Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
American War is, as best I can tell, an attempt to make the fractious civil war Afghanistan and forces aligned with the Taliban (or Syria or...) approachable by an American audience--making fighters of that mold understandable though the coda at the end makes it clear they're not supposed to be sympathetic.
Fair enough. This might have worked if El Akkad had a clue how to do world building, how to design a future. But, honestly, only a handful of elements belonged to the future. There is harmony among races in the South. Climate change has drowned the coasts forcing most of the world to abandon fossil fuels and embrace solar cars and solar planes etc.
Honestly, the social attitudes, discrimination against the main character's lesbian relationship, the strong gender dichotomy, the widows and daughters forced to wear black, are already, if not fully in the past, are well on their way out. Some of it feels like it belong shortly after the real Civil War.
There is very little technology that feels like it belongs to the future (aside from the solar tech mentioned above, which is far nearer than the 2070s). I expect that the military drones are supposed to be drones from the future. But, honestly, they way they go rogue is an insult to the reader. Seriously, the US Military has no redundancies so that they lose control over the drones if a single server farm is destroyed? And even if they somehow lost control completely there would be no way to get control back? And even if they are now run in part by a simple AI there wouldn't be any instructions to return to base if connection was lost, rather than conducting random bombings?
But the war is what gets me. First, the Red secedes when the US government bans fossil fuels.
Do you know how insulting that is? By giving such a piss poor reason for the new civil war it feels like the author is saying, yup, the first civil war was just about states rights too. Bugger the truth that the South fought for slavery. I can imagine some people taking to the streets with their guns after being told they couldn't drive combustion engines, but whole state seceding for a dying technology? There's some hint that this is a result of the deepening divide between left and right in the US, but that's never made clear and the fact that only southern states secede, not anything in the mid-west, for instance, gives that the lie.
And that raises another issue. It's only a handful of states that secede, not even the full South. How do they not get crushed immediately? They lacked the technological superiority of the Blues and that superiority is significantly more important today that than it was in 1861. Plus they're even more heavily outnumbered. And yet this civil war drags on for, what, 20 years? The answer might be that they survive the way Afghanistan's rebel forces survive, by hiding. Except, first, the South doesn't have the same terrain to hide in. And, far more importantly, the leaders aren't hiding. They have a capitol in Atlanta. They (and there are multiple rebel groups) have headquarters. They have some level of territorial integrity (though this is poorly depicted since because at the same time in the aftermath of a massacre the main character's surviving family is gifted a house in Georgia as compensation).
Though it's never clear what exactly is going on in the main war, the only practicable explanation is that the North has decided only to fight the war on Guerilla terms. There is no practicable and logical explanation.
Which is all too bad. The author's lack of effort turns the setting into a gimmick. I think I could have enjoyed this story if I could have taken it seriously.
Fair enough. This might have worked if El Akkad had a clue how to do world building, how to design a future. But, honestly, only a handful of elements belonged to the future. There is harmony among races in the South. Climate change has drowned the coasts forcing most of the world to abandon fossil fuels and embrace solar cars and solar planes etc.
Honestly, the social attitudes, discrimination against the main character's lesbian relationship, the strong gender dichotomy, the widows and daughters forced to wear black, are already, if not fully in the past, are well on their way out. Some of it feels like it belong shortly after the real Civil War.
There is very little technology that feels like it belongs to the future (aside from the solar tech mentioned above, which is far nearer than the 2070s). I expect that the military drones are supposed to be drones from the future. But, honestly, they way they go rogue is an insult to the reader. Seriously, the US Military has no redundancies so that they lose control over the drones if a single server farm is destroyed? And even if they somehow lost control completely there would be no way to get control back? And even if they are now run in part by a simple AI there wouldn't be any instructions to return to base if connection was lost, rather than conducting random bombings?
But the war is what gets me. First, the Red secedes when the US government bans fossil fuels.
Do you know how insulting that is? By giving such a piss poor reason for the new civil war it feels like the author is saying, yup, the first civil war was just about states rights too. Bugger the truth that the South fought for slavery. I can imagine some people taking to the streets with their guns after being told they couldn't drive combustion engines, but whole state seceding for a dying technology? There's some hint that this is a result of the deepening divide between left and right in the US, but that's never made clear and the fact that only southern states secede, not anything in the mid-west, for instance, gives that the lie.
