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16 days ago
Internment by Samira Ahmed
Internment
by Samira Ahmed (Goodreads Author)
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Read in April 2019
Internment is a fiery and eye-opening read that will shake you to the very core.
It talks about the very important topic of discrimination, Islamophobia and putting people in internment camps. Through Layla we see a very moving inside view that stirs everyone up.
I absolutely loved every single character in this book ,a ll of them were well developed and written and each had their own point to make. The plot had great pace and the writing style kept e hooked.

I really have no negative opinions, it truly had me struck and crying at some parts and I feel it really is a must read for every single person on this planet, especially all Americans and white people to truly see life from the view of minorities.

We kick this book off with Layla, our main character, who is a Muslim, sneaking around after the curfew that has been imposed upon Muslims in this dystopian future. The reason why she's putting herself in danger like this is so that she can go meet her white-passing Jewish boyfriend (who has no such curfew) near his house so they can kiss.

This pretty much sets the tone for the book. Layla, time and time again throughout the book shows that she's incredibly immature, selfish and single-minded, especially so when it comes to David, her boyfriend.

There is no given reason as to why she takes this risk. If this boyfriend actually loved her why would they be meeting past curfew when it's so dangerous for her, instead of during the daytime? Why so far away from her house and close to his instead?

I don't understand how I'm meant to like or relate to this protagonist when she's awful and genuinely dumb. She is constantly unironically comparing her situation to the Japanese Americans in WWII. I've done literally no research on this but I sincerely doubt the Japanese Americans got given their own small living spaces with some measure of privacy (the bedrooms aren't bugged in Layla's family's trailer) for each individual family unit. I'm sure it's more likely that they were all crammed into communal shacks.

I also cannot stand idiots who don't know when it's best to keep quiet and when it's actually appropriate or useful to resist. Layla puts her super snippy attitude on with the woman checking them in to their caravan and giving them keys. How is that useful? You're just making your parents anxious. She's immediately melodramatic upon checking out their caravan, and I quote '...if I continue standing here, I'll slowly fade away until I cease to exist.'

It's the rich elitism that the tone of her whining takes that really irks me. She mentions that her bedroom in this trailer is 'the size of my old bathroom'. Imagine the Japanese or the Jewish people during the Holocaust, with no bedroom, small or no. Certainly with no privacy. Also, to a lesser degree, imagine poor people, forced to live like this all the time due to poverty being notoriously difficult to escape from. She then goes on to say the sheet in her room '... doesn't exactly scream high thread count.' And upon asking where the bathroom is, her mother '...opens two small doors that I thought were cabinets. One is a shower; the other, a toilet.' I just can't imagine the privilege and the stupidity. Assuming a full length door in a trailer is a cabinet door. A full length cabinet. Like a pantry? In a caravan? What?

Every opportunity she could use to comfort or reassure her mother or father she squanders and instead chooses to purposefully wind them up by all but accusing them of being the reason she personally is stuck in this situation. Or she causes them more worry by talking about revolution and resistance in front of the cameras and recording devices that Layla knows full well are in their living room.

Layla immediately breaks curfew on her first night in the camp. For no reason. She is so, so stupid. Repeatedly and unapologetically. She does nothing but dangerous stuff all the time and then rues that she doesn't want to get anyone that helps her into trouble.

Okay, so, imagine that there's a bad guy who is the baddest bad guy to ever exist. That is the director of the camp. Why would they hire this psychopath to be the director of the first ever Muslim detainment camp? If this is how quick he flies into red mist rage then that would've shown through in his temperament long before he was assigned this incredibly important role (being in charge of the first ever Muslim internment camp) in the president's plan. Christ.

A lot of this book is nothingness. Layla pining after her boyfriend. Ayesha and Soheil flirting. The teenagers playing at revolution through planning a fast or writing articles. Layla philosophising in an incredibly dull, shallow way about how being locked up is bad and feels bad. Dull dull dull. I struggled to convince myself to pick the book up - I found myself re-reading emails at work on my lunch break instead of turning my Kindle on to get back to this drudgery.

