Internment

by Samira Ahmed

'Samira has created a chilling, powerful, all-too-real near future that's a must-read for everyone's TBR'
Karen M. McManus, author of One Of Us Is Lying

'A must-read . . . A heart-rending and all-too credible tale of sacrifice, the ugly face of authority and the courage of youth' Sunday Times' Children's Book of the Month

'A tremendous novel' the Guardian

Rebellions are built on hope.

Set in a horrifying 'fifteen minutes in the future' United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin is forced into an internment camp for Muslim-Americans along with her parents.

With the help of newly-made friends also trapped within the camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp's Director and his guards.

Heart-racing and emotional, Internment questions the imaginary boundaries that separate us and challenges readers to fight the complicit silence that exists in our society today.

'Chillingly plausible' Financial Times

'If you enjoyed The Hate U Give, this should be at the top of your TBR pile' -- Culturefly

• ISBN10: 0316522694
• ISBN13: 9780316522694
• Publish Date: 19 March 2019 (first published 7 March 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[mrs_mander_reads]

So timely, it's spooky. Definitely a must-read.

[Jo]

I received this eProof for free from Atom via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Read my review on my book blog here.

[Kat @ Novels & Waffles]

"Though you muffle my voice, I speak. Though you clip my wings and cage me, I fly. And though you batter my body, commanding me to kneel before you, I resist."

A Non-comprehensive List of My Thoughts:

✑ Presents a powerful and timely message about the importance of religious freedom – and freedom itself
✑ It really gets you to think. It's not the kind of book that you just passively read for fun or entertainment; it's an active book that gets you involved.
✑ Raw and emotional – the story gets you to FEEL things, and to feel them intensely
✑ Beautiful themes that spotlight the importance of standing up and standing together
✑ Almost every aspect of this book was written to push a political agenda. As such, the story might come across as a bit heavy-handed at times, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. What would be the point of writing a book on this topic if you weren't trying to prove a point?

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[Heather]

I was really looking forward to reading this book.  I preordered it as soon as I heard about it.  I was interested in a book about Muslim internment from a Muslim author.

The book starts out well.  She captures the fear and suspicion rampant in the main characters community.  She makes a logical case for how the United States would start to round up Muslims.  The early scene where the family is taken out of their house is very realistic and because of that it is very scary.

After they get to the internment camp though, the whole story starts to fall apart.  I think a lot of the problem in my reading of this is that this is a YA book that is trying to celebrate the power of young people to make a difference.  I understand that because of the category it is going to be focused more on action than character development but these characters are particularly weak.   The main character:

Has a boyfriend who she loves so very, very much that she can't think about anything else
Except when she is super angry and has ALL THE FEELINGS and is angry at everyone
Somehow she is only one in the camp who comes up with ideas to do something

YA books can tell stories of teenage bravery well.  The Hunger Games comes to mind.  This one just doesn't ever come together.

It really annoyed me that this book painted all the Muslim adults as passive and weak and unwilling to protest.  They were just sitting around waiting to be rallied to action by a teenager?  (I decided to read that as the self-centeredness of a child who couldn't see what was going on around her.  I'm sure that is not the reading that the author meant but it kept me from hissing at the page when I was reading.)

The villain of the story is an absolute joke.  He reads like a cartoon character.  He is the director of the camp and he stomps around and threatens people until his face turns colors.  Apparently just the sight of the main character makes him sputter and rage and be unable to form coherent thoughts.  In reality the director of a camp like this would more likely be a stone-cold sadist and/or a very efficient bureaucrat who wouldn't be the least bit flustered by a whiny teenager.

***SPOILERS *** For all his rage every time he sees her he never really does anything about her.  The nastiest he gets is hitting her.  He hides her parents from her for a bit but he gives them back almost immediately when he is confronted.  Also there is almost unlimited surveillance but he never seems to notice any of the guards helping her all the time?  It is explained by the fact that he trusts the guards.  Yeah, not buying it.

I did like the fact that people protesting outside the camp and acting as observers of what was going on inside the camp was a big part of the story.  I think that in these scenarios that will be a major part of the resistance.  I did like some of the resistance ideas from inside the camp, like fasting to protest in front of visitors as well.

Overall, I think this was a wasted opportunity to tell a really important story. 

If you want to read a book on a similar subject that I think did a great job with the storyline, pick up Ink by Sabrina Vourvoulias [b:Ink|15721155|Ink|Sabrina Vourvoulias|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1340588500s/15721155.jpg|21394301] This book was scarily prescient when it was published a few years ago.  It was just rereleased because events in the U.S. seem to be moving along just like she predicted. 
. 

[Beth C.]

I am gutted. Shattered. Not words I usually use, but Ahmed has written a story that is terrifying in its reality. As she says in the Author's Note, "When fascism comes to America, it will come draped in the flag.". Such is the case here, the tale of what America could have been, is verging on becoming, *could still be*. A tale of Muslims, banned, then rounded up and put into internment camps. A tale of nationalism flowering at the highest levels of government. Where those who stand up, who resist, are the youth. And where those who resist may pay a heavy price.

This is a hard book, and it seems like maybe not one to finish the year out with. But then again - it feels like the perfect book to finish this hellacious year out with, to start a new year more aware and stronger in will than before.

The writing here is excellent. There isn't a lot of flowery language - it's spare and honest, as befitting a character...AN AMERICAN CITIZEN...stolen from her home, locked in a camp run by a man who feels that Muslims are "vermin". That reporters are "fake news". That "People want to be happy in their ignorance.". If this all seems a little too on-point, that's because it is. And it could be sappy. Or weak. Or pushy. Or any other of a dozen ways this could have been a badly written story. But it's not - it's just a straight up gut-punch with the reality that THIS is truly a possibility.

And in the end, we have the reality that THIS. IS. US. Americans have allowed this to happen before, and we're dangerously close to allowing it again. Ahmed reminds us that we are stronger together than apart, reminds us of the cost of being "other", reminds us of the cost of resisting - then reminds us that this - the hope, the resistance - this also is WHO. WE. ARE.