A review by kelseybanerjee
American Heart by Laura Moriarty

1.0

Despite deciding not to read American Heart, I found myself compelled to complete the arduous task after numerous reviews were ignored or discredited by many of the book’s white supporters.

While these reviews need no validation and the reviewers have full authority and knowledge on this subject, I feel I must say again, that they are completely, 100% correct. In the word’s of Justina Ireland on NPR: “It’s just a bad book!” Indeed, it is.

Reviews You Should Read:

Justina Ireland’s American Heart, Huck Finn, and the Trap of White Supremacy
Adiba Jaigirdar's Review
Celeste Pewter's Review

Having finished the book, I agree with the critiques mentioned. While I can’t speak to Muslim and immigrant representation (as I can’t say I identify as a Muslim, nor an immigrant to the USA), I can say every person of color appears to be a caricature of stereotype - from the Japanese tourist, to the African American woman who helps our characters hitch-hike.

As Celeste points out, the world is poorly constructed. It’s as if the internment camps/security zones just drop out of no where - despite the fact that these institutions are usually preceded by restrictive laws on integration, travel, and immigration. As most Americans are familiar with the Holocaust, I suggest they look up the “Nuremberg Laws” as an example, although Nazi Germany is not the only instance of this behavior.

Triggering premise aside, the book is executed poorly. I had intended to write a line-by-line review, but I have about 205 notes and it would be exhausting. It would be the review an editor should have given the writer. Why should I get paid to give her a comprehensive edit?

I will say one thing, using 3rd person would have drastically reduced the terribleness of this book. But alas, according to Laura’s NPR interview, she believed only 1st person was available to her.

I would also like to point out that Sarah Mary never changed. While seeing a man get shot over protecting Muslims scares her, she is more concerned - from beginning to end - with keeping her promise to her younger brother and doing good. Sadaf simply becomes a token Muslim friend and her adventure a good story to tell her friends. So she can be more like her best friends Tess. I base this on the fact she still others Sadaf after reaching the safety point, and after a few moments of rumination about how all people are the same, returns to being happy about her good promise-keeping skills.

I would like to point out, I'm not against unreliable narrators. Or terrible narrators. Nabokov wrote quite a few horrible protagonists in 1st person. Take the pedophile rapist H.H. in Lolita for example. But despite being in 1st person, H.H. obviously has some indication that what he is doing is wrong, and therefore tries to hide it. He tries to justify himself and make us like him, but he also leaves clues to his behavior. The reader, if closely inspecting the text, can figure everything out.

But there's no craft, no inkling feeling of being wrong, no sense of awareness in Sarah Mary. And that never changes.

There is no nuance. Everything mentioned about Islam can be found in a cursory Google search. The characters are lukewarm at best. The story lacks world-building, despite the fact simply adding a detail here and there would have filled many gaps (Examples that could have been added: The Japanese tourists are wearing crosses - only Christians allowed in. Perhaps Sarah Mary could mention having Google Islam and only found negative articles - shows control of information. Etc.)

This is a bad book. The author in the discussions about the book shows little interest in her craft. I wanted to believe her intentions were good, but I can now only assume that this book was meant to make money off the recent Islamophobic and xenophobic scandals.

Verdict: Don’t read this book. The only reason to pick this book up is to discover how NOT to write, how NOT to create characters, how NOT to represent marginalized groups, and how NOT to build your novel’s world.
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Original "Why I will not read this book"

Why I have decided not to read this book:

I am writing as a white woman author with an interest in writing characters from marginalized groups.

I would like to stress that the majority of criticisms are towards the book itself, and not towards the author or her intentions. Therefore, I have decided to gather some of the most common issues PoC readers have found with your book, I would like to address them. My own opinions have formed after reading that several Muslim readers felt traumatized, and the insightful Justina Ireland finished the book seeing their reaction.

The main concerns:

1) Harmful Premise - In reality, the agent and publisher should have seen if the premise may be offensive or harmful for a community. They should have told the author. This direction is like stumbling onto a minefield.

First off, no matter how Sarah-Mary feels about saving anyone, your premise demands the “white savior”. If your character is white and helping a member of an marginalized group, and the entire episode hinges on the injured person’s identity, “white savior” is in the description. This is especially true if the white protagonist must learn to “humanize” the other.

The issue here is a matter of agency. And if you wanted to warn about the dangers of the current rhetoric towards Muslims in the USA, there are many ways to use the “work camp” setting without relying on a white character - at least fully.

Here are two examples I could list off the top of my head -

1) A group of Muslims are fleeing to Canada. Some come from different sects, different ethnicity. Sarah-Mary decides to help them against what she’s been told, although she isn’t sure why. There’s a (perhaps containing Muslims and converts to Islam) network that helps refugees cross the border.

