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A review by li3an1na4
American Heart by Laura Moriarty
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.