Details

Length: 373
Story Build: Slow 
Character development: Surface level development 
Age Recommendation: 7th and 8th grade (with parent knowledge), high school 
Reasoning: language, violence

Summary and Review

At the beginning of the school year, I was talking with some colleagues about finding literature that was newer and more relevant to expose our students to throughout their time with us. When I looked through novels about social issues, Samira Ahmed’s novel turned up. I knew that the author seemed familiar, and I realized that she had written Love, Hate, & Other Filters, which had actually sparked this desire to teach novels in that vein. 

I grew excited and knew I needed to read this novel. However, within the first few pages, I knew that I couldn’t actually teach it. 

The novel is set in a futurist world, probably only because this hasn’t happened yet, but it is not without its similarities to our current society. The president, who remains without a name, has declared that he will make America great again, and he has put a target on any Muslim who lives in the US. There are curfews and book burnings of Muslim literature to share a few rules of the new world. 

Our main character, Layla, is captured in the first few pages, and she and her family are forced to go to an internment camp, Mobius, in a desert like environment. On their way, they even pass the Japanese internment camp from World War Two, Manzanar. If you haven’t read Farewell to Manzanar, you really should. It’s a memoir about the author’s time in the Japanese internment camp, and it’s truly eye opening. 

The internment camp has strict rules, and the members of the camp are divided based on their ethnicity and religious differences. The camp is run by the Director (his only name) who has his own guards as well as complete control over the Exclusion Guards, who help monitor behavior and the rules of the camp. 

The Director reminds the residents of Mobius: “Unity. Security. Prosperity.” That is the camp motto, and it is highly ironic, which is evident throughout the novel. 

Camp life is as hideous as one can imagine, and Ahmed spares no details when it comes to describing the conditions of the camp. Layla is clearly unhappy by this new environment and by the cameras that watch her every move both outside of their trailer and inside of it. However, she does make some friends, and together they decide that this cannot be their reality. 

They must resist. 

The entirety of the novel is really Layla, her friends, and her boyfriend, David, who is on the outside, fighting against the injustices placed upon them by the Director, the guards, and ultimately this president. 

Ahmed does a wonderful job of infusing parallels to past historical internments and examples of fear-driving discrimination. She clearly desires her readers to know that this could happen and might happen if we don’t start resisting and helping those that are being targeted.  

Celebrations

This book is highly relevant and exciting in its content. You have a heroine that you want to succeed, and I desperately wanted to know what would happen at the end. Furthermore, her afterword is extremely thought-provoking and allows you to see the novel through the lens that Ahmed wants you to see. 

Hesitations

I felt as though there were times where the character development was lacking; I wanted more clarity on relationships between characters and the guard that provides help to Layla. Even though the book is well over 300 pages, it seems slow. I understand the desire to include descriptions and examples of what the camp would be like, but it did drag in places. I feel like Ahmed could make the same emotional punch with less text….