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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
My enjoyment of this novel diminished the further into it that I read. A lot of that had more to do with the writing as opposed to the dystopian story itself.
The premise is fairly simple: we learn by way of prologue that the narrator is an older man in Alaska, now a 22nd Century refuge against both a climate catastrophe and American Civil War that raged from 2074 to 2095. And this narrator, dying of cancer, will tell us the story of a woman whose life will unveil that war and what it meant.
The woman is his Aunt, Sara T. Chestnut, who goes by Sarat ("Sara T"), and maybe that name is symbolic of something but that was never clear to me. Sarat is a young girl at the outset of the Civil War, when climate change has ravaged the coastlines and increased desertification has displaced many. Fossil fuels have been banned, but a few Southern states refuse to accede to this and this leads to them banding together against the North, while a good chunk of the SW is now controlled by Mexico. The 'Free Southern State' are known as Reds, while the rest of the country, often referred to as the North (though much of it would obviously be West) are the Blues. South Carolina, once the hotbed of rebel activities, is now a quarantine zone after a viral agent induces disease in its entire population.
After Sarat's father is killed while seeking to move his family north, she, her mother, brother and twin sister are displaced and end up in a Red refugee camp known as Patience. The family, already poor, live in a tent which is one of hundreds or more in this barren semi-permanent settlement near the Tennessee border. They are under constant guard, live a spartan lifestyle, and kids are apparently left to fend for themselves.
To this point, the main hints at Sarat's "special" nature are a fighting spirit and a very remarkable growth spurt (almost mythical in nature) so that she becomes a towering figure with shaven head.
Sarat is eventually recruited and groomed by a politically influential man named Gaines for a role in the South's fight. Gaines also introduces Sarat to an Arab known as Joe, who lives in a Pan-Arabian stronghold called the Bouazizi Empire. Joe's people have a role in supplying the Blues with arms and black market goods, essentially helping fund the war. Sarat's indoctrination seems simplistic, since she swallows everything Gaines says (no fact-checking on wikipedia, I guess) but because she's young maybe it's less implausible.
In apparent retaliation for an act of violence, marauding Blue soldiers massacre the residents of Patience. Sarat's mother is killed, her brother brain-damaged and Sarat permanently scarred by the violence she witnesses. She, her brother Simon and her sister all gain some kind of celebrity and are revered in the South, apparently for simply surviving the now notorious massacre. I found this very odd and unexplained given no special acts of heroism attributed to the Chestnut siblings and the fact there were other survivors. Anyhow, it is at this point that Gaines turns Sarat into a weapon.
And what a weapon! With a bit of training from Gaines, Sarat basically turns into a one-woman wrecking crew and expert sniper (think: Rambo, First Blood). And the way everyone in Red territory knows about her reputation I would have thought would place a bullseye on her back. Especially since no one seems discreet.
Eventually, Sarat is indeed captured, detained and tortured in an island facility off the eroded Florida coast known as Sugarloaf. She is broken in spirt, particularly after being waterboarded. She understands soon it is Gaines who snitched on her. But because her captors somehow never learn of her exploits she is eventually released while peace talks are underway, leading to the war's end (the Reds largely capitulating to the Blues).
After her release Sarat moves in with her brother Simon, who is slowly regaining his mental powers, Simon's wife, and their 6 year old son, Benjamin, who we quickly connect as the narrator in the book's prologue. Without giving the ending away, it's fair to say that for Sarat, a tormented soul, the war isn't over.
The best part of the novel for me was not the dystopian view of America (certainly not a huge stretch, given the current impact of climate change and the extremist, fractious nature of politics), but the allegory employed by El Akkad. I suspect not everyone will agree but the Bouazizi Empire's role in fomenting civil war in America is not dissimilar to America's past and present role in fomenting civil wars in so many other places, including Muslim/Arabic-speaking countries. This is underscored when at one point Joe makes it clear that he doesn't care who wins or loses, it's about promoting warfare. And near the end of the story (in case the point was too subtle for others) another character bluntly says,
"... in this part of the world, right and wrong ain't about who wins, or who kills who. In this part of the world, right and wrong ain't even about right and wrong. It's about what you do for your own."
"In this part of the world." Hell, that's not America to which is referred (not yet, anyhow, though it's leaning that way) but large swathes of the Muslim world where they observe the adage that first it's you vs your brothers, then you and your brothers vs your cousins, and lastly you and your cousins vs others (i.e., it comes down to family, tribe, sect, faith, in ever expanding circles). So of course the Bouazizi Empire is doing what the US has done for a long time - the US is now the desert country, it all centres around oil, and at Sugarloaf/Guantanamo all manner of law is abridged when it becomes expedient.
