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larsdhhedbor's review against another edition
5.0
Simply wonderful
I confess that I bought American Heart to show support for the author in light of the controversy surrounding a review withdrawn for all the wrong reasons.
I never expected it to move me, scare me, and inspire me as much as it did. At every turn, the tension is ratcheted up, notch by notch, until it seems like there is no possible relief.
I sincerely hope that this book success at what the author was trying to accomplish -- ensuring that it can never, ever come true.
I confess that I bought American Heart to show support for the author in light of the controversy surrounding a review withdrawn for all the wrong reasons.
I never expected it to move me, scare me, and inspire me as much as it did. At every turn, the tension is ratcheted up, notch by notch, until it seems like there is no possible relief.
I sincerely hope that this book success at what the author was trying to accomplish -- ensuring that it can never, ever come true.
nick_borrelli's review against another edition
5.0
Basically because I want to piss off the people who gave this book one star without having read it. So I'm giving it five stars also having not read it. My instinct is always to push back on PC bullshit wherever I encounter it. Have no idea whether this is a good book or not but FIVE STARS!
shethewriter's review
1.0
I am muslim and it is not my responsibility to convince you of my humanity, which is apparently what the author thinks muslims should do to be worthy of freedom. This book makes me want to throw up. She put me in an internment camp so she can explore the tepid moral dilemma of a white kid. An internment. Fucking. Camp. No explanation or exploration, no. We get to just be holocausted, right? That is a believable enough premise for this woman to use speculative fiction. Not sci fi, not aliens, real actual living breathing people that she decided could believably all be put in camps for no other reason than to romanticise another white kid strugging to have empathy. (This is very insulting to white people, too, btfw). Thanks for setting that premise, Laura. It’s not like narratives have CONSEQUENCES FOR SOCIETY or anything. But hey, if you want to use a group of already marginalized people struggling with intercultural confusion as a backdrop for your project, I guess you can get away with that. Doesn’t everyone have that right? Oh wait, no. Just some white folks.
serendipitysbooks's review
4.0
An all-too-believeable look at the future of America where all Muslims are being forcibly relocated to detainment camps in Nevada. Sarah-Mary is tricked by her younger brother into helping Sadaf escape to Canada. Through getting to know Sadaf, Sarah-Mary is forced to confront her beliefs about Muslims, which leads her to question the detainment camp policy as well. This book has come in for a lot of criticism which is I believe is unfounded. If this was the only story told then the publishing world could rightly be accused of racism and promoting a white saviour complex, but levelling the accusations against the author of one story seems unreasonable to me. Sarah-Mary (like many actual people) knows little about Muslims but by getting to know one woman she learns, and this leads her to question her previously held assumptions. Surely it is only by getting to know each other that we will all questions our assumptions and hopefully learn to get along better. If such a future were to eventuate surely we would want to celebrate and support anyone who tried to help and support Muslims? During World War II many different groups of people attempted to help Jews. If we would support such efforts should they be needed in the future then it is unreasonable to tear-down a fictional portrayal of them. I didn't think this book was perfect but I did enjoy large chunks of it, especially the suspense each time Sarah-Mary and Sadaf had to decide whether to accept a ride, or each time they felt they were in danger of being discovered. I look forward to reading more by this author, and also to reading more books by Muslim authors with different stories to tell of present and future American societies.
kelseybanerjee's review
1.0
Despite deciding not to read American Heart, I found myself compelled to complete the arduous task after numerous reviews were ignored or discredited by many of the book’s white supporters.
While these reviews need no validation and the reviewers have full authority and knowledge on this subject, I feel I must say again, that they are completely, 100% correct. In the word’s of Justina Ireland on NPR: “It’s just a bad book!” Indeed, it is.
Reviews You Should Read:
Justina Ireland’s American Heart, Huck Finn, and the Trap of White Supremacy
Adiba Jaigirdar's Review
Celeste Pewter's Review
Having finished the book, I agree with the critiques mentioned. While I can’t speak to Muslim and immigrant representation (as I can’t say I identify as a Muslim, nor an immigrant to the USA), I can say every person of color appears to be a caricature of stereotype - from the Japanese tourist, to the African American woman who helps our characters hitch-hike.
As Celeste points out, the world is poorly constructed. It’s as if the internment camps/security zones just drop out of no where - despite the fact that these institutions are usually preceded by restrictive laws on integration, travel, and immigration. As most Americans are familiar with the Holocaust, I suggest they look up the “Nuremberg Laws” as an example, although Nazi Germany is not the only instance of this behavior.
Triggering premise aside, the book is executed poorly. I had intended to write a line-by-line review, but I have about 205 notes and it would be exhausting. It would be the review an editor should have given the writer. Why should I get paid to give her a comprehensive edit?
I will say one thing, using 3rd person would have drastically reduced the terribleness of this book. But alas, according to Laura’s NPR interview, she believed only 1st person was available to her.
I would also like to point out that Sarah Mary never changed. While seeing a man get shot over protecting Muslims scares her, she is more concerned - from beginning to end - with keeping her promise to her younger brother and doing good. Sadaf simply becomes a token Muslim friend and her adventure a good story to tell her friends. So she can be more like her best friends Tess. I base this on the fact she still others Sadaf after reaching the safety point, and after a few moments of rumination about how all people are the same, returns to being happy about her good promise-keeping skills.
I would like to point out, I'm not against unreliable narrators. Or terrible narrators. Nabokov wrote quite a few horrible protagonists in 1st person. Take the pedophile rapist H.H. in Lolita for example. But despite being in 1st person, H.H. obviously has some indication that what he is doing is wrong, and therefore tries to hide it. He tries to justify himself and make us like him, but he also leaves clues to his behavior. The reader, if closely inspecting the text, can figure everything out.
But there's no craft, no inkling feeling of being wrong, no sense of awareness in Sarah Mary. And that never changes.
There is no nuance. Everything mentioned about Islam can be found in a cursory Google search. The characters are lukewarm at best. The story lacks world-building, despite the fact simply adding a detail here and there would have filled many gaps (Examples that could have been added: The Japanese tourists are wearing crosses - only Christians allowed in. Perhaps Sarah Mary could mention having Google Islam and only found negative articles - shows control of information. Etc.)
This is a bad book. The author in the discussions about the book shows little interest in her craft. I wanted to believe her intentions were good, but I can now only assume that this book was meant to make money off the recent Islamophobic and xenophobic scandals.
Verdict: Don’t read this book. The only reason to pick this book up is to discover how NOT to write, how NOT to create characters, how NOT to represent marginalized groups, and how NOT to build your novel’s world.
_____________
Original "Why I will not read this book"
Why I have decided not to read this book:
I am writing as a white woman author with an interest in writing characters from marginalized groups.
I would like to stress that the majority of criticisms are towards the book itself, and not towards the author or her intentions. Therefore, I have decided to gather some of the most common issues PoC readers have found with your book, I would like to address them. My own opinions have formed after reading that several Muslim readers felt traumatized, and the insightful Justina Ireland finished the book seeing their reaction.
The main concerns:
1) Harmful Premise - In reality, the agent and publisher should have seen if the premise may be offensive or harmful for a community. They should have told the author. This direction is like stumbling onto a minefield.
First off, no matter how Sarah-Mary feels about saving anyone, your premise demands the “white savior”. If your character is white and helping a member of an marginalized group, and the entire episode hinges on the injured person’s identity, “white savior” is in the description. This is especially true if the white protagonist must learn to “humanize” the other.
The issue here is a matter of agency. And if you wanted to warn about the dangers of the current rhetoric towards Muslims in the USA, there are many ways to use the “work camp” setting without relying on a white character - at least fully.
Here are two examples I could list off the top of my head -
1) A group of Muslims are fleeing to Canada. Some come from different sects, different ethnicity. Sarah-Mary decides to help them against what she’s been told, although she isn’t sure why. There’s a (perhaps containing Muslims and converts to Islam) network that helps refugees cross the border.
2) The same group as above, except they plan to take down the current operations and restore human decency. There are white ally characters who help. Perhaps Sarah-Mary has been pulled into it, and learns to change her opinions. As a side-plot, not main plot.
Both of these tales return agency to the characters of the marginalized and often silenced group. At the same time, readers will learn about the religion, the people, and be able to recognize harmful rhetoric.
Honestly though, the premise of this suffering is unnecessary. Movies and books about the Holocaust, Rwanda, the Armenian Genocide - those I get. They’ve happened. These are often cathartic tales for the writer as much as they are warnings. But even these, in bulk, can become exhausting. How can anyone watch torture after torture without feeling completely helpless and nihilistic?
For a population that has been hearing suggestions of concentration camps from law makers for years, however, the premise is more than horrifying. It’s literally taking their worse fear and then putting all the attention and growth on Sarah-Mary. Those suffering get little meaningful representation, while the xenophobic white character gets the limelight. This is what readers are complaining about when they discuss “exploitation of Muslim suffering”.
2 ) Character Issues
One major issue is readers response with is that the main Muslim character represents their whole religion. There’s few others. Furthermore, many things don’t make sense. This is an area where perhaps you can help me understand a bit more:
A) The main Muslim character is simply “Persian”. But “Persian” could mean a lot of things. Is there any discussion between “Persian” vs “Iranian”? Is she part Azeri (a populous ethnic group in northern Iran)? The discussions that Muslims come from various ethnic groups? Why couldn’t she just pass as a Zoroastrian, Christian, or Jew? Is she Shia, Sunni? Does she identify with Sufism?
Could you also clarify how Arabic names are “recognizable”? That was a major tweet and while there are common Muslims names, it’s more complicated than “Arabic names”, especially when the main character is Persian, not Arab.
The complaints I’m reading is that there is little to distinguish the main character as an individual.
B) Other readers had problems with the fact that a well accomplished Iranian woman, with a PhD, could need considerable help from a 14 year old. In many ways, not only does she lack individual agency, but the fact that she needs a child’s help makes her seem infantile. If the character has more agency than that, please let me know, as every review I have seen have complained that she lacks character and agency.
For me, personally, the character issues are more telling than the premise. Now, as I haven’t read the book personally, I can’t go more in detail. If you have leave some details about these points that I covered, that would help quite a bit.
3) World-building
Others have complained that the reader learns little to nothing about the internment. Are there resistance fighters (as there were in the Holocaust)? Are there different camps? Are these camps a secret? How do they function?
From what I remember, many people knew something had happened to the Japanese Americans after they were rounded up. And the convict-leasing system, or neo-slavery, was well-known from its inception after the Civil War until the 1940s.
For such a critical element in the story, reader tweets I’ve seen felt like it was poorly addressed.
These are the three major issues the reviewers have found. Again, while I have not read the book, these complaints do keep me from reading your book, especially while I can read books from Muslim and PoC writers.
What it comes down to, for me, is if this book offers anything beyond what white people already “know” about Muslims. Forgetting the premise, based on the critiques of character development, I feel discouraged. I grew up looking for “international” stories in YA. I loved, more than anything, a good book with a female character, particularly if they were not from the US. But I was also happy with immigrant or second-generation stories as well.
But here were my issues as I read more and more in these genres:
1) All the books I read about foreign girls in YA involve the girl-child running away from her controlling culture. Many times with the help of a white woman, or to the safety of “European culture”. For years, the only book I had ever read about Pakistan involved child marriage. Your book appears to ring true to this trope, regardless of your intention.
2) All the books I read about immigrant/second-generation experiences dwelling primarily on cultural differences. While these books were important, they certainly weren’t the only tales PoC could be involved in. Yet I don’t think I ever read a book in which a black American wasn’t enslaved or treated like he or she were. Or an immigrant/second-generation character didn’t put all their time into describing the trouble fitting-in.
3) All stories outside of the immigrant-experience stories were written by white women (like myself!).
The problem isn’t with your book alone (based on reviews), but rather, it’s a systemic problem. It’s an issue your agent/editor/publisher should have caught. But perhaps they thought the controversy would sell.
Regardless. There is quite a bit you can do. The most important is to promote books by Muslim authors. I would put a “read next” list on your website with a list of Muslim YA authors. Maybe include this list in the back of your book - print and ebook. Collaborate on panels with Muslim YA authors. Use your book as a stepping stone to help other authors who often have to fight tooth-and-nail to be heard. And use it as a stepping stone for white readers who need more than your book to understand the issues at hand.
Then, of course, listen to what has been said. Reflect if there’s truth to what you’ve heard. If you indeed find areas of improvement, admit to them. Then try to do better on your next work.
Also, if you have the time, answering to any of my points will be helpful. As it stands, I had planned to write an article based on these criticisms as a “lesson” for other white writers. And of course, if you have questions or concerns about my post, you can always message me or simply comment.
lauraramsborg's review
1.0
After thinking more about this book, especially as a critical reader, I felt the need to change my rating of it. Several people identified key flaws of this book, but I think the best review that is very thoughtful and objective can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2153303926?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1
Author Moriarty took on a complex, divisive topic, which was brave. We need to have important conversations about race. But despite the author's best efforts, the book goes beyond missing the mark and passes into the offensive. The best lesson I've learned so far is that if we've offended another person, even if our intentions were not harmful, it's about that person's feelings and making it right...not our "hurt" feelings or need to justify our actions.
Author Moriarty took on a complex, divisive topic, which was brave. We need to have important conversations about race. But despite the author's best efforts, the book goes beyond missing the mark and passes into the offensive. The best lesson I've learned so far is that if we've offended another person, even if our intentions were not harmful, it's about that person's feelings and making it right...not our "hurt" feelings or need to justify our actions.
li3an1na4's review
2.0
This book made headlines for all the wrong reasons last year, here's a brief summary from interview with an interview with the author and the Editor in Chief of Kirkus review for an idea of what happened. So as with all internet outrage goes, this book's Goodreads was brigaded (to use a Reddit phrase). Just one 1-star review after another from people who never read the book, followed by a bunch of 5-star reviews from people who were pushing back - also not having read the book. It's a mess. Since this was all over my book Twitter, in the New Yorker, on NPR and basically hit every single medium I ever consume aside from food, there was no escaping this news story. Overcome by curiosity, here I am.
Poor world building is something that truly grinds at my gears. There are some things that feel very real with the world we live in, but that's mixed with things that don't make sense. The most glaring thing is the fact that there is no "trigger event". From what I read, the government just decided to round up Muslims to Nevada to keep them "safe". But...why? A nationwide mass internment without outcry from the more liberal states would generally be a result of a severe mass casualty event or several of them or some sort of war that is something more than the wars that are actually going on in real life. But we're not told of anything. No major event/s. No war. No patriotic over the topness. Or, if this is an alternate timeline with some intense Islamophobic scapegoating a la what Hitler had done to drum up hatred against Jewish people - it's not mentioned either. It's something that makes no sense. At least reference Korematsu, or another made up SCOTUS ruling. With how much mail and email I get from the ACLU and a few other organizations, I can't see this happening as depicted.
In fact the timeline of it all, from registry to internment seemed to escalate quick, and once again, lacked any real reasoning. Even bullshit book reasoning. They never explain how the rounding up works and why they're doing it. At some points it looks like they've just started putting people in these camps, at other points, it seems like they've been doing it for awhile. In fact the entire premise doesn't make sense, why is there a $10,000 reward for bringing Sadaf in? There are Muslims being hidden all over the country, what makes her unique? Why would the government even be interested in offering a bounty for her? Add to the fact that they're also rounding up Hispanic people for deportation, which makes me further wonder why they've placed so much importance on getting Sadaf.
I don't question that this is something we must constantly be vigilant about, that things can turn at the drop of a hat for minorities. And just reading the news about the "tender age facilities", or the 400+ kids still separated from their parents, or immigration checkpoints along the highway in New Hampshire because it's within the 100 mile radius from a border, or ICE raids in towns in the middle of the night, or the people born in the US who are getting passport renewals denied because their birth certificates are deemed fake - it's not hard to see why there's so much fear in people. And it's not that hard to see why the author wrote this book; but it seems like the author was so excited or eager or interested or "insert word I'm looking for" in writing this book she forgot to do her research to create a believable setting.
Moving on to the characters. Was there a bit of white savior navel gazing with Sarah-Mary? Yes, very much so. Did it take white people being hurt for her to see the plight of Sadaf and other Muslims? Yes, very much. Was Sadaf used as an instrument to teach Sarah-Mary about Islam and the world at large? Yes, very much so. Would this book have benefited significantly with having some of Sadaf's point of view? Yes, very much so. I can see why people were upset with this, and I can see why Muslim-Americans in particular would be upset.
I would just argue this one thing, this isn't a book written for Muslim-Americans. This isn't a book for people who are living everyday in fear of what 45's administration can do to them and people similar to them. This is very much a book written for people who are straight, cis, white - who think that politics are boring and doesn't affect anything. While I completely understand the outrage, I do think it's misplaced. A lot of people who are slamming the book are assuming that everyone is as "woke" as they are or have similar life or educational experiences as them, and that's simply not true. Our local street fair had a "meet a Muslim" booth to try to get our very Fox News obsessed neighborhood to meet what is possibly the very first Muslim many of these people have ever spoken to. I live in New York State. I can only imagine what more "demographically challenged" places are like. In fact, the very fact that certain politicians and news networks and pundits called Obama a "Muslim" or "Arab" as a way to denigrate him says a lot about a lot about the US populace. So while it's great that so many people think that times have changed and books like this aren't necessary, maybe it's because they're lucky enough to be in a bubble that is more progressive.
As to why the main character is white? It goes with the "first they came for ___, then they came for ___...and when they came for me..." saying. I've read enough book reviews to know that people like being able to relate to the characters they're reading about. The author chose a white female protagonist and this book is clearly aimed at a predominately white female reader base. Sadaf spends a lot of time defending Islam, and letting Sarah-Mary know what it's like being an educated female Muslim and more about Islam that Sarah-Mary would ever learn about in school. Sarah-Mary might spend a lot of time rolling her eyes and being annoying af, but she does learn something. Sarah-Mary has a lot of preconceived notions about Muslims that I know people have in real life. Quite honestly, if even one girl who picks up this book has a realization from reading this story...isn't that a good thing?
The set up in general isn't the greatest. Sarah-Mary and her brother have been left at her aunts house as her mom goes around the country hoping to find a Sugar Daddy of sorts. Of course that never works out. The aunt is super strict and Sarah-Mary ends up in a super strict Christian school where she learns nothing. Sarah-Mary is a bland character for the most part. Her brother is a really nice kid that ends up getting her in this mess in the first place. Her friend Tess could have used more build up.
All the problematic things aside, I'm not in the target audience of the book. I think the book itself is averagely written. 2.25/5 rounds to 2/5.
Poor world building is something that truly grinds at my gears. There are some things that feel very real with the world we live in, but that's mixed with things that don't make sense. The most glaring thing is the fact that there is no "trigger event". From what I read, the government just decided to round up Muslims to Nevada to keep them "safe". But...why? A nationwide mass internment without outcry from the more liberal states would generally be a result of a severe mass casualty event or several of them or some sort of war that is something more than the wars that are actually going on in real life. But we're not told of anything. No major event/s. No war. No patriotic over the topness. Or, if this is an alternate timeline with some intense Islamophobic scapegoating a la what Hitler had done to drum up hatred against Jewish people - it's not mentioned either. It's something that makes no sense. At least reference Korematsu, or another made up SCOTUS ruling. With how much mail and email I get from the ACLU and a few other organizations, I can't see this happening as depicted.
In fact the timeline of it all, from registry to internment seemed to escalate quick, and once again, lacked any real reasoning. Even bullshit book reasoning. They never explain how the rounding up works and why they're doing it. At some points it looks like they've just started putting people in these camps, at other points, it seems like they've been doing it for awhile. In fact the entire premise doesn't make sense, why is there a $10,000 reward for bringing Sadaf in? There are Muslims being hidden all over the country, what makes her unique? Why would the government even be interested in offering a bounty for her? Add to the fact that they're also rounding up Hispanic people for deportation, which makes me further wonder why they've placed so much importance on getting Sadaf.
I don't question that this is something we must constantly be vigilant about, that things can turn at the drop of a hat for minorities. And just reading the news about the "tender age facilities", or the 400+ kids still separated from their parents, or immigration checkpoints along the highway in New Hampshire because it's within the 100 mile radius from a border, or ICE raids in towns in the middle of the night, or the people born in the US who are getting passport renewals denied because their birth certificates are deemed fake - it's not hard to see why there's so much fear in people. And it's not that hard to see why the author wrote this book; but it seems like the author was so excited or eager or interested or "insert word I'm looking for" in writing this book she forgot to do her research to create a believable setting.
Moving on to the characters. Was there a bit of white savior navel gazing with Sarah-Mary? Yes, very much so. Did it take white people being hurt for her to see the plight of Sadaf and other Muslims? Yes, very much. Was Sadaf used as an instrument to teach Sarah-Mary about Islam and the world at large? Yes, very much so. Would this book have benefited significantly with having some of Sadaf's point of view? Yes, very much so. I can see why people were upset with this, and I can see why Muslim-Americans in particular would be upset.
I would just argue this one thing, this isn't a book written for Muslim-Americans. This isn't a book for people who are living everyday in fear of what 45's administration can do to them and people similar to them. This is very much a book written for people who are straight, cis, white - who think that politics are boring and doesn't affect anything. While I completely understand the outrage, I do think it's misplaced. A lot of people who are slamming the book are assuming that everyone is as "woke" as they are or have similar life or educational experiences as them, and that's simply not true. Our local street fair had a "meet a Muslim" booth to try to get our very Fox News obsessed neighborhood to meet what is possibly the very first Muslim many of these people have ever spoken to. I live in New York State. I can only imagine what more "demographically challenged" places are like. In fact, the very fact that certain politicians and news networks and pundits called Obama a "Muslim" or "Arab" as a way to denigrate him says a lot about a lot about the US populace. So while it's great that so many people think that times have changed and books like this aren't necessary, maybe it's because they're lucky enough to be in a bubble that is more progressive.
As to why the main character is white? It goes with the "first they came for ___, then they came for ___...and when they came for me..." saying. I've read enough book reviews to know that people like being able to relate to the characters they're reading about. The author chose a white female protagonist and this book is clearly aimed at a predominately white female reader base. Sadaf spends a lot of time defending Islam, and letting Sarah-Mary know what it's like being an educated female Muslim and more about Islam that Sarah-Mary would ever learn about in school. Sarah-Mary might spend a lot of time rolling her eyes and being annoying af, but she does learn something. Sarah-Mary has a lot of preconceived notions about Muslims that I know people have in real life. Quite honestly, if even one girl who picks up this book has a realization from reading this story...isn't that a good thing?
The set up in general isn't the greatest. Sarah-Mary and her brother have been left at her aunts house as her mom goes around the country hoping to find a Sugar Daddy of sorts. Of course that never works out. The aunt is super strict and Sarah-Mary ends up in a super strict Christian school where she learns nothing. Sarah-Mary is a bland character for the most part. Her brother is a really nice kid that ends up getting her in this mess in the first place. Her friend Tess could have used more build up.
All the problematic things aside, I'm not in the target audience of the book. I think the book itself is averagely written. 2.25/5 rounds to 2/5.
astarlia's review
DNF. the maybe muslims aren't so bad??? conversation is also one i'm a bit over. (again - books that show from the pov of someone with a problamatic view on the topic are good - but i'm at the point right now where that's just annoying. i'm glad it exists - but not for me)
serena3's review
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
It *tries* to be a book about how racially profiling people is bad ... but it doesn't hit that mark.