Just finished reading Ben Fountain's novel

I enjoyed reading it and thought that it was good, but not great. There were some funny moments as well as moments that made you question what the war was all about (a definite goal of the book). I'm still chuckling over the fact that Fountain labeled Cheney, Bush & Rumsfeld as "The Father, The Son & The Holy Ghost."

One reviewer labeled it, "the Catch 22 of the Gulf war," but I don't think I'd go that far.

It will be interesting to see how closely Ang Lee & the scriptwriters follow the book.

As far as casting goes, I can't comment on the actor who's playing Billy since he is a newcomer. I can however sing praises for the casting of Garrett Hedlund as Sgt. Dime. He was exactly who I envisioned as I read the book.

Ditto for Kristen Stewart as Billy's sister Kathryn. I wonder how much her role will be changed however, for with the exception of one chapter in the book, all of her and Billy's interaction is accomplished via phone calls and text messages. One of the more interesting aspects of Kathryn was that she blamed herself for the fact that Billy had to join the Army, and thus face death in Iraq.

I'm glad that that duo from On the Road are once again in the same film, although if Ang Lee follows the book, they won't have any scenes together. On the other hand, since this is an adaptation of the novel, perhaps they will.

I don't have a clue which character Vin Diesel is playing. He seems too old to be part of the Bravo squad, so perhaps his role is someone who was not part of the book.

And as for Steve Martin, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that he will be playing the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. As I was reading the book, that was the only role that I could visualize him playing.

Anyway, it was definitely worth the few short days it took to read it. Found it in the Miami-Dade Public Library, so if it was here, I'm sure that it's also available at a library near you.

Unless, of course, you happen to live in Texas. 