A review by nytephoenyx
American War by Omar El Akkad

challenging dark reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I have some mixed feelings about American War. While I didn’t really enjoy it, I have to admit I was captured in the world and it held my attention.  I think El Akkad writes well – he builds worlds and characters well – but as far as story goes it was a bit lacking.

El Akkad is first a journalist, and I think that came out really well in American War.  He focuses on just the right thing to add emphasis to the gruesome nature of war and the way traumatized people can respond to the world around them.  He sums it up nicely in the ending dialogue, saying that after a while it’s not about good or evil, but about taking care of yourself and your own.  It’s a reminder that life isn’t made up of binaries, but many, many shades of grey.

American War takes us forward – not too far in the future – where a civil war has broken out in the United States.  The South “Red” wants to secede from the country due to new laws banning the use of fossil fuels.  Our story follows Sara T. Chestnut, who goes by “Sarat”.  This world reflects some of the horror in the Middle East and casts it in a fictional setting to shed an allegorical light on the situation and also the United States’ meddling.  There’s both traditional violent warfare and biological warfare, and there’s a complete lack of regard for the “innocents” in the struggle.  It’s heartbreaking and infuriating and El Akkad did something really interesting here and, for me, told the story from the side I relate to less.  This forces empathy as you get to know the characters, which I think is one of the major  goals of this book – to ask readers to understand and care about people, even if they don’t agree with them.

So while I found American War engaging from a theoretical and literary perspective, the storyline itself didn’t hold me.  The story tells snippets of Sarat’s life as well as the progression of the war.  The book jumped forward in time and occasionally switched perspectives in a way that was not predictable or, I think, justified.  There is, for example, chapters told from Sarat’s mother’s POV and I’m not sure why that choice was made.  We also discover that the entire book is being told from Sarat’s nephew’s perspective and that in itself is a logic conundrum considering what is ultimately revealed about their relationship and Benjamin’s choices.

At the end of the book, I felt as though I had travelled nowhere and accomplished nothing.  It was a bit disheartening to feel as though I’d spent so much time in this world and with these characters to have such a lackluster journey.  There are some odd things that are unexplained and other things that are just… too easy to drive Sarat’s personal vendettas.  El Akkad tried to do everything to and for Sarat in American War and I think that in doing that, it built conflicts that were never satisfied and a life without direction.  Maybe that was the point?  Up to you to decide.

As a study, I think American War was really interesting and I don’t regret picking it up.  It’s not a book I would read again, but I think I would pick up Omar El Akkad’s next novel out of sheer curiosity.  As I said, his writing itself was compelling even if the story was a bit flat.
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