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maxwelldunn 's review for:
American War
by Omar El Akkad
American War was a book that felt eerily plausible. It imagines a not-too-distant future where the U.S. has gone through a Second Civil War over the use of fossil fuels vs. clean energy. The book relies heavily on this world-building, of creating a faux-history that informs the actions of all parties, and influences the actions of our main character, Sarat. I found that much like historical fiction novels, this book interested me when I was reading about the character and her life and how it played out of the two decades or so of the novel—but the 'historical' aspects felt clunky, info-dumpy and took me out of the story.
There is a lot of history in this story, but since it's fictional and re-imagined, you don't have the general context to rely on like you would in a more traditional historical fiction novel. I was often confused about who was who, what side they were on, what the different acronyms or names referred to, etc.
Disregarding those aspects of the book, I enjoyed the story, especially that of Sarat's journey. I especially enjoyed it more in hindsight. It was one of those books where once you've finished, a lot of the earlier stuff makes more sense and ties together with the ending really well. In fact, this was one of those rare books that had a better ending than beginning. Usually I feel like books fizzle out and have mediocre or unsatisfying endings. This one, particularly Part 4, got even better as it went on. And I went back to the prologue and read it once I was done, which was definitely eye-opening. Pretty well constructed story. But overall not as impactful as I expected. It had a bit too much going on outside of the main character's storyline, and I would've rather focused on her. Still a story that I think will interest a lot of people and have a lot of buzz around it.
There is a lot of history in this story, but since it's fictional and re-imagined, you don't have the general context to rely on like you would in a more traditional historical fiction novel. I was often confused about who was who, what side they were on, what the different acronyms or names referred to, etc.
Disregarding those aspects of the book, I enjoyed the story, especially that of Sarat's journey. I especially enjoyed it more in hindsight. It was one of those books where once you've finished, a lot of the earlier stuff makes more sense and ties together with the ending really well. In fact, this was one of those rare books that had a better ending than beginning. Usually I feel like books fizzle out and have mediocre or unsatisfying endings. This one, particularly Part 4, got even better as it went on. And I went back to the prologue and read it once I was done, which was definitely eye-opening. Pretty well constructed story. But overall not as impactful as I expected. It had a bit too much going on outside of the main character's storyline, and I would've rather focused on her. Still a story that I think will interest a lot of people and have a lot of buzz around it.