We are just incapable of subtlety in this book. The bad guy is the baddest. Layla's constant laments on how being a prisoner is rubbish. Everyone clenches their fists when they're angry - Layla and the director both. This book seems to have confused who its audience is. Let's face it - the audience is likely to be people who already know that facism and racism are bad. Why do we need to receive endless rants about exactly those subjects? Are we toddlers who constantly need reminding that bad people are bad? Unless you've never read a dystopia before or a WWII book then you've already read these points made by much better authors who do a much better job at nuance.

It's an utterly squandered premise for a book - a Muslim detainment camp is not exactly an unimaginable concept in this climate - but it seems dishonest, disingenuous to co-opt this Jewish tragedy or this Japanese Americans strife in the face of the immigration camps they currently have set up for the Mexican people who have crossed the border. Even in doing so, it wouldn't be so galling if the author had used the premise to make good points about being a prisoner of war, or to give a fresh perspective as to how this experience would differ for the Muslim community, but they have failed on every count.

The book constantly referenced Trump's America - it talks about white people wanting to make America great again, and there was something about the president's Twitter rants, but then we never mention Trump by name and I'm completely unsure why. Are we trying to make this all-encompassing? Like those other references don't already place the book solidly between 2017 and 2020 (unless the Americans manage to impeach Trump before then).

The soap opera ending and a lack of answers to questions has really polished this one off for me.

The premise of this novel has so much promise, yet I felt that ultimately aspects of both character and plot didn't quite live up to my expectations.

I would still recommend to teen readers, most specifically those who are not muslim and therefore might yet remain blissfully unaware, because the author does deal with very important real life issues, which are increasingly worrying.....I just feel that, perhaps with extra time and polishing, this novel could have been even better.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of this novel in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Set ’15 minutes in the future’ of the United States of America, an islamophobic administration has started to create internment camps for Muslim American citizens. Layla Amin and her family have been forced into such a camp. Scared and angry, Layla begins to fight for freedom and an end to the injustice and oppression her and her family have faced.

Internment is a timely and important book with a lot of important and educational messages. It discussed the rise of fascism and nationalism well, it discussed the danger of doing nothing and the danger of silence and how by doing nothing and turning you’re back, you are part of the problem, which then led to some really great nuanced discussions to similar moments in history, such as the internment of Japanese-Americans in America in World World Two and of the concentration camps in Nazi Germany.

Internment was one of my highly anticipated books of 2019 and I am slightly disappointed. It is not a bad book, but not one that really dragged me into the story. I felt like it lacked… emotion, which is strange considering the topic.

One thing I also really didn’t like was the romance. It was very cringey but I also really disliked how it was handled. Layla would sneak her non-muslim boyfriend into the camp constantly just because she missed him so much, just to make out with him. She risked her life to kiss her boyfriend? It was handled very badly and just didn’t sit well with me.

A lot of people criticise the villain of this story, The Director, and state how he is just a bit of a caricature but I kind of think she was showing how sometimes a villain isn’t always complex and the director was just an emboldened racist with too much power that no-one stopped.

Still, despite my problems with it, Internment is an incredibly important book showing the dangers of Islamophobia and the dangers of being silent about it. And how, what happened in the book isn’t all that too far-fetched. It’s about fear and hatred and prejudice and how we need to fight it at every opportunity and it is definitely a book we can all learn from.

Content warnings: racism, islamophobia, internment camps, death/murder, torture, violence

I really do not know how to write this review. This book shook me to my core. I was reading it thinking about how I’ve never read a novel about something that could so easily happen the next day.

Imagine a world 5 minutes into the future where American muslims are being put into internment camps simply for their beliefs. That is the start of Internment. Layla and her family are forced into an internment camp but Layla is intent on getting her voice heard so that people know what is going on in this camp and with the help of her friends inside the camp and her boyfriend outside she begins a revolution.

