Internment

I'm not the fastest reader; I like taking my time and really absorbing a book. But I couldn't put this one down. I read this nearly 400 page book in two days. Without getting into spoilers, Ahmed builds an eerily plausible world (relying heavily on the fact that, historically, such events have transpired and, presently continue to do so). the characters are generally well written, though the villain does border on the cusp of 2-dimensional. But with what we have seen with the comically 2-d pres #45, I'm not sure if this qualifies as unbelievable, or shockingly accurate.. great story! Edge of my seat the entire time. Proud to see desis rising!

Strong characters, with a very plausible and scary premise.

This was a hard book to read because sadly even though it's fiction we see things like this or similar to this happening in the real world today. I didn't realize when I first started reading it but I could only manage to read 6 chapters before having to put the book down for a while. I teared up a couple times in the end and there were some things that I wasn't expecting to happen that shocked me. I definitely recommend this book and think it is something that should be read by everyone. We need to do better!! 

Like many of the reviewers here, I have very mixed feelings about this book. Post 2020 election, this book was a good reminder of the fragility of our democracy and that we are not out of the woods. The topic is something that I consider not far-fetched. However, all too often, it felt forced. We were often told things instead of shown them. The pop culture references didn't really feel natural. The solution to the problem (no spoilers) felt like a betrayal of the entire premise of the book: that injustices happen because good people stay silent. A lot more could have been done with this idea, and I was disappointed by the execution. I had really wanted to use this book for Book Club, but the story telling was just not there.

PLEASE- I had such a fun time reading this book. It was intense at times and I will admit I definitely did cry but it was a good experience and it helped me understand a lot of things from different perspectives. 5/5 100% will read again soon!

Rating: 4.5 stars.

The dialogue is ham-fisted at times, there's a little jingoism toward the end, and the internment camp director is almost cartoonishly villainous (I feel really bad saying that because he's supposed to be cruel), but this is ultimately a very powerful novel of resistance.

I've read a lot of dystopian YA, and I find it very compelling to read cruel characters in power who use trickery and false kindness in order to hurt others much more deeply by making victims and witnesses question whether it's really that bad. The camp director wasn't like that. He made no such pretense, and he couldn't control his temper. I would have found him more believable if he'd nonchalantly ordered his subordinates to strike or taze Layla rather than punching and hitting her himself. People do exist who are cruel in the way he was, but I'm under the impression that giving such people positions of power leads to them becoming more sophisticated in their cruelty—they don't typically want to get their hands dirty.

Overall, this is a powerful story of rebellion and I am glad to have read it. The clear echoes of today's political climate combined with that the fictional president is unnamed leave it ambiguous whether the referenced president is Trump or someone like him, and it adds to the novel's urgency.

DNF. Stopped at pg. 114
I have three things to say:
Washi tape?!? Really?!?!
Footloose ties in...how..?
Oh...hello hypocrisy!

Powerful, relevant but left me wanting just a little bit more. I felt like there were storylines that were introduced but not returned to (like Jake and his “orders”- what where they? Who where they from?). Overall, I enjoyed the story. Would definitely have in my classroom if I was teaching high school.

An important and necessary topic that's unfortunately done pretty poorly here. The whole thing lacks nuance...and the dialogue, oooof. The director is a cartoon villian, Layla's only emotion is anger, Jake is only the martyred hero, others aren't even really given motivations. Also, the trope of the one teen who solves everything doesn't work at all in this scenario. The premise is so strong and so needed and now still needed with better execution.

This book should be required reading in schools. Especially now. It could be paired with Anne Frank. One history, one a possible future. Probable, even. Depending on how you look at it, an actual present. We DO have concentration camps on the border. (Which makes me shudder to write, what in the absolute FUCK.)

breathes deeply

Internment is a gut-punch of a book. I had to set it down two pages in and get control of myself, and again around page eleven. I took breaks throughout reading it to do HOUSEWORK, of all things, because I needed the mental and emotional reprieve. And I'm a white woman. I have the privilege of being pretty sure I will never be the target of these kinds of atrocities. Which means I have the responsibility to work against them. I'm also a physically weak, chronic-illness-having, unemployed white woman, (which does have the benefit of letting me keep on eye on my middle-eastern neighbors' houses to watch for ICE showing up - I fully intend to go make myself a damned nuisance if they do) so I can't go storm the camps or march for hours at protests. What I can do is boost books like this.

If you're white, GO READ THIS BOOK. Suck it up and read it. I don't have the same recommendation for my friends of color because they already live with this kind of fear and racism. They don't need it illustrated to them. WE DO.

This book needs content warnings for violence, threats of rape, anxiety-inducing situations, racism, violent death - Samira Ahmed does NOT pull punches. Direct resistance is costly. It takes courage and sacrifice, and she does not shy away from showing that. It would be sugar-coating if she did.

Internment focuses on the idea of America forcing citizens into camps - but we are already forcing non-citizens into camps. The Red Cross visits the camp, not unlike our politicians visiting the immigrant concentration camps on our border now. They have a garden they can work on in the camp - not unlike a pair of photos I saw on Twitter. (see blog for photos.)

Internment is stunning, heartbreaking, and inspiring, and if you're emotionally capable of it, YOU SHOULD READ IT. This is happening, right now, on our southern border. It is infuriating that our politicians have not put a stop to it yet. My own Congressman (I just moved into this area, I haven't had a chance to vote on him yet) just visited the camps, and his Twitter thread on them is SO CAREFUL to use absolutely neutral language when talking about them, and it pisses me off. This is NOT a neutral subject.

Internment did have a few downsides - the Director never gets a name (though the book is told from Layla's viewpoint, and it would not surprise me if he never bothered to GIVE his name to the internees) and he's almost cartoonishly evil. I would have liked to know more about the guard that helped Layla on occasion, but again, told as it was from her viewpoint, it can be excused by saying she simply didn't know more about him. But this IS a Young Adult novel told from a seventeen-year-old's viewpoint. We're only going to get what she knows and feels. So these downsides don't detract from the book for me.

To sum up - I recommend Internment at the highest level. You absolutely must read this book.

You can find all my reviews and more at Goddess in the Stacks.