Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Internment

I really liked this book. I thought it had a good premise, though the execution could’ve been worked on more. I think for a YA book it’s very informative and topical based on today’s current political climate. If anything this book is a great teaching tool and conversation starter for young people. I’ve seen reviews criticize Layla’s actions and obsession with her boyfriend which I find awfully critical and unnecessary. Layla’s a 17-year-old whose world was turn on its axis. She worries about the dirty dishes while her family is being removed from their home as an act of disassociating. Of course she’s going to choose something outside to focus on in this traumatic and ongoing experience. If you’ve ever read Anne Frank’s diary, you’d see that she also focused on mundane and seemingly unimportant things, and that’s just the reality of young people going through traumatic relocations whether is be seeing refuge or being put into camps. I also so some reviews belittling Layla’s experience and it not “being that bad”. All of it is bad regardless if Layla’s experience was exactly like the Japanese internment or not. And Layla’s experience in the camp reminded me of the accounts of life in early days of the Jewish ghettos. It’s also helpful to remember that the story doesn’t start off in a place where we’re able to take in all of the laws put into place to specifically oppress and police Muslims but we’re able to see that there were things going on prior to their removal.
I do see that Layla doesn’t have much of a personality or growth beyond the superficial level, but I think this could be on purpose to make it easier for the reader to slip into Layla’s shoes and try to imagine her experiences happening to them.
I do think that the book could’ve spent more time on life prior to the camps and more time in the camp.

Their time there was short and it almost seemed to easy and clean for them to get out of the camp. Though that would be the ideal if something like this happened, it doesn’t seem realistic. I believe the government, if they went this far, would do anything they could to keep the camps running. Though I also believe they’d have a hard time getting every soldier on board with policing civilians, I can also see it taking a long time for them to have the courage to stand up to their superiors. I can also say that the death of Jake was unnecessary and I felt detached from it. I didn’t care for his relationship with Layla as he was her prison guard and it was definitely blurring the lines of appropriate behavior.

All-in-all it was a decent book about an important and topical subject that I think could be used in an educational setting successfully. Definitely give it a read, particularly if you’re a teacher looking for books for your students.

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bekah_belle's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Such an important book and an important topic. However, the execution was flawed and didn’t always work for me. Disappointing as I was so hopeful for the powerful potential of a YA novel taking on fascism and racism in America.

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quinnpjd930's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bookcaptivated's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.5

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katerdate's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

I loved this book but I docked it half a star for the writing style and description of the villain. There were some phrases that were a little too on the nose for me. I also wish that

the director was not the sole evil and that it focused more on the system. I also thought it painted the national guard as the good guys in the end and not as also being part of a flawed system

Overall, the book beautiful demonstrated the fragility of American democracy.

Content Warnings

krys_kilz's review

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I didn't like this book at all. I really liked Ahmed's other novel, Hollow Fires, so I was disappointed that Internment didn’t measure up. The writing in this novel felt less focused and was heavy handed with an excessive use of metaphor. It really brought the book down for me because it took me out of the story and flattened the characters.

The politics in this book also felt really jumbled. The author critiqued liberals and yet the politics held by the characters and those resisting were essentially liberal. Very the system is broken rather than the system was structured to function this way.

It was full of tropes, an unnecessary love triangle, lots of filler, very little exploration of the conditions that led to the internment camp, everything being resolved way too easily and theatrically, and an unrealistically neatly wrapped up ending. The love triangle especially is so fucked up (hello age gap, weird white savior vibes, extreme power dynamics/imbalances).

It feels like a disservice to young adult readers because the concept behind this story was very strong and important. I wish it hadn't been so watered down and buried beneath all that fluff.

Please be mindful of the content warnings before reading.

Content Warnings

princess_peach's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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