A review by v_s_
American War by Omar El Akkad
4.0
super interesting premise I think climate change and world future books can easily bring so much anxiety to me that the contents are a moot point but this does a really good job at like talking about the issues at hand right now and what they can turn into in the future. Feels super realistic in a terrifying way, the climate change aspects for sure, but the poltical aspects even more maybe this is my history nerd thing but I have to think about how Southern America always ends up so polarized from the rest of america.
Quick Notes:
- the diminished importance of race is interesting to me, I don't have any thoughts about it but just something I noticed
- so tragic like we all know how much war can take from a person but that is fr just messed up
- can be kind of hard to follow with trying to figure out what group is responsible for what crime etc. but honestly Sarat just hates everyone so it makes very little difference at the end of the day
- Sugarloaf = Guantanamo Bay?
- skipped over a lot of the transcript stuff from Benjamin's time because it feels vastly unnecessary
- Focus on Sarat's size is kinda confusing? Why is she so big? Why is everyone else so small? Which one is it?
- comparing this to history it's almost like Sarat is fighting for the confederate side during the first civil war which doesn't have anything to do with the second war in the book but in real life just feels weird like you are making an odd point here sure I guess to each their own is an okay idea but the good old ways of fossil fuels aren't something worth defending?
- "Red" and "Blue" politics also add to this idea
- half-baked religious ideas? not sure how they fit in
- character arc was realistic tho, I think. Once you get pulled into a war, there's very little way to pull all of yourself out of it
- girl Gaines is so blegh her weird semi-knowing he was using her and not caring was so ??? or maybe I just misinterpreted that anyway hate him he's a snake
- Ottoman Empire the Revival Tour: Meddling in Foreign Politics so we can get richer/more powerful
-Reconstruction Plauge feels like Covid
- "Everyone fights an American war"
- covering so much of politics around the world that it's kind of like ahhhhh
- also what was the whole Spring thing #1-5
-Tech terms and presence is vauge outside of the drones (which btw the drones are a great way to connect American war crime sin the book to their IRL war crimes on the Middle East rn)
-you know how it's going to end - it's right there but that's sort of the plight of war and rebellions; you know how it's going to end
- all criticism aside, I read this in one day - I really did like it no matter how "arc" less it may have felt because I think I'm just a nerd for this type of social commentary that's kind of out there but historically proven
- leaves questions relating to real life - when does hate start to feed itself? when does a little kid groomed by a bad adult to do bad things hold stake on the blame for a crime? how to solve polarization? Cultural conflicts in a country? Is America an empire? Could America handle the war it wages on others? What could further political divide lead to?
Quick Notes:
- the diminished importance of race is interesting to me, I don't have any thoughts about it but just something I noticed
- so tragic like we all know how much war can take from a person but that is fr just messed up
- can be kind of hard to follow with trying to figure out what group is responsible for what crime etc. but honestly Sarat just hates everyone so it makes very little difference at the end of the day
- Sugarloaf = Guantanamo Bay?
- skipped over a lot of the transcript stuff from Benjamin's time because it feels vastly unnecessary
- Focus on Sarat's size is kinda confusing? Why is she so big? Why is everyone else so small? Which one is it?
- comparing this to history it's almost like Sarat is fighting for the confederate side during the first civil war which doesn't have anything to do with the second war in the book but in real life just feels weird like you are making an odd point here sure I guess to each their own is an okay idea but the good old ways of fossil fuels aren't something worth defending?
- "Red" and "Blue" politics also add to this idea
- half-baked religious ideas? not sure how they fit in
- character arc was realistic tho, I think. Once you get pulled into a war, there's very little way to pull all of yourself out of it
- girl Gaines is so blegh her weird semi-knowing he was using her and not caring was so ??? or maybe I just misinterpreted that anyway hate him he's a snake
- Ottoman Empire the Revival Tour: Meddling in Foreign Politics so we can get richer/more powerful
-Reconstruction Plauge feels like Covid
- "Everyone fights an American war"
- covering so much of politics around the world that it's kind of like ahhhhh
- also what was the whole Spring thing #1-5
-Tech terms and presence is vauge outside of the drones (which btw the drones are a great way to connect American war crime sin the book to their IRL war crimes on the Middle East rn)
-you know how it's going to end - it's right there but that's sort of the plight of war and rebellions; you know how it's going to end
- all criticism aside, I read this in one day - I really did like it no matter how "arc" less it may have felt because I think I'm just a nerd for this type of social commentary that's kind of out there but historically proven
- leaves questions relating to real life - when does hate start to feed itself? when does a little kid groomed by a bad adult to do bad things hold stake on the blame for a crime? how to solve polarization? Cultural conflicts in a country? Is America an empire? Could America handle the war it wages on others? What could further political divide lead to?