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em_brebs 's review for:
American War
by Omar El Akkad
Damn, this book was a lot. It is about war and trauma and connection and inequity and pain and death and war. It is about making and unmaking, specifically the making and unmaking of one girl. It is beautiful and heartbreaking and incredibly depressing while also having moments of hope. It has some faults, but overall it is a really well done, expansive read that is also terrifying.
The Second Civil War has struck the United States. The South and North disagree on the use of fossil fuels in a hot world getting hotter. Sarat lives with her family in the South. Her life changes when her father is killed and her family is moved to a refugee camp.
Spoilers Discussion!
Okay, so I didn't see the ending coming until Joe arrived. And then lots of things clicked into place for me. And of course it makes sense that, when given an opportunity, she would destroy so completely. This book is about how she became a person who would be interested in that kind of extreme action.
One of the really interesting thing about this book for me is its relationship to kind actions. For example, Sarat didn't kill Bud Baker's children, and therefore they went on to lead really hateful lives and treat others horribly. One of Bud Baker's sons chose not to hurt Sarat, and to let her go through the border, and therefore millions of people died. Layla jr survived because Sarat told her in advance but also what a life she lived. Are these acts of kindness worth it, if they end in such death and destruction?
I liked that we had a fairly small cast of characters, but they appeared again and again. Even characters like Layla Jr who we only saw for one scene, really, in the bulk of the novel came back at the very end. Marcus kept on appearing and reappearing, etc. I also liked that we got a kind of "where are they now" at the end of the book, so we got to see where all of the characters we got to know earlier had a kind of goodbye. It also makes sense that, going to her death, Sarat would also want to say goodbye to them all.
I think that the world is really cool and really well developed. I loved having the excerpts from the historical documents. I think it fleshed out the content of the book and the world, while also giving us a bunch of hints about the ending and how characters were connected. I think it was a really smart choice, and I also found myself getting excited for the end of a chapter when I could read the document.
I did think that the pace of the story was a little weird. Not necessarily bad, but weird. It was fairly slow, but the jumps in time were extreme. We also missed the descriptions of a lot of the actual action (for example, when Sarat was actually taken to Sugarloaf, not just while she was there.) I basically would find myself getting kind of bored when the pace was slow, and then feeling like I'd missed a bunch of important content that I was actually really intrigued by in the interim.
Also, this book is really, really intense. Those torture sequences when she was in Sugarloaf were really terrible. And beyond actual moments of real intensity, the themes of the book and its general through-line of trauma are really intense and powerful.
I think Karina is an interesting character and I would've loved to see a little bit more of her background. I feel like she was just thrown in later on and then ended up being one of the most influential characters in the book. I am really intrigued by her relationship with Simon and would love to know more about it, and how he can consent to their relationship and where his health is etc. I'm intrigued.
Sarat's dedication to Benjamin at the end was sweet. But also, the safest thing for him and her whole family would've probably been for her to not kill millions of people. Y'know? I also really loved Sarat's relationship with her sister, and the whole "beautiful girl" thing (which I think is especially sweet given that it doesn't come with any expectation of what beautiful is, y'know?)
I will check out future work by this author, because I thought this book was well done, if hard to get into.
Fin!
Heart-wrenching, powerful story: 89%
The Second Civil War has struck the United States. The South and North disagree on the use of fossil fuels in a hot world getting hotter. Sarat lives with her family in the South. Her life changes when her father is killed and her family is moved to a refugee camp.
Spoilers Discussion!
Okay, so I didn't see the ending coming until Joe arrived. And then lots of things clicked into place for me. And of course it makes sense that, when given an opportunity, she would destroy so completely. This book is about how she became a person who would be interested in that kind of extreme action.
One of the really interesting thing about this book for me is its relationship to kind actions. For example, Sarat didn't kill Bud Baker's children, and therefore they went on to lead really hateful lives and treat others horribly. One of Bud Baker's sons chose not to hurt Sarat, and to let her go through the border, and therefore millions of people died. Layla jr survived because Sarat told her in advance but also what a life she lived. Are these acts of kindness worth it, if they end in such death and destruction?
I liked that we had a fairly small cast of characters, but they appeared again and again. Even characters like Layla Jr who we only saw for one scene, really, in the bulk of the novel came back at the very end. Marcus kept on appearing and reappearing, etc. I also liked that we got a kind of "where are they now" at the end of the book, so we got to see where all of the characters we got to know earlier had a kind of goodbye. It also makes sense that, going to her death, Sarat would also want to say goodbye to them all.
I think that the world is really cool and really well developed. I loved having the excerpts from the historical documents. I think it fleshed out the content of the book and the world, while also giving us a bunch of hints about the ending and how characters were connected. I think it was a really smart choice, and I also found myself getting excited for the end of a chapter when I could read the document.
I did think that the pace of the story was a little weird. Not necessarily bad, but weird. It was fairly slow, but the jumps in time were extreme. We also missed the descriptions of a lot of the actual action (for example, when Sarat was actually taken to Sugarloaf, not just while she was there.) I basically would find myself getting kind of bored when the pace was slow, and then feeling like I'd missed a bunch of important content that I was actually really intrigued by in the interim.
Also, this book is really, really intense. Those torture sequences when she was in Sugarloaf were really terrible. And beyond actual moments of real intensity, the themes of the book and its general through-line of trauma are really intense and powerful.
I think Karina is an interesting character and I would've loved to see a little bit more of her background. I feel like she was just thrown in later on and then ended up being one of the most influential characters in the book. I am really intrigued by her relationship with Simon and would love to know more about it, and how he can consent to their relationship and where his health is etc. I'm intrigued.
Sarat's dedication to Benjamin at the end was sweet. But also, the safest thing for him and her whole family would've probably been for her to not kill millions of people. Y'know? I also really loved Sarat's relationship with her sister, and the whole "beautiful girl" thing (which I think is especially sweet given that it doesn't come with any expectation of what beautiful is, y'know?)
I will check out future work by this author, because I thought this book was well done, if hard to get into.
Fin!
Heart-wrenching, powerful story: 89%