What really stood out to me was the parallels Ahmed made between Nazi Germany and the Japanese internment camps in the States. She was very intent on reminding people that something like this isn’t outlandish for the US (or anywhere really), this has happened to a group of people before. At times I found this book super scary because it just showed how quick things could devolve into Internment camps for Muslims. This book is a dystopian novel but it also isn’t because it’s not like other dystopians which are a few years in the future where everything is so different. This is what could happen in a few days at any given moment if people don’t speak up.

I read Ahmed’s previous release, Love, Hate & Other Filters, so I knew I would enjoy the writing style. I could tell that her writing has improved from her debut to this novel.

At times I began to think some of the actions from the MC were a bit far fetched but then I reminded myself that teenagers are so integral to movements and can be so inspiring when they use their voices. Teenagers often put adults to shame for how ready they are to risk their lives for what they believe in and I think this book really embodied that.

This book contained some really interesting characters and relationships and I think Ahmed wrote the struggle with trusting people really well. As a reader I didn’t know what to make of anyone the same way that Layla didn’t, but like Layla I wanted to believe in certain characters.

I honestly don’t know what else to say at this point because I just feel like with a novel like this a review isn’t going to do it justice. But please read this book!

The theme of this book was definitely scary, in that it’s not something that can never happen—it has happened in the past already, and anyone who’s studied history a little, and/or gotten interested in studying extremist movements, will know very well that even an apparently “balanced” society can give way to extreme rules, to persecuting people, and to turning your average citizen into an “I was just doing my job” person.

The story echoes the internment of many Japanese-descent American citizens during World War II, often considered as “enemies of the nation” and interned as “potential dangers”. There is no World War here, “only” the aftermath of 9/11 and growing fears of terrorism, with people being so afraid of a fringe of Muslim people that they lump all Muslims in the same basket, starting with a religion census, then moving to curfews and the burning of books. Also, the parallels drawn with early 21st century US politics are obvious (although this is not limited to the USA)... perhaps a little too much. Which leads me to what was my main beef with the book: it makes everything too obvious.

Don’t mistake me: the message IS really important, and there’s no way any decent society should let something like this happen (again). However, I often found that it was hammered through and through, and that overall, more subtlety, and a more mature treatment of it all, would’ve been welcome. It’s a little as if too much repetition, too much obviousness, weakened the message by making it tiresome, in a way. (I’m not sure if I’m explaining myself very well here. It was difficult to properly put my finger on what had been nagging me throughout my reading.)

A few other things annoyed me, too. The writing itself was fairly simplistic, with Layla’s thoughts often circling around the same things (like her boyfriend), and in general, there wasn’t really any explanation about how things came to be. I could fill in some blanks because I know my history, but more background details about the escalation of Islamophobia leading to the internment camps would’ve been great (and would’ve helped to strengthen the message)—just like it would’ve been good to see more chemistry when relationships were involved. For instance, Layla and David: we don’t get to see them together enough in the beginning to get a feeling for their relationship, and this makes it hard to really empathise with their obsession to see each other (even though doing so endangers pretty much everyone: David, Layla, his family, her family, the people who help them…).

The same goes for those people who are on the Muslims’ side: with everyone at the camp cut from the outside world, with no real news, no phones, no internet allowed, whatever happens outside is learnt through third parties. We don’t really -see- those reactions, we don’t get to read the texts that Layla manages to smuggle outside and that inspire people, etc. And most characters’ motivations are never really explored. Why is the Director such a cartoonish villain? What motivates the guards who try to help? What motivates (or threatens) the minders turned traitors to their people?

The ending, too, was… conveniently simple. And got rid of one specific plot point that otherwise would’ve needed more explanation. That was very predictable… and very frustrating.

Conclusion: I definitely agree with the message here, but as a novel, it didn’t really work for me.

I can't say I was all that impressed by this book. I'm not even sure why, but I thought the writing style was a little slow and the character development was a bit rushed. The idea was genius, but not a fan of how it played out.

