Oh-ooo Say, Can We See?

Can't say what drew me to this odd title--I knew that Ben Fountain received the PEN/Hemingway Award for the collection of short stories, Brief Encounters With Che Guevara--but I hadn't read the reviews or the publisher's summary. I didn't know that some critics are calling Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk this era's Catch 22, (oh! did we love Yossarian!) and THE best novel about the Irag war. I just saw this title on a list of suggested Beach Reads; "Beach" and "Read", two of my favorite words, and I was in. Turns out this was an unexpected treasure, the perfect approach, and an experience I won't be forgetting soon. So, I don't want to go into details and ruin your experience other than to say....WOW; I loved this book!

I thought it was almost perfection, from the very concept, to the brilliant depiction of Billy's youthful naivety and his contrasting soldier's wisdom, to the sentence structure, and every perfectly placed word. It was laugh-out-loud funny, then at once sobering, like laughing at someone that just biffed it on the stairs, then realizing the tumble resulted in a compound fracture. There are a lot of cliche's as far as characterizations go, and Texans probably won't like this one, but the powerful message contained in this short read goes far beyond little criticisms--indeed to the very core of what we as Americans value. The detailed description of the football team's equipment (in it's context) was as powerful and perfect as anything written, and could alone justify getting this book.

A short listen, at just 6 1/2 hours, but what an experience--what an impact. I'm just sorry that what I am sure will be the highlight of my summer reading is over before summer even begins.

82 people found this helpful

Very cynical, very political

What disappointed you about Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk?
This story seemed to be a vehicle for the author to portray people from Texas, Cowboys fans, and politically conservative Americans to be naïve, thick, idiots. The book spends a lot of time trying to portray the Texans that Billy meets to be patriotic, but ignorant idiots. It tries to draw a contrast to what average Americans think the motivation was for the war in Iraq and what the 'Bravos' think the reality is. This book was written for readers who are politically liberal and who will be happy to read a book that portrays soldiers as victims and conservatives as obtuse.

What do you think your next listen will be?
Don Quixote.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?
Nothing was wrong with the narration.

What character would you cut from Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk?
Most of the Texans that the author tries to make look like idiots.

Any additional comments?
I did a year in Iraq with the Army myself (07-08). Soldiers know what they are getting into when they volunteer. I was glad to go and glad to return. No, civilians don't really know what it is like to be in a combat zone and go into harms way. But guess what? I don't expect them to. I don't judge civilians for not knowing what they cannot possibly know. BTW: I am not from Texas and I do not watch Fox News.

52 people found this helpful

Moving, Poignant, Ironic Tale of Young Vet

I loved this book. It's the closest thing to Mark Twain I've read in a long time. Entertaining, poignant, ironic, and a tribute to decent people being manipulated by the charlatans.Then protagonist is a young soldier whose heroism in battle was captured by a Fox news crew. The Army sends him and his buddies on a publicity tour of the US. The high point is their attendance on Thanksgiving day at a Dallas/Chicago football game at Cowboys Stadium. The author does a marvelous job of showing Billy's inner turmoil, knowing he has to go back to the war when the game is over. He meets a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and it's instant love for both of them. Meanwhile, the owner of the Cowboys, a sleazy, manipulative Jerry Jones type, exploits Billy and his buddies, putting them on display in front of the thousands in the stadium and millions watching on t.v., throwing them into a halftime show as props for Beyonce and Destiny's Child.

The author does something few contemporary writers do - skewers American culture and politics while making us care about the individuals - Billy and his fellow soldiers, their families, the girl Billy falls in love with. The Cowboys' owner schemes to screw the soldiers out of their story so he can produce a movie, and the fans start out fawning over the boys, later either ignoring them, or wanting to fight them.

The book made me realize how hollow it must sound to vets to say "thank you for your service and/or sacrifice," and to talk about courage, honor freedom and the American way of life and so on, while 99% of us never serve, and go about our lives worshipping pop culture icons like Beyonce and pro athletes. Or as George W. Bush said, after 9-11, go to Disney World or go shopping.

The narrator does a great job of pacing and portraying the different characters.

This book is destined to become a classic that withstands time, and should be required reading in English classes, like Dickens and Twain.

52 people found this helpful

Fortunate Son

Nearly 12 wonderful hours of audio about a day at a Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game which allows the author Ben Fountain to masterfully provide us with a sometime-satirical panoramic view from the seat of Billy Lynn, a U.S. soldier who is flying back to Iraq the following day. He and the fellow members of the heroic Bravo Squad are being recognized as halftime.

We get a cinematic look at

a pro football game;

the war in Iraq and its impact on these young men's lives;

how heroes may be treated after all the hubbub or exploited;

and

our culture generally, and specifically, in movies and the entertainment (movies and music) industry, big time sports, billionaires blow-hards, the overwhelming emphasis on sex in advertising and television and how our society has reached the point that our press covers no-talent trog-GLAM-mites like Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton while ignoring legit stories.

There's a bonus: a near-fantasy sequence when Billy meets a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.

Maybe you hadn't heard of Ben Fountain before this brilliant book was published. Pay attention. I'm not capable of quickly using the vocabulary needed to heap worthy praise upon Ben Fountain and "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk."

So I'll say:

DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK!

