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kkm0112 's review for:
American War
by Omar El Akkad
5 stars for idea, 3 stars for execution.
I love/am scared by the idea of this book, which is unfortunately very plausible. But I found myself going between moments of excitement and moments of boredom in this book.
The execution of setting this book up in vignettes had some unfortunate flaws. We see life in pre/mid war border states; life in a refugee camp; a bit of life as a sniper for the rebels; a bit of life in prison; and a bit of life afterwards. But with these bits I never got a full picture of the countries, the war, life for everyone, and most of it was a bit slow. We are tracing Sarat's evolution into the North-hating person she becomes, but even with the intense eye focused on her, I didn't get why she was quite so filled with hate besides the fact that her parents were killed and such.
I devoured the book and still recommend to others. But I suspect the topic of the book and it's timelines will elevate it a tad more than it really should be.
I love/am scared by the idea of this book, which is unfortunately very plausible. But I found myself going between moments of excitement and moments of boredom in this book.
The execution of setting this book up in vignettes had some unfortunate flaws. We see life in pre/mid war border states; life in a refugee camp; a bit of life as a sniper for the rebels; a bit of life in prison; and a bit of life afterwards. But with these bits I never got a full picture of the countries, the war, life for everyone, and most of it was a bit slow. We are tracing Sarat's evolution into the North-hating person she becomes, but even with the intense eye focused on her, I didn't get why she was quite so filled with hate besides the fact that her parents were killed and such.
I devoured the book and still recommend to others. But I suspect the topic of the book and it's timelines will elevate it a tad more than it really should be.