There is much to compliment about this book and it’s premise. It is important. It is timely. It is an act of resistance. However, it just felt like it could have been so much more. At times I wanted more depth from the characters and at times the pace lagged and the plot felt too basic. There’s no subtlety here. Having said that, I was moved to tears and felt that the book hit a new level in the final third. I would recommend to YA readers.

*4.5 stars!

I don't know what to say... I'm so thankful I got the opportunity to read this book, and I feel like it's a must-read for everyone.

Internment is such a terrifying story, and it's scary that it actually isn't even that far away from the truth... This story makes you really think about that. It had such a heavy impact on me, and I couldn't stop reading. I just had to know what would happen next.

The story and the writing of it was enormously addictive. I highly recommend this!

In Internment Samira Ahmed certainly doesn't hold back on the discomfort as we discover what life holds in store for Layla Amin and her family in a (very) near future America. Institutionalised Islamophopia, on the part of a new President with an agenda, leads first of all to Layla having a curfew, followed by having to drop out of school and the realisation that Prom night may not be as good as she hoped. Her parents are unable to carry on in their jobs and she worries that she may not be able to carry on seeing her non-Muslim boyfriend but can't imagine how things could get any worse - until she, and other Muslims, are suddenly rounded up and taken to an internment camp in a remote desert area. From being 'just' insulted, ignored and discriminated against Layla, her family and coreligionists are now treated as enemies: as non-citizens. The adults - often first or second generation immigrants - try to keep their heads down and obey the camp rules but Layla and the other young people she meets in the camp have been raised as Americans and taught their rights as citizens as well as their religion: they plan to fight back.

This isn't a perfect book. Layla and the friends who fight back against the camp regime are, at times, irritating - too caught up in their own lives, completely oblivious to the effect their rebellion will have on their families and friends - but they are just kids. Angry, scared kids who would rather be worrying about boyfriends, prom and getting into a good university. This is a chilling story, however, because it is possible to see how our current political situations could deteriorate even further if we allow ourselves to be divided rather than work together for the good of all. Oh well, maybe the fact that my reading isn't allowing me to ignore politics entirely is a good thing...

This is a powerful and moving book with a vivid, sympathetic main character and a strong message about standing up and speaking up for what is right. Essential reading for young people.

Internment was not an easy read. The story was powerful, amazing and scary at the same time. I couldn't stop reading but also i had to stop to think. That book felt too real and i think that was the scariest part. Everyone should read this book.

<i>Thank you to Atom and Netgalley for providing me with a digital Arc in exchange for an honest Review! All quotes featured are from the Arc and therefore subject to changes.</i>

<b>“What’s that thing people always say about history? Unless we know our history, we’re doomed to repeat it? Never forget? Isn’t that the lesson? But we always forget.”</b>

<b>Layla was such a strong courageous character 📢</b> The further I got into the book the more I admired her will and endurance to fight back against the injustice she was confronted with. Of course she is also very afraid for herself and her family, but she doesn’t want to give in, Layla wants to get everyone out and encourage them to resist the camp. I really liked how she grew into a leader and a figure of the Resistance by trying to get the outside to know what really went on in the camp and that it wasn’t as nice as the authorities pretended it to be. Layla was honestly so very brave and a very inspiring character, because she faced so much hate and threats to her life, yet still kept going, because she saw that she left an impact. <b>She was the spark that ignited the fire of the Resistance, showing that teens are not to be underestimated</b>. Their voices are important to listen to.

<b>In general the book was very impactful and tackled islamophobia and hate 📢</b> This could be considered a dystopian book, but as the author said herself it’s “15 minutes in the future” as there is already a ton of islamophobia and this is something that could likely happen in the future. The book shows how quickly this could happen, beginning with a new, hateful president (we already have that) and the conjured image of a common enemy to the country: Muslims. What happens in Internment mirrors what happened during the Holocaust very closely if you look closely: from laws to isolate Muslims, firing them from jobs and burning books that contain their work to literally carting them off to a camp as if they are a threat and not the one being threatened. The author masterfully made these parallels and showed how people in positions of power use fear to rally against a group of people. <b>She portrays Layla’s fear, disbelief and struggles to cope with a new reality in which she is not regarded as an American any longer and prosecuted for her beliefs.</b> There aren’t words to describe how well-written and important this book is, as internment camps for Muslims already exist in China (source:). The book doesn’t describe a reality that is far-fetched, it is already here and it can grow into something worse if we let it. The belief that something like that couldn’t happen here again is naive and we need to constantly be on guard so we fight against injustice and leave no one behind.

<b>The secondary characters were also amazing and perfectly completed Layla’s narrative 📢</b> We have <b>her parents</b>, who have a close relationship to her and trust her, but also struggle with the fact that their daughter wants to resist and get herself in danger. I really felt for them, as I understood that they wanted to keep low and maybe survive this way, it’s a human instinct to try to survive. I liked how the author explored the ever-changing relationship between daughter and parents, especially as the book went on. What I was also immediately here for is the amazing female friendship with <b>Ayesha</b>, a fellow muslim girl who is also imprisoned in the camp. Layla and her immediately click and try to make their captivity a lot more bearable by talking about their favorite fandoms, movies and lives before the camp. They also unite to resist and find a way out, holding onto each other for strength and the will to go through with this. I loved how they became such close friends and cared about each other deeply! We also have more characters: like <b>Soheil</b> who is trying to resist and turns out to be incredibly brave and <b>Jake</b>, a guard who is on their side. I was skeptical of Jake first, as he is literally one of them, but the author developed his character really carefully and showed that he was not here because he wanted to and he saw how wrong this was and decided to do something against it. He tries to protect Layla any way he can and help her with the resistance while pretending, that he still works for the director. He grew into such a complex character and we see his guilt over what is done in this camp. Overall, all characters were vibrant and strong on the page.

<b>The plot was intense and leaving me breathless 📢</b> I read this book in one sitting, because it’s impossible to put down. This is the kind of book you have to keep reading, as the stakes are always so high and you really want to know how things turn out for the characters. You cannot stop until you have reached the end and know how everything has unfolded. The plot is intense and everything makes you so angry, but also so sad. Internment tugs at your emotions and immediately gets you so invested in the characters and their story. My heart was pounding the entire time, because I expected all the bad things to happen and had to see it through, in the hopes of a good ending. I liked the ending a lot, it was realistic by also being hopeful.

<b>“We stand on the shoulders of giants. We are Americans. We make America great. This is our country. And we’re taking it back.”</b>

Horribly plausible scenario captures a sense of injustice & claustrophobia with a strong central character to root for, though other characters aren't anywhere near as well drawn. Not a comfortable read but offers plenty to mull over

In a reality not that far removed from the current day, Muslims are being dismissed from their jobs and then suddenly, they are rounded up and taken to a detention centre in the desert. This includes Maya Aziz and her parents who we met in Love, Hate and other filters.
Maya is determined not to take the easy route and do as she is told by the authorities as her parents would prefer. With help from new friends, she starts a campaign to let the world know what is happening and free the internees from Camp Mobius.
The frustrations and dangers that Maya faces as she does this are all too real, having happened to American Japanese in World War 2. Current rhetoric in the US makes the possibility of a repeat of this situation uncomfortably close.
Samira Ahmed has written a story that is a very timely reminder to be on our guard against unrestrained prejudice.

Read it! This book is terrifying and brilliant and should be read by everyone.

Set in the very near future, it follows a family living in a world clearly influenced by experiences of Jews in Occupied Europe during WWII. The family face increasing restrictions on what they are permitted to do, all because of their religion. As a Muslim family, they endure curfews, employment and education restrictions and early into the novel, the total loss of their freedom. This is claimed, by those in power, as the only way to protect the (non-Muslim) American people.

What makes this book so frightening, is the way that the persecution of Muslim Americans escalates so rapidly, starting with policies and beliefs disturbingly similar to those impacting on the lives of refugees and other persecuted people all over the world today. It is also an excellent story of the strength of young people and how much can be gained when people of all backgrounds work together.

All in all, this is a book that needs and deserves to be read. There is nothing in this book that I would believe to be beyond the capabilities of some of the world's current leaders, who already seem set on creating societies of fear and blame, where whole communities are held responsible for the actions of a few.

It can be easy sometimes, to distance ourselves from groups of people we don't know or aren't a part of, but Internment forces us to get to know Layla and her friends. Through this, Samira Ahmed cleverly demonstrates how imperative it is that those lucky enough to escape persecution - by simply having the "right" skin colour, religion, birthplace or whatever other factor is deemed favourable or "better" - do not walk on by and look the other way.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was certainly not an easy one to read. But I have to admit that I liked it a lot.
It tells a story that it feels too much realistic, and that makes me shiver. It sets in a "fifteen minutes in the future" United States, where Muslim-Americans are being forced into an internment camp.
In the past, many internment camps have existed, too many, and we remember them all in order to not repeat that mistake again. But nowadays it seems we are very near to something like this, and "Internment" by Samira Ahmed shows us where this world, our world, is going. We are committing the same mistakes all over again. This is terrifying. This book is powerful and punches you right in the gut.
However, I think it lacks in certain parts and I would preferred it to go even further. It could have push a little bit more. Despite that, I enjoyed it very much and I recommend this read. It makes you reflect and it helps open our eyes to the world we're living in.

I received a copy of Interment from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.



Internment, Sahira Ahmed's sophomore novel, is set in a near future America where seventeen year old Layla and her family are victims of the new president's anti-Muslim policies - a travel ban, a curfew, job losses, outright hatred and violence, and now, picked up in the middle of the night and taken to Camp Mobius - a special internment camp in the middle of the Californian desert, where the Director is hell bent on taking away what little human rights they have left. But Layla won't stand for that. With a new friend by her side, and her boyfriend on the outside, Layla must decide who can she trust, what will make the most impact, and how she can get her and her fellow Muslim's home.

This is such a powerful book. The way that Ahmed weaves in facts about the world is so clever and subtle that it makes you wonder what kind of book you're reading - it's set in a world you know, you're familiar with, you live in... but with some major - and some not so major - changes.

Throughout the whole story, there are facts and events that have happened - Ahmed mentions some recent mass shootings by name, Sandy Hook and Las Vegas, and she talks about travel bans and immigration laws being put in place. There are walls that have been built, statements that have been tweeted, and elections that have been won, all leading to the new President - never named but a name is unnecessary when you know exactly who is being talked about - basically being able to do what he wants. Muslims are attacked on the street, hijabs are pulled off heads, and a new census in place means you must identify exactly what religion you are. There are news bulletins that must be watched - racist propaganda coming through your TV screens and mobile phones , text messages are read - nowhere is safe. Book burnings are common and anything that portrays Muslims in a good light is forbidden.

Like I say, so much is real. So much is factual, and plausible, things that have happened in America or things that you would see on the news and 100% believe, giving the current climate we live in. But there are things feel like they've come straight out of a novel or a documentary about the concentration camps of WW2. Highlighted in Heather Morris' The Tattooist of Auschwitz, each imprisoned Jew must have a number tattooed on their arm for identification. Here, they use an invisible tattoo that can only be read with UV light. A more modern take on a horrific act of the holocaust.

But it's the way that Ahmed mingles these two things - the real and the possible - together in her writing that makes Internment terrifying. For me, a white non-Muslim from the UK who finds the actions of these characters atrocious, but for actual Muslims reading this, I imagine, who can see these things happening to themselves, who have been racially attacked and beaten, murdered, blamed for the acts of a few who they have nothing to do with.

It's so current. Fake news, school shootings, Black Lives Matter, the travel ban, the wall, the tweets, all of it. It's a book that needs to be read NOW. It's a book we all need to read and then sit up and pay attention. What can we do? What is happening now that we can stop? Because we might all read this and think that there's no way America would allow internment camps for Muslims to become a thing, but I think a lot of people thought America wouldn't let a monster like Trump be elected, and I bet the people of Germany would have liked to have thought they wouldn't let concentration camps happen in their country either. It can be a small step from the impossible to the possible.

Plot wise, Internment is pacey, it's fast, dramatic, terrifying. The characters are so diverse, and I love the way Ahmed portrays some as 'weak', some as 'brave' while also making the point that you have no idea what has been threatened against someone to make them act the way they do.

Anything I didn't like? I would have liked a bit more resolve on the issue of the 'minders' and Layla's view to them. Also, I'm glad there wasn't much made of David in the end, that he wasn't the be-all and end-all of the story, but there was also a lot of stupid risks made for him, and more focus on him than I would have liked, considering Layla was facing possible, imminent death. I have seen some reviews of Internment which are along the lines of 'this is the girl leading a revolution????' which I don't get. Layla is determined and smart, she is outspoken and brave, focused and constantly thinking of those around her. So what if she's a little fixated on her boyfriend. He's important to her, she's seventeen years old, and she's been uprooted from everything she's known to be told she's worthless. Let her miss her boyfriend.

It's scary how blurred the line is between dystopia and real life. And Internment highlights that line. This is an amazing read - current, and realistic, and I urge you all to go out and grab a copy. We need to shout about this book from the rooftops.

One word. Moving.

Glad that I found another gem via requesting this eARC on NetGalley, Internment by Samira Ahmed is a moving novel that will make you see how different the wprld works for those who belong in the broken, beaten, and damned bracket.

Focusing on the story of Layla Amin, a high school Muslim teen who got caught in the cataclysm of Islamophobe-controlled America after electing a racist President who ratified a complete Muslin ban on the land of the Unites States.

I love how the story slowly unravels the pre-state of the chaotic America via Samira's outstanding writing style. How Samira boldly and carefully laid out the reasons why the Muslim ban happened and how the oppression in this world is silently happening in every dark street without the entire globe knowing.

Another plus point for having a strong and cpurageous main character in the name of Layla. I love how badass Layla is and I'm glad I read this is time with the celebration of the International Women's Day. The world need more people like Layla who will continue to stand in front of the enemy and boldly point out the wrongdoings even if it means sacrificing the people you love and worse, undergoing torture under the hands of the enemy.

I think what makes this book stand out, and I'm sure this one will be well-loved by the bookish community, is the fact that this novel speaks nothing but the truth.

Unity. Security. Prosperity.

This is what the Muslim-banning America flaunts as the internment camp's motto. But let me rephrase this one with a greter mantra for the world:

Fight. Resist. Speak Up.

The world needs more books like this and I'm glad that I've got to read this one in advance. Easy 5-star. Can't wait to get my copy of this one.

Disturbing in its plausibility, Internment by Samira Ahmed is a timely book. Set in a not to distant future version of the United States, our protagonist is seventeen year old Layla Amin, In this version of the US, Muslims are required to register and are being sent to internment camps as the country becomes ever more xenophobic. Separated from her boyfriend and friends, Layla refuses to adjust to her new life inside the camp, and begins to form alliances with her fellow internees in an effort to draw media attention and highlight how wrong the existence of the camps are. Using non violent protests they begin to rebel against the camp system and it's brutal and borderline psychotic commander, despite the risks to themselves and their families.
I read this book in a single sitting, completely unable to turn away from the disturbing and compelling story. The author draws parallels to events from the past , including both Nazi Concentration Camps and the Internment camps where many Japanese Americans were kept during the second world war, in her terrifying vision of the future , and while some of these comparisons may be a little blunt and on the nose, they certainly get the message across. While Layla is not the most likeable of characters, and her almost obsession with her boyfriend seems a little melodramatic, it is hard not to feel sympathy for her plight. I also wish the commander was not quite such a cartoonish villain, a little more subtlety would have made him both more plausible and more terrifying.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.