And that raises another issue. It's only a handful of states that secede, not even the full South. How do they not get crushed immediately? They lacked the technological superiority of the Blues and that superiority is significantly more important today that than it was in 1861. Plus they're even more heavily outnumbered. And yet this civil war drags on for, what, 20 years? The answer might be that they survive the way Afghanistan's rebel forces survive, by hiding. Except, first, the South doesn't have the same terrain to hide in. And, far more importantly, the leaders aren't hiding. They have a capitol in Atlanta. They (and there are multiple rebel groups) have headquarters. They have some level of territorial integrity (though this is poorly depicted since because at the same time in the aftermath of a massacre the main character's surviving family is gifted a house in Georgia as compensation).
Though it's never clear what exactly is going on in the main war, the only practicable explanation is that the North has decided only to fight the war on Guerilla terms. There is no practicable and logical explanation.
Which is all too bad. The author's lack of effort turns the setting into a gimmick. I think I could have enjoyed this story if I could have taken it seriously.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Yikes. Maybe not the best book to read at this particular point in time (March 2025) but I did it anyway. This was a tough book to get through. Not an easy read by any means. I found myself only reading a few pages a day in certain parts because it was just a lot. I liked how it all tied together in the end and a few things came full circle that I didn’t expect.
El Akkad takes the terribly callous, short-sighted, and outrageously cruel and selfish things the American government has been doing to struggling countries and regions the world over (and especially in the Middle East) in recent decades and points them back at a broken USA 60 years from now, demonstrating how good intentions can crumble a society and people apart. He forces you to empathize with refugees, suicide bombers, etc. and see how such things could most certainly happen here. Watch as a "right" side goes so wrong. But where do we go from here? How do we atone?
American War wirkt stellenweise wie eine literarische Rache an den USA. Oberflächlich betrachtet spinnt der kanadische Autor die Geschichte um Sara Chestnut, die als junges Mädchen durch einen zweiten Amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg vertrieben wird. Aber schon die Stationen ihrer Reise zeigen, dass El Akkad eigentlich hier von Afghanistan und Irak spricht und den USA einfach das gleiche Schicksal angedeihen lassen möchte.
Die Familie lebt von Anfang an unter dystopischen Bedingungen. Anstelle eines Hauses besitzen sie nur einen ausgedienten Transport-Container. Als ein Bürgerkrieg ausbricht, weil sich vier Bundesstaaten nicht vorschreiben lassen wollen, kein Öl(!) mehr zu verwenden, muss Familie Chestnut fliehen. Gleichzeitig besetzen die Mexikaner den restlichen Süden der USA. Nächste Station ist für viele Jahre ein Flüchtlingslager, geführt vom Roten Halbmond, dann das Leben als Rebellen-Kämpferin, dann ein Gefangenenlager im Stile Guantanamo Bay, um dann ins Finale überzugehen. Begleitet wird die Geschichte von Arbeitserlaubnissen, Selbstmordattentaten, Massakern, Drohnen, Hilf-Konvois aus Asien, Einflussnahme durch Agenten eines neuen arabischen Großreiches.
Keine Sekunde geht es darum, irgendwie die US-amerikanische Seele(n) zu verstehen oder eine realistische Weiterentwicklung existierender Probleme zu betreiben. Die USA verfallen nicht mal in die Amoralität, sondern sie sind es von Anfang durch und durch amoralisch aufgestellt. (South Carolina wurde direkt am Anfang durch die Regierung mit einem tödlichen Virus verseucht und dann abgeschottet.) Die Motive von allen Gruppen und Personen bleiben seltsam blass, eventuell haben sie auch einfach gar keine Gründe.
Unpassend wirken in diesem Szenario die Versuche von El Akkad, seinem Werk eine literarisch-künstlerische Facette zu geben.
