A brilliant story. Well written. Definitely a book what represents our time, and the men and women who serve. Highly recommend to everyone.

This book has been recommended to me for ages and ages, so when the galley came up for review I finally thought I'd make the time to give it a go.

Billy Lynn is one of the greatest characters. He's innocent without being weak, sympathetic without being pathetic. The point the book was making was strong and poignant but delivered so delicately that you didn't even have a chance in your mind to argue with it. It was a deep look at the flaws of western capitalism and a book that is so very relevant to all of us that I think everyone should read it.

Billy Lynn is a member of the US Army’s Bravo Company, eight of whom survive the battle of Al-Ansakar Canal in Iraq. Caught on film, the squad become instant heroes and are brought back to the US for a 2-week victory tour, culminating in an appearance at the Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium, and it is there that most of the story takes place. Billy is just an ordinary small-town boy, relatively uneducated, but it is through his response to all the excess around him and the sheer impossibility of anyone on the outside fully comprehending what it’s like to serve in Iraq that the author explores, with verbal dexterity, profound perception and deep empathy, the madness of war. At one time a moving portrait of one young man out of his depth in all that is going on and a devastating satire on American culture, the book works on many levels and the reader becomes increasingly invested in Billy, an innocent young man caught up in events over which he has no control, and the knowledge that he is about to return to the fighting in Iraq is quite heart-rending. A compelling novel about war, loyalty and consumerism.

Using the VIctory Tour of a squad [the Bravos], some of whom have just been decorated for valour by the President for bravery on the front line in Iraq, Ben Fountain vividly depicts the disconnect between the soldiers and the people who hail them as heroes. In Billy and Dime we have wonderful characters who encapsulate the tightness of those who have fought, and nearly died, together. By contrast there is Albert, the smooth two-faced movie producer who promises the squad serious money for their film rights and super rich Norm who owns the Cowboys Football team. The storyline plays out almost entirely in the stadium to which the Bravo squad are invited by Norm as guests of honour. There is humour, anger, danger and even love compressed into one afternoon. The ending is just brilliant in the way it draws together hugely complex emotions and interactions in just a few pages. And then a little bonus. in the appendix to the book is the lecture given by Ben Fountain, to the US Air force Academy, in which he argues the case for books such as this. Be sure to read it.

The Iraq war’s Catch 22

Billy Lynn is a grunt. He’s a 19-year-old grunt who is part of Bravo squad. He has been highly decorated by the President for his part in a firefight in Iraq during which a friend was killed in front of him. No doubt this also happened to many of his compatriots but on this occasion the action was captured by an embedded Fox News team. So, Billy and his mates are now national heroes.

Billy and a group of seven others from his squad are therefore on a two-week tour back home to press the flesh around the country. It’s a whistle stop tour of predominantly swing states to meet the rich and powerful and, on occasions, the great unwashed. The majority of the story takes place on the last full day of the tour at a Dallas Cowboys game against the Chicago Bears although we do read about Billy’s brief visit to see his family who live in a small Texas town. The following day they will be packed off again to fight in Iraq.

The story therefore focuses on the events of the day and Billy’s reactions to the people he meets and who want a piece of him and his friends. His thoughts are the most interesting, ranging from not understanding why these over the top people should want to paw and get to touch him to drawing comparisons between their safe lives at home and the dangers he experiences every day in Iraq.

As can be expected the dialogue pulls no punches and is highly representative of the language of squaddies – both colourful and direct. The bonding between the members of the small unit shines through as they struggle against different groups who want to take advantage of their presence for their own ends.

Many comparisons can be made but perhaps the best parallel can be drawn between the way in which the football crowd watches the match on the Jumbotron and the way Americans experience war through their TV screens. Both are involving yet remote.

This is a first-rate satirical novel like few others. Although the parallel will inevitably be drawn with “Catch 22” this is a very different story but still one very much worth reading.

mr zorg

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.