So that was the good part. Now for the rest. Well, first there's the writing itself. Essentially if you can read sentences like this and not be bothered, then this might be the book for you:
"The sounds of burning and of screaming and of killing continued relentless around her, the sky overhead beating dark and light like God's great heart itself." (at p 202)
For myself, there are so many things wrong with that one sentence that it would be hard to not write an essay. There are also characters here, the majority I'd say, who come across as two-dimensional.
But another key point for me was how the crucial aspect of world-building seems to happen in unconvincing fashion. I never felt transport because other than the effects of climate, much of everything else looks too much the same. It seems unrealistic that in the span from 50-100 years from now, technology in the future looks an awful lot like right now: drone warfare and rifles, tablets and phones, solar panels for green energy. And so does much of everything else. Jeezus, waterboarding remains the prime means of torture to break someone?! The static nature of the "future" extends to the fact the language hasn't changed, with people speaking as they do now. Lastly in terms of writing, there's a ton of exposition, especially through the 'addendum' to each chapter, ostensibly some historical record or other that serves as shortcut to explain developments.
But above all, perhaps, the one egregious error that makes this a two-star review is the fact El Akkad omits altogether what is, in many ways, the defining feature of the US South: race. We understand early on that Sarat's mom was black, her father Mexican, and Sarat looks more like her mother. And that's that. For me, even as allegory, the racism that has pervaded America, particularly its South, would not be erased over the next 50 years (or if so, that requires an explanation that isn't given). So why is it never an issue for any of the characters at any time in this story?
So while there are a few things to admire, primarily the political vision, this book never became a transportive reading exercise and unfortunately the writing brought it down in level too close to comic book/graphic novel.
The premise is fairly simple: we learn by way of prologue that the narrator is an older man in Alaska, now a 22nd Century refuge against both a climate catastrophe and American Civil War that raged from 2074 to 2095. And this narrator, dying of cancer, will tell us the story of a woman whose life will unveil that war and what it meant.
The woman is his Aunt, Sara T. Chestnut, who goes by Sarat ("Sara T"), and maybe that name is symbolic of something but that was never clear to me. Sarat is a young girl at the outset of the Civil War, when climate change has ravaged the coastlines and increased desertification has displaced many. Fossil fuels have been banned, but a few Southern states refuse to accede to this and this leads to them banding together against the North, while a good chunk of the SW is now controlled by Mexico. The 'Free Southern State' are known as Reds, while the rest of the country, often referred to as the North (though much of it would obviously be West) are the Blues. South Carolina, once the hotbed of rebel activities, is now a quarantine zone after a viral agent induces disease in its entire population.
After Sarat's father is killed while seeking to move his family north, she, her mother, brother and twin sister are displaced and end up in a Red refugee camp known as Patience. The family, already poor, live in a tent which is one of hundreds or more in this barren semi-permanent settlement near the Tennessee border. They are under constant guard, live a spartan lifestyle, and kids are apparently left to fend for themselves.
To this point, the main hints at Sarat's "special" nature are a fighting spirit and a very remarkable growth spurt (almost mythical in nature) so that she becomes a towering figure with shaven head.
Sarat is eventually recruited and groomed by a politically influential man named Gaines for a role in the South's fight. Gaines also introduces Sarat to an Arab known as Joe, who lives in a Pan-Arabian stronghold called the Bouazizi Empire. Joe's people have a role in supplying the Blues with arms and black market goods, essentially helping fund the war. Sarat's indoctrination seems simplistic, since she swallows everything Gaines says (no fact-checking on wikipedia, I guess) but because she's young maybe it's less implausible.
In apparent retaliation for an act of violence, marauding Blue soldiers massacre the residents of Patience. Sarat's mother is killed, her brother brain-damaged and Sarat permanently scarred by the violence she witnesses. She, her brother Simon and her sister all gain some kind of celebrity and are revered in the South, apparently for simply surviving the now notorious massacre. I found this very odd and unexplained given no special acts of heroism attributed to the Chestnut siblings and the fact there were other survivors. Anyhow, it is at this point that Gaines turns Sarat into a weapon.
And what a weapon! With a bit of training from Gaines, Sarat basically turns into a one-woman wrecking crew and expert sniper (think: Rambo, First Blood). And the way everyone in Red territory knows about her reputation I would have thought would place a bullseye on her back. Especially since no one seems discreet.