2) The same group as above, except they plan to take down the current operations and restore human decency. There are white ally characters who help. Perhaps Sarah-Mary has been pulled into it, and learns to change her opinions. As a side-plot, not main plot.

Both of these tales return agency to the characters of the marginalized and often silenced group. At the same time, readers will learn about the religion, the people, and be able to recognize harmful rhetoric.

Honestly though, the premise of this suffering is unnecessary. Movies and books about the Holocaust, Rwanda, the Armenian Genocide - those I get. They’ve happened. These are often cathartic tales for the writer as much as they are warnings. But even these, in bulk, can become exhausting. How can anyone watch torture after torture without feeling completely helpless and nihilistic?

For a population that has been hearing suggestions of concentration camps from law makers for years, however, the premise is more than horrifying. It’s literally taking their worse fear and then putting all the attention and growth on Sarah-Mary. Those suffering get little meaningful representation, while the xenophobic white character gets the limelight. This is what readers are complaining about when they discuss “exploitation of Muslim suffering”.

2 ) Character Issues

One major issue is readers response with is that the main Muslim character represents their whole religion. There’s few others. Furthermore, many things don’t make sense. This is an area where perhaps you can help me understand a bit more:

A) The main Muslim character is simply “Persian”. But “Persian” could mean a lot of things. Is there any discussion between “Persian” vs “Iranian”? Is she part Azeri (a populous ethnic group in northern Iran)? The discussions that Muslims come from various ethnic groups? Why couldn’t she just pass as a Zoroastrian, Christian, or Jew? Is she Shia, Sunni? Does she identify with Sufism?

Could you also clarify how Arabic names are “recognizable”? That was a major tweet and while there are common Muslims names, it’s more complicated than “Arabic names”, especially when the main character is Persian, not Arab.

The complaints I’m reading is that there is little to distinguish the main character as an individual.

B) Other readers had problems with the fact that a well accomplished Iranian woman, with a PhD, could need considerable help from a 14 year old. In many ways, not only does she lack individual agency, but the fact that she needs a child’s help makes her seem infantile. If the character has more agency than that, please let me know, as every review I have seen have complained that she lacks character and agency.

For me, personally, the character issues are more telling than the premise. Now, as I haven’t read the book personally, I can’t go more in detail. If you have leave some details about these points that I covered, that would help quite a bit.


3) World-building

Others have complained that the reader learns little to nothing about the internment. Are there resistance fighters (as there were in the Holocaust)? Are there different camps? Are these camps a secret? How do they function?

From what I remember, many people knew something had happened to the Japanese Americans after they were rounded up. And the convict-leasing system, or neo-slavery, was well-known from its inception after the Civil War until the 1940s.

For such a critical element in the story, reader tweets I’ve seen felt like it was poorly addressed.

These are the three major issues the reviewers have found. Again, while I have not read the book, these complaints do keep me from reading your book, especially while I can read books from Muslim and PoC writers.

What it comes down to, for me, is if this book offers anything beyond what white people already “know” about Muslims. Forgetting the premise, based on the critiques of character development, I feel discouraged. I grew up looking for “international” stories in YA. I loved, more than anything, a good book with a female character, particularly if they were not from the US. But I was also happy with immigrant or second-generation stories as well.

But here were my issues as I read more and more in these genres:
1) All the books I read about foreign girls in YA involve the girl-child running away from her controlling culture. Many times with the help of a white woman, or to the safety of “European culture”. For years, the only book I had ever read about Pakistan involved child marriage. Your book appears to ring true to this trope, regardless of your intention.

2) All the books I read about immigrant/second-generation experiences dwelling primarily on cultural differences. While these books were important, they certainly weren’t the only tales PoC could be involved in. Yet I don’t think I ever read a book in which a black American wasn’t enslaved or treated like he or she were. Or an immigrant/second-generation character didn’t put all their time into describing the trouble fitting-in.

3) All stories outside of the immigrant-experience stories were written by white women (like myself!).

The problem isn’t with your book alone (based on reviews), but rather, it’s a systemic problem. It’s an issue your agent/editor/publisher should have caught. But perhaps they thought the controversy would sell.

Regardless. There is quite a bit you can do. The most important is to promote books by Muslim authors. I would put a “read next” list on your website with a list of Muslim YA authors. Maybe include this list in the back of your book - print and ebook. Collaborate on panels with Muslim YA authors. Use your book as a stepping stone to help other authors who often have to fight tooth-and-nail to be heard. And use it as a stepping stone for white readers who need more than your book to understand the issues at hand.

Then, of course, listen to what has been said. Reflect if there’s truth to what you’ve heard. If you indeed find areas of improvement, admit to them. Then try to do better on your next work.

Also, if you have the time, answering to any of my points will be helpful. As it stands, I had planned to write an article based on these criticisms as a “lesson” for other white writers. And of course, if you have questions or concerns about my post, you can always message me or simply comment.