American War
Ratings48
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings48
Average rating3.9
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle—this gripping debut novel asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself. From the author of What Strange Paradise "Powerful ... as haunting a postapocalyptic universe as Cormac McCarthy [created] in The Road." —The New York Times Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, and that unmanned drones fill the sky. When her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she begins to grow up shaped by her particular time and place. But not everyone at Camp Patience is who they claim to be. Eventually Sarat is befriended by a mysterious functionary, under whose influence she is turned into a deadly instrument of war. The decisions that she makes will have tremendous consequences not just for Sarat but for her family and her country, rippling through generations of strangers and kin alike.
Reviews with the most likes.
2.5 stars. The premise intrigued me as an interesting glimpse into a dystopian future, but the execution was poor. The story plodded along and the characters seemed robotic (with the exception of the narrator). The format of the book tried to emulate World War Z and Waking Gods, but the interludes offered little clarification.
TL;DR - overhyped.
This book was a very enjoyable read. It was a little bit on the nose and sensational. I almost completely got the point that was trying to be made just by the book jacket description though. There are good lessons about where we could end up in here but they are hammered home to the Nth degree.
I don't think 3/5 is a bad rating and would recommend this book but I felt it was just an extreme cautionary tale about how we could end up causing a Second Civil War if we continue down the path.
3.5 out of 5 stars – see this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.
Omar El Akkad's debut novel is an inventive and timely story that uses the framework of what we understand about the United States today and extrapolates a possible horrifying future. A collection of states in the Deep South has attempted secession due to their refusal to cease using fossil fuels. Sarat Chestnut is young girl growing up in a refugee camp within these Free Southern States, while deadly conflict between the Blue (North) and Red (South) explodes all around her. American War explores the future consequences of many of today's hot-button political issues: drone warfare, torture, climate change, nativism, the American political divide, and several others.
The worldbuilding El Akkad employs is extremely effective. Many things about this dystopian future are clearly communicated to the reader (a redrawn map of the United States, primary source documents) and the rest is interwoven in a subtle way that requires a small mental step to fully appreciate — a character references a Category 6 storm that passes through (oh, there are now storms bigger than a Category 5?) or discussions of the fighting craze “Yuffsy” (an evolved version of the pseudo-sound-alike “UFC”).
Sarat's unrelenting personal narrative wasn't quite as compelling to me as the overall world that she inhabited, but this was still a really impressive debut; it just never quite got over the hump to go from “good” to “great.” I would welcome another book set in this world, but I'd happily read anything else El Akkad comes out with next.
Uuuuuuuggghhhhh... I'm going to have to read some light-hearted fantasy ish or something. This is SUUUUPER intense. Big feels. Much trauma.
