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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
this has to be the best dystopian fiction I’ve ever read. This book is in touch with HUMANITY. It’s less abt the disaster or the novelty of the dystopia and more abt the people whose lives are warped because of it…. I’m disturbed
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
sad
slow-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
I wanted to appreciate this book, because it’s so highly reviewed. But it was incredibly dark and the main characters wasn’t particularly likable, and no other characters were really developed. It felt like a chore to read it, so when my library loan came up, I decided to just let it go.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, War
I read this at the beach... it is DEFINITELY not a typical beach read, but I'm not a typical reader. That being said, this one is a bummer. A beautiful, powerful, all too possible bummer. I'm glad I read it as it was very good, but I'm so going to read a lighthearted romcom next time I vacation. I look forward to the author's next offering.
Great read. A second Civil War is not unimaginable, and Akkad paints a chilling portrait of how that looks (bleak af). The only thing I couldn't square was the North/South divide being such a clear separation. If only real life were so convenient!
Great setup, the author knows the matter yet clumsy writing really lets it down. It's a YA pap. Besides, plenty of stuff here is toned down and sanitized. Glad I read it through, but you, know, it' ain't exactly Atwood or McCarthy...
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, War
Minor: Rape
This was a really great book-- gripping, disturbing, thought-provoking. It follows a speculative line down a really painful, divisive path of the second American Civil War, fought over oil.
American War holds a dirt-streaked mirror up to conflicts in distant lands, reflecting the horrors of these spawning-grounds of terrorism in the blinding sunlight of a near-future America riven by a second civil war.
By recasting the landscape on which the seeds of war, deprivation, disease and torture are sown as the rebellious Free Southern States, El Akkad seeks to show the reader that the roots of terrorism may grow in any soil, not just the sands of the Middle East.
If you want to glean an understanding of the forces that drive young men and women to carry out acts of terror, American War, by "bringing it home", shows that perhaps the motive has less to do with ideologies than the primal need to seek revenge on an uncaring and brutal world.
(More to come)
By recasting the landscape on which the seeds of war, deprivation, disease and torture are sown as the rebellious Free Southern States, El Akkad seeks to show the reader that the roots of terrorism may grow in any soil, not just the sands of the Middle East.
If you want to glean an understanding of the forces that drive young men and women to carry out acts of terror, American War, by "bringing it home", shows that perhaps the motive has less to do with ideologies than the primal need to seek revenge on an uncaring and brutal world.
(More to come)