I read this book because of the raving reviews, the awards it received and because I am a sci-fi fan. First of all, I was very disappointed with the writing. It is a mystery to me why it got all those awards. Writing style is not compelling, some of the dialogues are plain awkward, character development is unsuccessful and overall the book feels fragmented. The author had some original and very good ideas considering it was written in the 70's, and I can understand why it was a success back then given the relevancy of the story to the Vietnam war. But, he is not a good writer and everything about the book feels out dated today.