American War: A Novel

The universal slogan of war, she’d learned, was simple: If it had been you, you’d have done no different.

This book gripped me.
Telling about an American Civil war in the near future.
How it happened makes sense.
Especially seeing what is happening now and the events that are bound in the future.
It both intrigues me and scares me.
I can recommend this read to all Americans so they can make sure it never comes to pass.

“All these old men want it to be like it was when they were young. But it’ll never be like that again, and they’ll never be young again, no matter what they do. And it’s not just ours that do it. It’s theirs too. Imagine if the North had just let us be. Imagine if they didn’t fight us tooth and nail, kill all those innocent people, just to keep us from having a country of our own and doing things our own way—would it really have been so bad? No, of course it wouldn’t. But it wasn’t that way when all those old people that run everything were young, so they can’t let it be. But you and I”—she pointed at the children playing on the street behind her—“and them too: we’re young, and we ain’t bound by what they bound by. We’re gonna pull the power from their hands, because when it comes down to it, they don’t really care ’bout the Red. Only thing they ever cared ’bout was themselves."

You fight the war with guns, you fight the peace with stories.

The distant but eerily plausible future is the stage for this story of family, struggle and survival.

The last few books I read didn't receive a written review because they were 'just okay', but American War gripped my attention and made me excited to pick it up and read. There is a certain horror in seeing North America becomes divided because of climate change and how it is a trigger for a second and third civil war.

...in so much of the Red, the war stopped by the war never ended.

Hate, racism and anger is a common element in this story and you don't have to look far and realize that these items are as active today as they were half a century ago. This gave the book a very real bite and was the equivalent of a large flashing neon sign that said "it could happen here".

"Don't ever apologize for that" she said. "That's all there is to life, is wanting to know."

This story falls in between complete fiction and a cautionary tale, and we probably won't know until it's too late. This was a fun, but terrifying story, and a nice departure from the other dystopian stories I have read over the years.

This dystopian novel is one that would not have been on my radar, had it not been for my book group. And I do not recommend reading two dystopian novels in a row...

American War is scary because it's plausible. In this story, the second American civil war is fought over the fossil fuel issue, but I'm afraid any number of issues could trigger such a rift, and anyway, it doesn't matter: people stick with their families, their tribes, and their turf. Even if that land is sinking into the ocean.

We follow Sarat, a young woman who has become a terrorist. She is bright and talented, born to be curious, serene, kind, and--athletic. In a happier, more sane world, she'd be the star of some ivy league volleyball team...but that kind of world is decades in the past, something people in her generation have barely even heard of.

This is the author's most powerful message, that even the best people can be driven to hate. All her life, Sarat and her southern neighbors have suffered at the hands of the Northerners. After what her family goes through, it's not too hard to imagine how she could be driven to seek revenge. When Sarat , at the tender age of twelve, meets an older man who specializes in recruiting for the Southern cause, she is transformed into the most radicalized of terrorists.

Though we see mostly the southern side of things in this novel, it is clear that there is no "right" side. Both have behaved badly. Picture a civil war with the kind of devastating technology that exists now, and "behaving badly" becomes a silly understatement.

This is a dark, cautionary tale. I must admit that the first hundred pages went slowly for me, and it would be a lie to say that I enjoyed reading this. It's not that kind of book. I admire it tremendously, and hope that it is widely read and discussed.