Eventually, Sarat is indeed captured, detained and tortured in an island facility off the eroded Florida coast known as Sugarloaf. She is broken in spirt, particularly after being waterboarded. She understands soon it is Gaines who snitched on her. But because her captors somehow never learn of her exploits she is eventually released while peace talks are underway, leading to the war's end (the Reds largely capitulating to the Blues).
After her release Sarat moves in with her brother Simon, who is slowly regaining his mental powers, Simon's wife, and their 6 year old son, Benjamin, who we quickly connect as the narrator in the book's prologue. Without giving the ending away, it's fair to say that for Sarat, a tormented soul, the war isn't over.
The best part of the novel for me was not the dystopian view of America (certainly not a huge stretch, given the current impact of climate change and the extremist, fractious nature of politics), but the allegory employed by El Akkad. I suspect not everyone will agree but the Bouazizi Empire's role in fomenting civil war in America is not dissimilar to America's past and present role in fomenting civil wars in so many other places, including Muslim/Arabic-speaking countries. This is underscored when at one point Joe makes it clear that he doesn't care who wins or loses, it's about promoting warfare. And near the end of the story (in case the point was too subtle for others) another character bluntly says,
"... in this part of the world, right and wrong ain't about who wins, or who kills who. In this part of the world, right and wrong ain't even about right and wrong. It's about what you do for your own."
"In this part of the world." Hell, that's not America to which is referred (not yet, anyhow, though it's leaning that way) but large swathes of the Muslim world where they observe the adage that first it's you vs your brothers, then you and your brothers vs your cousins, and lastly you and your cousins vs others (i.e., it comes down to family, tribe, sect, faith, in ever expanding circles). So of course the Bouazizi Empire is doing what the US has done for a long time - the US is now the desert country, it all centres around oil, and at Sugarloaf/Guantanamo all manner of law is abridged when it becomes expedient.
So that was the good part. Now for the rest. Well, first there's the writing itself. Essentially if you can read sentences like this and not be bothered, then this might be the book for you:
"The sounds of burning and of screaming and of killing continued relentless around her, the sky overhead beating dark and light like God's great heart itself." (at p 202)
For myself, there are so many things wrong with that one sentence that it would be hard to not write an essay. There are also characters here, the majority I'd say, who come across as two-dimensional.
But another key point for me was how the crucial aspect of world-building seems to happen in unconvincing fashion. I never felt transport because other than the effects of climate, much of everything else looks too much the same. It seems unrealistic that in the span from 50-100 years from now, technology in the future looks an awful lot like right now: drone warfare and rifles, tablets and phones, solar panels for green energy. And so does much of everything else. Jeezus, waterboarding remains the prime means of torture to break someone?! The static nature of the "future" extends to the fact the language hasn't changed, with people speaking as they do now. Lastly in terms of writing, there's a ton of exposition, especially through the 'addendum' to each chapter, ostensibly some historical record or other that serves as shortcut to explain developments.
But above all, perhaps, the one egregious error that makes this a two-star review is the fact El Akkad omits altogether what is, in many ways, the defining feature of the US South: race. We understand early on that Sarat's mom was black, her father Mexican, and Sarat looks more like her mother. And that's that. For me, even as allegory, the racism that has pervaded America, particularly its South, would not be erased over the next 50 years (or if so, that requires an explanation that isn't given). So why is it never an issue for any of the characters at any time in this story?
So while there are a few things to admire, primarily the political vision, this book never became a transportive reading exercise and unfortunately the writing brought it down in level too close to comic book/graphic novel.
January 30, 2018 Update
Now on the Canada Reads 2018 Shortlist http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/meet-the-canada-reads-2018-contenders-1.4505780
August 10, 2017 Update
No. 100 (the list is chronological) in Vulture's 100 Great Works of Dystopian Fiction at http://www.vulture.com/article/best-dystopian-books.html
(Yes Liisa, they didn't forget [b:Riddley Walker|776573|Riddley Walker|Russell Hoban|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1383166398s/776573.jpg|762606] (1980))
American Civil War II (2074-2095)
This was terrifically done world-building which portrays a post-climate change America where the ocean waters have risen and removed coastal areas and the entire State of Florida from the map. The remaining Federal government has moved inland to a new capital of Columbus, Ohio and faces down a rebellion by a small cohort of Southern States consisting of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina who refuse to abide by new federal legislation banning fossil fuels.