37 people found this helpful

Never Thought I'd Love It

When the rave reviews started for this book, I was dubious. Not my thing. A story about a 19-year-old Iraqi war vet? And from Texas? And a lot happening at a football game? Please give me another English upper-class mystery.
But I want to learn, expand my horizons, understand other people....and my book club agreed to read it. Was I in for a surprise.
Ben Fountain is a magician cleverly disguised as a writer. The reviews said the sentences were elegant, and they were, but they were more than that: they were transformative. The voice of a young decorated war veteran, describing what he had seen and experienced, and what witnessing the death of his closest friend in battle had done to him. Billy's visit to his own family in Texas, how they see him, their relationships, true, real. Billy's head-over-heels meeting with a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, their sky-rocketing reaction to each other. All the events led up to a conclusion that was not what I expected, but still feels authentic and right.
I've been thinking about Billy Lynn for weeks now. He and Ben Fountain did what great writing is supposed to do. They brought greater understanding and deep sympathy for the book's characters, and a new way of looking at the world. I can honestly say that his is one of the best books I've ever read.

21 people found this helpful

hilarious and insightful

A great satire of the Iraq war and the young men fighting it. A wonderful send up on American values and ignorance of the war's purpose. I loved the whole Dallas Cowboy/money machine riff. I laughed many times at the young soldiers vocabulary and emotions. Great narration. A book better listened to then read.

16 people found this helpful

Caricatures, not characters

Ben Fountain's short stories "Close Encounters with Che Guevara" was one of my favorite books. This is an experimental novel, with no plot, in a nondescript setting. There are no characters either. There's a movie producer who's a caricature of movie producers. Billy Lynn is a 19-year-old who was given a choice between prison or the army. Beyond that he has no backstory. No other character has a backstory. The soldiers on leave just eat pizza and drink beer and call each other gay. I gave up after 2.5 hours. The writing is good but it's not a novel.

15 people found this helpful

A modern-day Catch-22. Brilliant, thrilling.

If you could sum up Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk in three words, what would they be?

That is impossible (three words, right?). The publisher's review of this book says it much better than I can. This book is a masterpiece. Billy Lynn is a 19 year old Army grunt, one of the heroes of the Bravo squad. They found themselves in a firefight with Iraqi insurgents. Billy's closest friend, Shroom, catches fire near Billy, who rushes headlong into the middle of the battle to haul his fatally-wounded friend back to a trench. Shroom dies in Billy's arms. The entire moment is filmed by the embedded Fox news "medias," and the squad, with Billy its face, is squired around the country by a Bush administration determined to use them for all the desperate PR they can possibly muster. This amazing novel takes place mostly in one day at the end of the tour, when they are shown off by the slimy owner of the Dallas Cowboys. The writing is brilliant, the narration so completely right that you are glued to your position. This book is why we read.

What other book might you compare Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk to and why?

Catch-22 is what comes to mind. The book deserves to be as wildly popular as the story of Yossarian. It is also hilarious, with wise humor that draws you in with the Bravos, and makes you understand their truly brave dedication, and yet the country's deep ambivalence about the war cannot be denied. Everywhere they have gone, they have been patted on the back, hand-shaken, heartily toasted by everyone who wants a little piece of them. They are deeply embarrassed by the entire production. I had no idea that the book is being released soon as a movie. This is art trumping life. The Cowboys owner, Norm, acclaims to the world that he loves them and is going to make a grand movie of their heroism. But just as in Hollywood, they are first seduced by the idea of getting paid $100K for their roles. Norm, a repulsive insect, makes one offer to them: $5500. Dime, their loving and off-the-wall sergeant, says in the middle of a meeting with himself, Billy, and Norm's forty yesmen that, "Norm loves us so much that he's gonna fuck us in the face!"

What about Oliver Wyman’s performance did you like?

Every word. Every phrase. Every joke, with every double- and triple meaning that each one contains. Possibly my favorite is Billy's instant romance with a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, Faizon Zorn. Billy and Faizon fall spectacularly in love, with bombs bursting, ripped-off clothing, and breathtaking dry humping, all in the middle of the half-time spectacular. This scene, starring Destiny's Child, is everything humoungously tacky about the United States. It features the mandatory cast of thousands, choreographed like a Broadway production, selling the Cowboy brand with every sort of trash that the human mind can create. Mr. Wyman has a talent that makes you want to leap out of your seat and cheer.

If you could rename Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, what would you call it?

This is another horrid question. I believe that Mr. Fountain can call his book anything that he wants to call it.

Any additional comments?

I am not a big fan of war novels. They do make good movies, as Steven Spielberg masterfully showed us with Sophie's Choice, and once again with Schindler's List. I don't know what other writing Mr. Fountain has done, but I will listen to it immediately. I will wait a while, and then listen to Billy's story again, since you can't possibly hear every wonderful, deeply felt word on your first listen. Bravo!!!

14 people found this helpful

Loved Billy Lynn's Walk

What did you love best about Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk?

This book is insightful, funny, heartbreaking all at the same time. A modern war masterpiece. And Oliver Wyman's narration is pitch perfect.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Billy Lynn, of course. Too young to drink (legally) yet old enough to have his best friend die in his arms, Billy Lynn has wisdom born of combat. He's still an innocent but not a sucker. His keen assessments of people and events around him provide the beautiful narrative arc of this book.

What does Oliver Wyman bring to the story that you wouldn???t experience if you just read the book?

Oliver Wyman was perfect in every way, especially the way he captured the soldiers of Bravo Company.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

14 people found this helpful

Did I Miss Something?

Was there a point? As an ex-grunt, admittedly over 40 years in the rearview mirror, I was comfortable with the dialog; we verbally beat each other senseless just for amusement's sake. I kept waiting for the epic conclusion, maybe for the grand philosophical insight...for something. But it never came. The tale just sort of drifted away. Maybe that was the point. I don't know.

Enjoyable story/performance awaiting a conclusion. Any conclusion. Good enough but not memorable. Kind of like Ham & Claymores. Smoke 'em, if you got 'em.

11 people found this helpful