American War by Omar El Akkad
Hardcover, 333 pages
Published
April 4th 2017
by Knopf Publishing Group
Arthur C. Clarke Award Nominee (2018),
James Tait Black Memorial Prize Nominee for Fiction (2018),
Oregon Book Award for Fiction (2018),
Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis Nominee for Bestes ausländisches Werk (Best Foreign Work) (2018),
Sunburst Award Nominee for Adult (2018)
CBC Canada Reads Nominee (2018),
Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize Nominee (2017),
Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Fiction (2018),
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Science Fiction & for Debut Goodreads Author (2017),
Dragon Award Nominee for Best Apocalyptic Novel (2017)
American War is a dystopian novel set in the latter half of the 20th century but thanks to the nuttery in the current executive branch the story feels more real than it ever should have. I am having the author Omar El Akkad on my podcast so I will get to discuss these issues with him. In the meantime I am trying to process this experience the best I can. This novel operates on a few levels and there is a lot to unpack.
While it is important to note that this novel is very much Science Fiction, Dystopian, and Cli-fi for starters. In that sense it is a fair comparison with novels like The Road, Handmaid’s Tale, and The Sparrow that are clearly genre fiction despite the fact that it is being marketed as literary fiction. I personally think that distinction is bullshit, but nothing I hold against the book itself.
American War is speculative fiction at its best, it uses the alternate history of this possible future to comment on today. On the flip side, there is an aspect of the novel that makes it more surreal than most dystopias. Certain aspects are ignored in favor of a focus on the analogy at the heart of the novel. The technology of this future is largely ignored, besides a mention of drones, there is no mention of the internet, social media, or future tech. There is also no mention of southern culture or religion which is a pretty huge aspect of life in the south and I don’t think that is going away.
I could see how that could be seen as a negative for some picky science fiction readers, the point of this book doesn’t need those details. The focus of this novel isn’t so much exploring the idea of an American Civil War like many readers thought it was. While the political divisions and partisanship in America is the most obvious thing on the surface, I can’t help but thinking many are missing the point of this book. Sure, that is there but many reading and reviewing this book are missing the aspect that most interested me.
This novel takes the future stresses of the climate crisis as a set-up for putting America through much of the political-cultural stresses that the middle east nations were going through during the War on Terrorism. I can see why some American readers would miss this. This novel explores the experience Iraq and the Iraqi people during the war on terrorism by trying to make American’s understand what that conflict would have felt like for us.
This is done through the eyes of the lead Point of view character Sarat who is a climate refugee early in her life. She is radicalized from a series of events and becomes a famous and notorious insurrectionist after she uses a sniper rifle to kill a northern general. In this novel, the north and south are divided by Climate change stresses as well as the use/ banning of fossil fuels.
It is a bit of a spoiler but the thing that makes the analogy for Iraq the most crystal clear in what happens to Sarat in the final act. The point of view shifts in the third act returning to a character we meant in the prologue who was not born for most of the story but if gives this story a passed down historical feel.
The American War is not a success as pure science fiction or dystopian novel, that is one reason I am OK with it not being marketed that way. This novel is a work of political allegory, that is the strength of it. The message is strong and powerful. That is why it should be read, that is why it is important. In the context of Science Fiction’s response to the War of Terrorism, from the voice of an Egyptian-born author on a topic – it is essential.
While it is important to note that this novel is very much Science Fiction, Dystopian, and Cli-fi for starters. In that sense it is a fair comparison with novels like The Road, Handmaid’s Tale, and The Sparrow that are clearly genre fiction despite the fact that it is being marketed as literary fiction. I personally think that distinction is bullshit, but nothing I hold against the book itself.
American War is speculative fiction at its best, it uses the alternate history of this possible future to comment on today. On the flip side, there is an aspect of the novel that makes it more surreal than most dystopias. Certain aspects are ignored in favor of a focus on the analogy at the heart of the novel. The technology of this future is largely ignored, besides a mention of drones, there is no mention of the internet, social media, or future tech. There is also no mention of southern culture or religion which is a pretty huge aspect of life in the south and I don’t think that is going away.
I could see how that could be seen as a negative for some picky science fiction readers, the point of this book doesn’t need those details. The focus of this novel isn’t so much exploring the idea of an American Civil War like many readers thought it was. While the political divisions and partisanship in America is the most obvious thing on the surface, I can’t help but thinking many are missing the point of this book. Sure, that is there but many reading and reviewing this book are missing the aspect that most interested me.
This novel takes the future stresses of the climate crisis as a set-up for putting America through much of the political-cultural stresses that the middle east nations were going through during the War on Terrorism. I can see why some American readers would miss this. This novel explores the experience Iraq and the Iraqi people during the war on terrorism by trying to make American’s understand what that conflict would have felt like for us.
This is done through the eyes of the lead Point of view character Sarat who is a climate refugee early in her life. She is radicalized from a series of events and becomes a famous and notorious insurrectionist after she uses a sniper rifle to kill a northern general. In this novel, the north and south are divided by Climate change stresses as well as the use/ banning of fossil fuels.
It is a bit of a spoiler but the thing that makes the analogy for Iraq the most crystal clear in what happens to Sarat in the final act. The point of view shifts in the third act returning to a character we meant in the prologue who was not born for most of the story but if gives this story a passed down historical feel.
The American War is not a success as pure science fiction or dystopian novel, that is one reason I am OK with it not being marketed that way. This novel is a work of political allegory, that is the strength of it. The message is strong and powerful. That is why it should be read, that is why it is important. In the context of Science Fiction’s response to the War of Terrorism, from the voice of an Egyptian-born author on a topic – it is essential.
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