A review by l1nds
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie

5.0

Devastating is the only word I can think of to describe this. I've thought about Home Fire a lot since I read it (particularly since Shamima Begum has been in the news) - it's a brilliant book which resonates with the current toxic climate so much, but I think this might be Kamila Shamsie's true masterpiece. From the opening in Guantanamo you know it can't possibly end well but there's so much hope in the story you get swept up with it and hope against hope that what you think will happen somehow won't. Brilliant and brutal and heartbreaking.

"...countries like yours [America] they always fight wars, but always somewhere else. The disease always happens somewhere else. It’s why you fight more wars than anyone else; because you understand war least of all. You need to understand it better."