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A review by katiescho741
American War by Omar El Akkad
5.0
American War felt like an alternate history novel, except it's set in an imagined future. It seems to come under the topics of dystopia and science fiction but it's also something else entirely....it's a very modern novel about war on a grand scale. It's politically charged, with a theme of global warming, but it never feels like a lecture.
The big story is that America is at war with itself for the second time; the Northern states have a ban on petrol and fossil fuels, while the South wants to cling onto the old ways and keep their muscle cars. The little story is about the Chestnut family, centring on the youngest daughter Sarat. We are taken through Sarat's life and the timeline of events that lead up to the end of the war and the start of a plague. Sarat starts the book as a curious young girl living with her family in a shipping container in Louisiana and we watch her grow as a child of war and we know that what she becomes is inevitable.
American War flips everything on it's head and places the horrors of the wars in the Middle East in our time into the powerful and wealthy domain of North America instead. Families trying to live their lives are dragged into the fighting because it's happening in their backyards. Or they're sent to refugee camps until something better comes along. Suspects are sent to Detainment facilities where they are tortured and broken. Drones fly around attempting to target rebel fighters but they seem to hit civilians more often than not. It's eerie and terrifying because it feels so familiar.
The big story is that America is at war with itself for the second time; the Northern states have a ban on petrol and fossil fuels, while the South wants to cling onto the old ways and keep their muscle cars. The little story is about the Chestnut family, centring on the youngest daughter Sarat. We are taken through Sarat's life and the timeline of events that lead up to the end of the war and the start of a plague. Sarat starts the book as a curious young girl living with her family in a shipping container in Louisiana and we watch her grow as a child of war and we know that what she becomes is inevitable.
American War flips everything on it's head and places the horrors of the wars in the Middle East in our time into the powerful and wealthy domain of North America instead. Families trying to live their lives are dragged into the fighting because it's happening in their backyards. Or they're sent to refugee camps until something better comes along. Suspects are sent to Detainment facilities where they are tortured and broken. Drones fly around attempting to target rebel fighters but they seem to hit civilians more often than not. It's eerie and terrifying because it feels so familiar.