Nineteen
year old Army Specialist Billy Lynn is completing a two week tour of the U.S. with seven fellow
surviving members of Bravo Company, second platoon, first squad. Fox
News has renamed them Bravo Squad, after its embedded team recorded a
fierce firefight on a remote canal in Iraq in which the squad heroically battled
Iraqi insurgents. The frequent airing of that video has turned them into
national heroes, and the Bush administration has sent them on tour to rally support for the war, culminating on Thanksgiving Day at
a Dallas Cowboys football game, where they will be part of an
extravagant halftime show.
Ben
Fountain's debut novel Billy
Lynn's Long Halftime Walk spends
that day inside Billy's head. He watches oleaginous Cowboys owner
Norm Oglesby (who bears a remarkable resemblance to Jerry Jones)
bloviate about patriotism, bravery and all things Texan. He observes
movie producer Albert Ratner as he attempts to sell movie rights
to their story, even if it means letting Hilary Swank play Billy's role.
He is mesmerized by the cheerleaders (one in particular) and
overwhelmed by frantic excess of the halftime show. The squad is
unstintingly polite and obliging to gushing admirers, but raucous, adolescent and over-served when no one is watching. But through all the blitz and
glitz Billy is grieving the loss of his beloved sergeant,
and wrestling with his feelings about his family, his fellow soldiers
and his return to Iraq.
Fountain's
language is can be blisteringly sharp, funny, dizzying, and sometimes
achingly sad. By the end I was exhausted but reluctant to leave
Billy and Bravo Company behind.
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