Billy Lynn's Long Half-Time Walk

At first, I thought this novel was pretty boring - but as it progresses - I think you really get a feel for the whole social criticism thing that's going on. It's hyper-realistic tensions that deal with romances in the modern day to PTSD and what being a hero actually means. This novel not only raises questions about the Iraq War, but also insights terror and fright by doing so. All in all, it was pretty good. 

I found this book whilst browsing for something I could read on modern history - I came across this and it was written in 2012 - so it's pretty modern. But, it's not very historical - I didn't mind though.

Characters:

Well my favourite character was Billy Lynn. He was like a toned-down cross between Alex DeLarge and something out of a William Faulkner novel. A realistic, yet haunting character that seeks the cultured ideal of heroism, but only succeeds in becoming a subversive construct of it. 

Themes:

My favourite theme was war. Normally, war is not my favourite theme - especially the Iraq war as it deals with too much politics for my mind to handle. But, this novel did not really deal with politics, but rather the emotions surrounding the entirety of it. The emotions I feel, are overlooked typically and author's get caught up in exposing secrets - this novel retains that emotional charge throughout. 

Storyline:

Good characters, good themes, okay storyline. The storyline was not as compelling as I thought it was going to get. There were a few instances of me thinking to myself "do I really want to read this?" But then something pretty good happened so I just continued reading. I would say the book tends to waver between being really interesting and pretty dull. 

Verdict:

I give this book 6/9

2/3 for characters: I thought the characters were done well - just not something that would be very memorable to me. 

2/3 for themes: I was pretty surprised that war was my favourite theme - but I think it needed to do more for the dystopian society it was trying to achieve.

2/3 for storyline: Purely for the wavering between good and bad.