They want war to be easy, and it's just not going to be...

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This month we've chosen the critically acclaimed Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, by Ben Fountain. With penetrating insights into Western culture, and an unflinching exploration of our contemporary conception of war, glory and heroes, this is a novel to return to. Get started with our reading group questions below:

1. Billy is a private in the Bravo Company, second platoon, first squad, second team. They have been christened the 'Bravo Squad' by Fox News, even though 'technically there is no such thing'. What is the significance of this palatable invention?
2. What is the relationship in Billy Lynn between consumerism and war? How central do you think this relationship is to the overall plot?
3. The author uses language to great effect throughout. How does the irreverent jargon of the soldiers contrast to the measured language of the civilians? What do the pages of isolated words and heavy dialect (e.g. 'terrRist', 'nina leven', 'currj') add to this?
4. How do you read Billy's relationship with his sister? With Faison?
5. This is a book about war, yet there is only one flashback to actual battle. Do you think the story benefits from focusing almost entirely on the understanding of war at home?
6. The novel depicts a rapacious America – the spectacle of the halftime show, the gluttonous buffets and displays of wealth, the possibility of a movie deal. How do these depictions speak to the way in which Western culture conceives of war?
7. What is the role of religion in this novel?
8. Do you find Billy to be a sympathetic character? What do you think motivates his final choice?
9. Critics have often labeled this novel a satire, though Ben Fountain claims that he was writing realism. Which aspects of this novel (if any) feel exaggerated for effect?

And here's how to be involved further:

1. Buy the book
We're offering a special 40% discount through our website, exclusively for book club members – simply enter voucher code DISCUSS at check-out.

2. Find out more
Browse through the bonus videos, author interviews and blog posts below, and on Ben's channel on canongate.tv.

3. Join the discussion
Post your comments, questions and thoughts about the book on twitter under #cgbookclub.

New to Canongate Book Club? Find out more about how to use this site.

Nineteen-year-old Billy Lynn is home from Iraq. And he's a hero. Billy and the rest of Bravo Company were filmed defeating Iraqi insurgents in a ferocious firefight. Now Bravo's three minutes of extreme bravery is a YouTube sensation and the Bush Administration has sent them on a nationwide Victory Tour.

During the final hours of the tour Billy will mix with the rich and powerful, endure the politics and praise of his fellow Americans - and fall in love. He'll face hard truths about life and death, family and friendship, honour and duty.

Tomorrow he must go back to war.

'This book will be the Catch-22 of the Iraq War. Instead of skewering the military, however, it skewers the society responsible for sending it to war, namely us.'
Madison Smartt Bell

'As close to the Great American Novel as anyone is likely to come these days - an extraordinary work that captures and releases the unquiet spirit of our age, and will probably be remembered as one of the important books of this decade'
Madison Smartt Bell

'Breathtaking, beautiful, startlingly authentic'
Patrick Hennessey

'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is not merely good; it's Pulitzer Prize-quality good . . . A bracing, fearless and uproarious satire of how contemporary war is waged and sold to the American public'
San Francisco Chronicle

Order your copy now with 40% off using voucher code DISCUSS.

Ben Fountain is the author of the acclaimed short-story collection Brief Encounters with Che Guevara and a debut novel, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, which won the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction and the 2012 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2012 National Book Award. In addition, he has received the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction, an O. Henry Award and two Pushcart Prizes. He was also shortlisted for the International Author of the Year Award in 2012.

His fiction has been published in Harper's, The Paris Review, Zoetrope: All-Story and Stories from the South: The Year's Best, and his nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times among other publications. He lives in Dallas, Texas.

Visit Ben's channel on canongate.tv

This debut collection from the man who Malcolm Gladwell described as a genius took readers by storm. From the slums of Haiti to a golf course in Myanmar, and from the Colombian jungle to the diamond mines of Sierra Leone, Ben Fountain's impeccable and devastatingly funny stories describe a world in political and social upheaval, and the lives caught in the balance.

To read further about Ben's experiences in Haiti (including the the dinner he had with an acquaintance of Hitler's), have a look at his blog.