Its native speakers occupied different ends of the world, and the prayers they recited were not the same and the empty superstitions to which they clung so dearly were not the same - and yet they were.” A supporting character observes that “the misery of war represented the world’s only truly universal language.

Still, the novel explores some timeless truths. Its characters are too vivid and contradictory, its twists of plot too well constructed, for the novel to settle for familiar and obvious messages. But “American War” avoids becoming a polemic. Waterboarding, rendition, extreme interrogation, rising coastlines and domestic terrorism all play their part in the story. He transitions to the novel smoothly, with a reporter’s eye for detail and ear for dialogue, as well as a generous appreciation for what makes an engaging story.Īlthough he sets “American War” in the future, El Akkad has his vision fixed squarely on current events. As a journalist for the Globe and Mail and other publications, he has covered war in Afghanistan, military trials at Guantanamo and Black Lives Matters protests in Missouri. Now residing in Portland, Ore., El Akkad was born in Egypt and grew up in Qatar before immigrating to Canada. But even Sarat isn’t prepared for the level of violence unleashed against those she loves. Eventually she encounters a mysterious mentor who offers her the chance to hone her survival skills for a coming day of reckoning. It’s a rough existence, one Sarat meets head-on as she reacts to injustice and petty cruelty.

As “displaced persons” with ties to the South, they are held for years at Camp Patience.

When Sarat’s father dies while seeking passage to the North, his absence only partly explains why, when it seems as if their home will be destroyed, Sarat’s mother is so willing to seek refuge aboard a bus headed to Camp Patience.Īll the surviving Chestnuts come to rue that hasty decision. James, La., a place of relative safety in a land torn apart by climate change and political turmoil. The girl lives with her parents, older brother and twin sister in flooded St. On the date of the planned Reunification Day Ceremony, a terrorist unleashed a biological agent that ultimately claimed 110 million lives and reshaped the geography of North America.įollowing that initial burst of exposition, El Akkad shifts the time frame to 2075 and the narrative focus to 6-year-old Sara T. After a suicide bomber killed the American president, the so-called Free Southern State declared independence, precipitating five years of Union victories, followed by a lull in hostilities and then another period of guerrilla violence instigated by rebel secessionists.

American war by omar el akkad