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 … 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.
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I don’t usually read apocalyptic novels, but this one swept me away. It’s not a pretty picture, by any means — more of a cautionary tale, and a little too realistic, if anything — but it was memorable in the way of great novels. An amazing creation.
I should also note that I “read” the audible edition, which is fantastic.
Plus, despite its visionary future, it’s extremely relevant today. If we’re not careful, it may very well be our future.
Scary view of the future. A new take on where we can easily end up going in terms of civil war and extremism as well as the effect of a killer virus and climate change. Written by a new Egyptian American writer it also offers a novel take on a dystopian science fiction future.
I really loved this book. It’s the kind of book that it takes you a couple minutes to re-enter reality after reading.
I read this as part of a Science Fiction book club where they picked the best books. That is, I ended up loving them and they hated them all. American War blew me away. I was pretty surprised that the other members didn’t recognize the obvious parallels to the US treatment of refugees and the way we breed terrorists. I thought the author did an excellent job of making current foreign policy a reality on our soil- all the way up to the end when I lost the understanding of the character’s motivations. I generally don’t like the endings of books- I think it is really hard to bring together all of the possibilities that good novels suggest in a way that really satisfies me.
A near-future post-apocalyptic novel, in which civil war breaks out in America over the use of fossil fuel, with global warming as a complicating factor. While I would have liked more “history” – I always want more “How did we get here?” details – I found the scenario plausible enough to support my belief, especially since my first interest is and always has been character development. In this, the author certainly did not disappoint. Told from the point of view of Sarat, a young girl when our story opens, and her nephew Benjamin, this book walks us through the creation of a martyr and/or a terrorist, depending on which side of a line you happen to be standing on. A heart-breaker of a book, with moments of painful, clear-sighted Truth: “Even then, at such a young age, she understood that smile for what it was: a mask atop fear, a balm for the crippling insecurity of childhoods deeply damaged. They were fragile boys who wore it, and their fragility demanded menace. Sarat knew the boys better than they knew themselves. And she knew there was no winning this dare. That was the point – for there to be no winning, only different magnitudes of losing.”
A plausible future with characters used and twisted into weapons of war and then having to deal with the consequences of what they were made to be. This ain’t a happy ending, but it’s a must read.