Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
I finished this book last night. I had book club today where the author, who lives in Portland, came and talked to us about the book. I may now be giving this book 5 stars because I thought he was a very relatable human. But I honestly did love this book. It's hard to read. It's violent. But it tells the story of war and violence and how the things around us and and how the things that happen to us shape us. Sarat is shaped by the violence in her life and that guides her actions. This is a fictional telling of America's second civil war but it also mirrors the horrors of the Iraq War but puts it in the context of 'what if it happened here.'
Je ne sais pas vraiment à quoi je m'attendais mais je suis quand même déçue. J'ai mis énormément de temps pour finir ce livre pourtant pas très long, il m'a même enclenché une mini panne de lecture. C'est sûrement du au fait que le début est assez flou, on nous donne énormément d'informations et j'étais clairement perdue. C'est peut être le défaut principal du livre, l'auteur a voulu traiter trop de choses et n'a pas pu les développer. C'est dommage puisque certaines idées étaient très bonnes, comme les réflexions sur le réchauffement climatique et ce que cela pourrait entraîner dans les prochaines décennies.
Autres défauts, les personnages ? Je ne me suis attachée à presque aucun, sauf la famille formée par Karina, Simon et Benjamin. Sarat est assez insupportable et je n'ai pas ressenti beaucoup de compassion pour elle, sauf lors des passages à Sugarloaf. J'en avais clairement rien à faire de ce qui pouvait leur arriver.
C'est donc un premier roman pour moi raté que je déconseille.
Autres défauts, les personnages ? Je ne me suis attachée à presque aucun, sauf la famille formée par Karina, Simon et Benjamin. Sarat est assez insupportable et je n'ai pas ressenti beaucoup de compassion pour elle, sauf lors des passages à Sugarloaf. J'en avais clairement rien à faire de ce qui pouvait leur arriver.
C'est donc un premier roman pour moi raté que je déconseille.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Don't read this if you don't like books without any happiness. Parts in the middle were a bit slow for me, but on the whole, the story is equally compelling and horrifying. An examination of war and radicals in a devolved America that is far too believable for my comfort. Read this for raw characters that aren't afraid to be ugly.
This was excellent. I picked it up entirely by chance after seeing it in the bookstore. I had heard nothing about it and knew nothing of it but it seemed interesting. Once I picked it up I could not put it down. This was a very dark book. It felt me with a hollow, sad feeling. One of helplessness and a little scared. I don't know what genre this is- it takes place in the US in the semi-near future and tells the story of the second american civil war. The story follows Sarat, who is six in the beginning of the story. It tells her life throughout the war- her family and what they go through. The book was riveting. It's be echoing in my head since I finished it and I have a feeling it will for a while. It touched on a lot of issues of war and hate and revenge. I am so curious to read more by this author and see what else he has to offer. And I really hope that the world does not go in the direction imagined in this book.
I honestly don't have words to describe how effective this book is in portraying the emotional toll of war and the processes of radicalisation children in war zones are prone to. I cannot recommend this book enough.
(To be entirely honest the main reason I wanted to leave a review was because of how funny I thought it was to see people in the reviews section so scandalised at the book's anti-American slant. Like yeah mate... the author was a Guantanamo Bay correspondent, what were you expecting?)
(To be entirely honest the main reason I wanted to leave a review was because of how funny I thought it was to see people in the reviews section so scandalised at the book's anti-American slant. Like yeah mate... the author was a Guantanamo Bay correspondent, what were you expecting?)
Holy shit. I can see elements of this book in today's reality. Chillingly outstanding and heartbreaking.
This was so dark, and I can understand why people were a little annoyed more wasn't explained, but I didn't mind that I was left in the dark. There are definitely little plot holes that I would have loved to have been explained, however I understand that would have just opened the floodgates for the author.
With dystopian stories like this, you've just got to pick what parts of society/war you explain, and which parts you don't, and I appreciate he was selective in what part of the picture he painted for us.
I also think part of that was race, the lack of commentary on what colour people's skin was might have been due to the irrelevance of it within the protagonist's story. I have no doubt race was a major issue, however we would only know that by picking the author's brains; which would be very satisfying!
I had to give this 5 stars because it's definitely going to stay with me, and possibly haunt me till the year of 2075 (that year suddenly seems so close!)
With dystopian stories like this, you've just got to pick what parts of society/war you explain, and which parts you don't, and I appreciate he was selective in what part of the picture he painted for us.
I also think part of that was race, the lack of commentary on what colour people's skin was might have been due to the irrelevance of it within the protagonist's story. I have no doubt race was a major issue, however we would only know that by picking the author's brains; which would be very satisfying!
I had to give this 5 stars because it's definitely going to stay with me, and possibly haunt me till the year of 2075 (that year suddenly seems so close!)