Beispiele:
„Ich stehe am Ende der Hafenpromenade und schaue hinaus aufs Wasser. Ich denke an all das, was es genommen hat, und all das, was mir genommen wurde.“
„Dies ist keine Geschichte über den Krieg. Es ist eine Geschichte über Zerstörung.“
„Sie betrachtete das schwarze Wasser, endlos und endlos in Bewegung. Sie ging Richtung Norden, die Erde kühl und feucht unter ihren Füßen. Bald war sie im Hirsefeld, zwischen den braunen Dolden an ihren Stengeln, die Körner hart wie Schrotkugeln.“
„Das Wasser umspülte ihren geschundenen Körper, und mit dieser Bewegung heilte es die Wunden nicht, es brannte sie aus.“
Diese Stellen wirken viel zu sehr gewollt, deplatziert und besitzen nichts an dem nötigen Feingefühl, das für eine gehobene literarische Relevanz nötig wäre.
Bei aller Kritik bleibt der Roman aber trotzdem gut lesbar und hebt sich sogar im Vergleich zum Einheitsbrei der Young-Adult-Dystopien sogar positiv hervor. Man sollte nur auch kein großartiges Sättigungsgefühl erwarten.
Die Familie lebt von Anfang an unter dystopischen Bedingungen. Anstelle eines Hauses besitzen sie nur einen ausgedienten Transport-Container. Als ein Bürgerkrieg ausbricht, weil sich vier Bundesstaaten nicht vorschreiben lassen wollen, kein Öl(!) mehr zu verwenden, muss Familie Chestnut fliehen. Gleichzeitig besetzen die Mexikaner den restlichen Süden der USA. Nächste Station ist für viele Jahre ein Flüchtlingslager, geführt vom Roten Halbmond, dann das Leben als Rebellen-Kämpferin, dann ein Gefangenenlager im Stile Guantanamo Bay, um dann ins Finale überzugehen. Begleitet wird die Geschichte von Arbeitserlaubnissen, Selbstmordattentaten, Massakern, Drohnen, Hilf-Konvois aus Asien, Einflussnahme durch Agenten eines neuen arabischen Großreiches.
Keine Sekunde geht es darum, irgendwie die US-amerikanische Seele(n) zu verstehen oder eine realistische Weiterentwicklung existierender Probleme zu betreiben. Die USA verfallen nicht mal in die Amoralität, sondern sie sind es von Anfang durch und durch amoralisch aufgestellt. (South Carolina wurde direkt am Anfang durch die Regierung mit einem tödlichen Virus verseucht und dann abgeschottet.) Die Motive von allen Gruppen und Personen bleiben seltsam blass, eventuell haben sie auch einfach gar keine Gründe.
Unpassend wirken in diesem Szenario die Versuche von El Akkad, seinem Werk eine literarisch-künstlerische Facette zu geben.
Beispiele:
„Ich stehe am Ende der Hafenpromenade und schaue hinaus aufs Wasser. Ich denke an all das, was es genommen hat, und all das, was mir genommen wurde.“
„Dies ist keine Geschichte über den Krieg. Es ist eine Geschichte über Zerstörung.“
„Sie betrachtete das schwarze Wasser, endlos und endlos in Bewegung. Sie ging Richtung Norden, die Erde kühl und feucht unter ihren Füßen. Bald war sie im Hirsefeld, zwischen den braunen Dolden an ihren Stengeln, die Körner hart wie Schrotkugeln.“
„Das Wasser umspülte ihren geschundenen Körper, und mit dieser Bewegung heilte es die Wunden nicht, es brannte sie aus.“
Diese Stellen wirken viel zu sehr gewollt, deplatziert und besitzen nichts an dem nötigen Feingefühl, das für eine gehobene literarische Relevanz nötig wäre.
Bei aller Kritik bleibt der Roman aber trotzdem gut lesbar und hebt sich sogar im Vergleich zum Einheitsbrei der Young-Adult-Dystopien sogar positiv hervor. Man sollte nur auch kein großartiges Sättigungsgefühl erwarten.
In my years of reading books i have never broke down in tears the same way i did reading this…I don’t think words can ever encapsulate how this books can make you feel.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I'd give this book 3.5 stars if I could. The world-building was well done and, in our current political climate, it was also slightly terrifying. Though she's a flawed and generally unlikeable character, I found Sarat fascinating, and it was her story that urged me onward. However, the real flaw of this book is its pacing. There's a definite lack of cadence. The parts that went fast, I wanted slower. The parts that went slow made the plot drag, so I wanted them faster. Overall, though, the language and the multi-genre elements of the text made it an enjoyable and, at times, beautiful read.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix