A thought provoking roller coaster of a ride.

Imagine if you can your freedom and way of life being taken away from you just because of your faith. 16 year old Layla Amin was a normal girl enjoying her life until one day xenophobic President was elected and Muslim bans were put in place. Even with the stricter regime she didn’t think things could get that much worse-WRONG. She and her family are forced to move into an internment camp and left to fear for their future. But she won’t suffer silently, and she’s not alone.

I’m almost speechless after reading this book- I actually cannot find the words that will give it any justice to be honest.

The story reads as a real life event, I had to remind myself that it was in fact a work of fiction. True, the story does pull on the influence of history-and it is woven into it beautifully. The scariest thing is that you can almost imagine something like this actually happening again.

The characters are polished to perfection and there is a very clear love/hate of each one. I will admit to a few tears being shed at a certain point. And the realistic fear that I hope this will never happen again.

The story is profound and moving and I feel that this should be read by everyone. It throws a modern twist on the internment camps as it deals with people of Muslim faith rather than Jewish or even the Japanese of WW2. I feel like a great lesson can be learned from the story and I applaud the author for delivering it so spectacularly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown UK for the advance copy of this amazing book. I couldn't put it down, and once I'd finished it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I feel like this should be compulsory ready for everyone.

Layla is a normal teenager, except for one thing. She's Muslim in a USA where being Muslim is becoming more and more dangerous. There are book burnings, curfews and limits on the jobs they can do. One night, the Exclusion Agency come for Layla and her family and they are taken to an internment camp, symbolically just the road from the WWII Japanese-American internment camp.

The story then centres around Kayla's refusal to bow down and accept her fate, and the peaceful rebellion she stages with the help of new friends in the camp, her boyfriend on the outside and an unexpected source. She's a courageous inspiration to never give up in the face of adversity and to always stand up for what is right.

The book is set in an alternative today, but what makes it so powerful is how easily it could be reality. The continuous blaming of others who are different from ourselves, the divisive them and us culture is so prevalent in today's society and hopefully this book helps warn against what could happen if we don't continue to stand up for all members of society. Another book I'll be recommending to my students and the school librarian - and anyone else who'll listen.

One to introduce important ideas to younger readers, and it explores timeless concepts, though its blunt approach feels unnecessarily heavy-handed.
Set in a not-too-distant future America we are put in the situation where we watch Layla and her parents taken to a camp specially set up to house Muslims. There they are subject to appalling racism and inhumane treatment simply because of their religion.
We read open-mouthed as people are separated by skin colour, beaten for refusing to follow camp rules and ‘disappeared’ for daring to challenge the Director. We hear of external disagreement with what’s happening, but nobody seems keen to challenge orders from up high.
Layla is a rather immature teen at the start. She becomes a rather more interesting character as she’s forced to confront her new reality and consider the extent to which she’ll challenge it. She decides to (risking) place her trust in one of the guards and there’s hints of romance that get subsumed by the need to advance the plot.
I’d love to say the Director was a caricature; that nobody would believe someone so blatantly racist, sexist and generally unpleasant would ever exist. Sadly, that’s not the case.
And it is the parallels we might draw between contemporary events and those of the book that show just why this is a necessary thing. Personally I’d have liked a more nuanced read, with some focus on the build-up to these events and the reactions of those on the outside. However, for what it is the story is paced well and delivers its message with force.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy to read in exchange for my review.

Internment is a powerful young adult novel set in near-future America, in which a seventeen-year-old girl has to try and fight for revolution. Layla and her parents have been sent to the first internment camp for Muslim Americans, ripped away from their home and lives. There, Layla finds friends and allies as she fights to get contact with her boyfriend on the outside to share what is happening and to rebel against the camp's Director and guards.

The real terror of Internment is how close it is to the present-day United States, with the narrative making it clear how few additional nudges are needed. In addition, there is a deep-running theme about complicity and about how not standing up to something can be the same as letting it happen. This is not only how non-Muslim people either allowed or actively voted for the laws and internment camp seen in the novel, but also how people can turn on those who rebel. Having the novel from Layla's perspective shows the personal side to the horror of the camp—how they are imprisoned, watched, and controlled—and also her anger and how difficult it is to find ways to channel that anger into protests that will actually make a difference.

Internment is a novel that will make readers think, teenagers and adults alike. It is intense, but hopeful, and it shows how important solidarity and rebellion are. It seems like YA fiction is really a powerful voice in showing present realities and possible futures, particularly with regards to racism and Islamophobia.