Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and a finalist for the National Book Award Brilliantly done . . . grand, intimate, and joyous. New York Times Book Review From the PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author of the critically acclaimed short story collection, Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, comes Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk ("The Catch-22 of the Iraq War" Karl Marlantes). Three minutes and forty-three seconds of intensive warfare with Iraqi insurgentscaught on tape by an embedded Fox News crewhas transformed the eight surviving men of Bravo Squad into Americas most sought-after heroes. Now theyre on a media-intensive nationwide tour to reinvigorate public support for the war. On this rainy Thanksgiving Day, the Bravos are in Texas Stadium, slated to be part of the halftime show. Among the Bravos is nineteen-year-old Specialist Billy Lynn. Surrounded by patriots sporting flag pins on their lapels and support our troops bumper stickers, he is thrust into the company of the teams owner and his coterie of wealthy colleagues; a born-again cheerleader; a veteran Hollywood producer; and supersized players eager for a vicarious taste of war. Over the course of this day, Billy will drink and brawl, yearn for home and mourn those missing, face a heart-wrenching decision and discover pure love and a bitter wisdom far beyond his years. Poignant, riotously funny, and exquisitely heartbreaking, Billy Lynns Long Halftime Walk is a searing and powerful novel that has cemented Ben Fountains reputation as one of the finest writers of his generation.