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jjaylynny 's review for:
American War
by Omar El Akkad
The prologue of this book tells us exactly what it is about: ruin. And though bleak, and sad, and utterly ruinous, this book is also beautiful, and wondrous, and true.
And it's ingenious, in its structure, as the most important plot twist is buried in the story so deftly that you are heartbroken anew at the capacity for revenge and grief and yet you aren't surprised at all. It truly is a gorgeous story about our limitless capacity for inhumanity.
2023: Damn, I give good review.
I have to say that in this reread, I found the writing still fabulous, the story still intriguing (I'm a complete sucker for alternate histories with the use of multiple fake sources), but so so bleak, and it affected me more this time-- maybe because the thought of Civil War in this age of Trumpism isn't out of the realm of possibility. I still loved it, but it didn't knock me flat like the first time I read it. I guess that's why we (well, I) reread. I find it a fascinating exercise.
And it's ingenious, in its structure, as the most important plot twist is buried in the story so deftly that you are heartbroken anew at the capacity for revenge and grief and yet you aren't surprised at all. It truly is a gorgeous story about our limitless capacity for inhumanity.
2023: Damn, I give good review.
I have to say that in this reread, I found the writing still fabulous, the story still intriguing (I'm a complete sucker for alternate histories with the use of multiple fake sources), but so so bleak, and it affected me more this time-- maybe because the thought of Civil War in this age of Trumpism isn't out of the realm of possibility. I still loved it, but it didn't knock me flat like the first time I read it. I guess that's why we (well, I) reread. I find it a fascinating exercise.