when he should have been using declarative punctuation, and each time I was like wait, what? Maybe it was supposed to be an affectation specific to Billy Lynn or something.
Also, it took me an embarrassingly long time before I realized what "nina leven" was. I kept wondering who in the hell this nina character was.
Overall, a quick, interesting read, though -- especially the first half or so.
And maybe it was just me, but I felt like the author kept using question marks when he should have been using declarative punctuation, and each time I was like wait, what? Maybe it was supposed to be an affectation specific to Billy Lynn or something.
Also, it took me an embarrassingly long time before I realized what "nina leven" was. I kept wondering who in the hell this nina character was.
Overall, a quick, interesting read, though -- especially the first half or so.