The story of the war and its impacts is told from the point of view of one Southern family of mixed race (race actually isn't an issue at all in the book and is hardly ever mentioned) by one of their future descendants who is assembling the story of the conflict from family records and some few historical documents (from which excerpts are used as inter-chapter story expansions).
There aren't any descriptions of army battlefield encounters as the war seems to have quickly degenerated into marauding bands of militias & rebels and the use of robot drones (which the human handlers appear to have lost control of), suicide bombers and biochemical warfare. And those brutalities are usually reported only after the fact and often by indirect means. The impact is no less horrifying because of that though.
Akkad accomplishes quite a lot here underneath the surface. You can begin to imagine the rage of peoples displaced and then shunted aside into refugee camps where they are then victimized by both governments and marauders. Placing it as events on the North American continent makes it hit home all the more.
Trivia and Link
Akkad provides a map of the new States in the frontispiece to the book, but if you are wondering what will North America look like when the waters rise you just have to Google it (and then look under Images).
Now on the Canada Reads 2018 Shortlist http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/meet-the-canada-reads-2018-contenders-1.4505780
August 10, 2017 Update
No. 100 (the list is chronological) in Vulture's 100 Great Works of Dystopian Fiction at http://www.vulture.com/article/best-dystopian-books.html
(Yes Liisa, they didn't forget [b:Riddley Walker|776573|Riddley Walker|Russell Hoban|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1383166398s/776573.jpg|762606] (1980))
American Civil War II (2074-2095)
This was terrifically done world-building which portrays a post-climate change America where the ocean waters have risen and removed coastal areas and the entire State of Florida from the map. The remaining Federal government has moved inland to a new capital of Columbus, Ohio and faces down a rebellion by a small cohort of Southern States consisting of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina who refuse to abide by new federal legislation banning fossil fuels.
The story of the war and its impacts is told from the point of view of one Southern family of mixed race (race actually isn't an issue at all in the book and is hardly ever mentioned) by one of their future descendants who is assembling the story of the conflict from family records and some few historical documents (from which excerpts are used as inter-chapter story expansions).
There aren't any descriptions of army battlefield encounters as the war seems to have quickly degenerated into marauding bands of militias & rebels and the use of robot drones (which the human handlers appear to have lost control of), suicide bombers and biochemical warfare. And those brutalities are usually reported only after the fact and often by indirect means. The impact is no less horrifying because of that though.
Akkad accomplishes quite a lot here underneath the surface. You can begin to imagine the rage of peoples displaced and then shunted aside into refugee camps where they are then victimized by both governments and marauders. Placing it as events on the North American continent makes it hit home all the more.
Trivia and Link
Akkad provides a map of the new States in the frontispiece to the book, but if you are wondering what will North America look like when the waters rise you just have to Google it (and then look under Images).
I feel like I would have enjoyed this more if I had actually read it instead of listening to it as an audiobook. There were definitely details I didn't catch.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
very hard read, and i am sure it was meant that way for an American audience. beautifully written, and compelling once it got going.
Climate change and fossil fuels prompt a new civil war. Virus kills millions. (Written before Covid). The story of one family and what war prompts people to do. Definitely parts symbolic of Civil War and how the south’s narrative sustains them. (Wars fought w guns, peace fought w narrative). But also echoes of Israeli/Palestine conflicts- West Bank/Gaza, holocaust and orders people follow, radicalizing terrorists, etc. kind of wish I knew how the Blue and Purple citizenry felt about the war and wish there had been some more insight into what was happening prior.
Wow! Must read for anyone imagining the dangers of our current political moment coupled with how we currently treat our world.
My favourite so far from this year's Canada Reads shortlist. One star off for being a bit heavy-handed in places, and for too much direct foreshadowing (of the "two days before the massacre, the weather was sunny" variety) for my taste. But overall this is a great read.
I actually enjoyed this book. First, I listened to it on audiobook. Doesn't make a difference really, but I found myself very nervous and excited about what was next. Well written.
I don't think it excuses certain behavior, but gives you insight into the damage that war and torture do on society as a whole, not just any single person. Action - Consequence - Action - Consequence. How do we figure out how to end the back and forth before it results in something like this?
I don't think it excuses certain behavior, but gives you insight into the damage that war and torture do on society as a whole, not just any single person. Action - Consequence - Action - Consequence. How do we figure out how to end the back and forth before it results in something like this?
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes