Scan barcode
A review by vlucet
American War by Omar El Akkad
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I was convinced to read this book by the premice of a narrative based on a sort of climate war: the south rebelling because they want to keep burning fossil fuels? That picked my interest.
It had all the hallmarks of a good work of fiction: excellent prose, good characterization and credible settings/plot. It's a good read and If you have any interest in the themes of war it's a an excellent one.
And yet I remained disappointed by the book in two aspects. First and foremost, the author only got one half of the climate framing right in this book. Climate change is both a trigger, a player and a setting (flooded geography, persistent heat). And yet beyond that exposition, it plays almost no role in the story, beyond the South's obsession with fossil fuel. Supply chains disruption? Climatic refugees? Lifestyle changes? Not much of those things in the book. The solutions depicted for the crisis also lack creativity and all aspects of climate change fade in favor of the "human stuff". I think that's a major shortcoming of the book.
For the second shortcoming, I'm aware I may be perceiving this wrong but... In a war between the southern states and northern states, given the past differences in history (for example, slavery, gun control etc..), I would expect a major theme in the book to be difference in the kind of societies promoted by each side. Yet the book feels disconnected to the questions of religion, racism, health and economics. That was very surprising to me. In the end it feels like the emphasis in the title is rather on the "war" part than on the "American" part.
It had all the hallmarks of a good work of fiction: excellent prose, good characterization and credible settings/plot. It's a good read and If you have any interest in the themes of war it's a an excellent one.
And yet I remained disappointed by the book in two aspects. First and foremost, the author only got one half of the climate framing right in this book. Climate change is both a trigger, a player and a setting (flooded geography, persistent heat). And yet beyond that exposition, it plays almost no role in the story, beyond the South's obsession with fossil fuel. Supply chains disruption? Climatic refugees? Lifestyle changes? Not much of those things in the book. The solutions depicted for the crisis also lack creativity and all aspects of climate change fade in favor of the "human stuff". I think that's a major shortcoming of the book.
For the second shortcoming, I'm aware I may be perceiving this wrong but... In a war between the southern states and northern states, given the past differences in history (for example, slavery, gun control etc..), I would expect a major theme in the book to be difference in the kind of societies promoted by each side. Yet the book feels disconnected to the questions of religion, racism, health and economics. That was very surprising to me. In the end it feels like the emphasis in the title is rather on the "war" part than on the "American" part.