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Content snapshot
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Violence
Very heavy
War violence depicted with documentary realism: torture, bombing, displacement, massacre; intense throughout
Language
Some
Moderate language; war journalism register
Sexual Content
Barely any
Brief adult relationship; nothing explicit
Substance Use
Barely any
No substance use of note
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Radicalization as a response to loss, the child who becomes a weapon, what civilization looks like from the outside
What this book is about
2074. The United States is in its second Civil War — this time over fossil fuel use. Sarat Chestnut grows up in a refugee camp on the Louisiana border, loses her family to violence, and is radicalized by the forces that shape her. Omar El Akkad's unflinching debut mirrors the conflicts of the Middle East and post-9/11 America back on themselves, asking what terrorism looks like from inside the story of the person who commits it. A devastating and morally serious novel.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
graphic war violence and torture
terrorism depicted from the inside
deeply dark without relief
Reader Verification
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