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American War

A novel

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 “Powerful . . . As haunting a postapocalyptic universe as Cormac McCarthy [created] in The Road, and as devastating a look as the fallout that national events have on an American family as Philip Roth did in The Plot Against America. . . . Omar El Akkad’s debut novel, American War, is an unlikely mash-up of unsparing war reporting and plot elements familiar to readers of the recent young-adult dystopian series The Hunger Games and Divergent.”
—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle—a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself.

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. Dystopian Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction War Civil War Military
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There is not a single person you wouldn't love if you could read their story.

This is her story.

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Akkad is a very good writer: descriptive but not gushy, imaginative but not distracted, thoughtful but not soap-boxy, character-driven but with a well-paced plot. This book is not for the faint of heart: it gets quite dark, but thankfully without being gratuitous... Most of the graphic events are left just out of the reader's view. Early on I began bracing for a book that was just an indirect tirade against Republicans out Democrats. Not so, not at all. Insights regarding the contemporary political scene can be found (and both sides are dissected), however, American War is more deep than picking a side... It is a stark examination of human nature and social forces. This is not Fox versus CNN (I wouldn't have finished it if it was). Unlike another reviewer, I am glad that Akkad did not get caught up in trying to predict future technology —that isn't the point, and would distract and detract. His vision of the future is compelling, measured, absorbing, and convicting. This is a timely book, and I reckon it will be for awhile yet.

Compelling, character-driven, dark, thoughtful

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Regardless of the genre, we're all looking for a story that's satisfying....something that will leave a mark on our psyche. With American War that appetite finds itself well nourished.
The background of future civil war is both gripping and prophetic. And in the foreground the characters are developed with great insight into the human condition rendering them vivid and psychologically undressed before the reader, which in the end makes of the story an intimate experience for the audience.

Definitely worthwhile!

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This is one of those books I've come to appreciate more after reading, as I find my mind wanders back to it. Chosen for a book club I initially found the subject matter to be depressing and the book to be a heavy read, but it really does perfectly capture a world of 'what if'. I think both author and narrator did an amazing job! #Audible1

An interesting read....

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This is a well written, well narrated book which really shows the human cost of war, and has made me think of the lives of refugees and people living in conflict areas.

Excellent book

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