Omar El Akkad

“Powerful . . . As haunting a postapocalyptic universe as Cormac McCarthy [created] in The Road, and as devastating a look as the fallout that national events have on an American family as Philip Roth did in The Plot Against America. . . . Omar El Akkad’s debut novel, American War, is an unlikely mash-up of unsparing war reporting and plot elements familiar to readers of the recent young-adult dystopian series The Hunger Games and Divergent.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle—a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself. Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, and that unmanned drones fill the sky. When her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she begins to grow up shaped by her particular time and place. But not everyone at Camp Patience is who they claim to be. Eventually Sarat is befriended by a mysterious functionary, under whose influence she is turned into a deadly instrument of war. The decisions that she makes will have tremendous consequences not just for Sarat but for her family and her country, rippling through generations of strangers and kin alike.

American War

"More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another over-filled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives in their homelands. And only one has made the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who has the good fortune to fall into the hands not of the officials but of Vänna: a teenage girl, native to the island, who lives inside her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though she and the boy are complete strangers, though they don't speak a common language, she determines to do whatever it takes to save him. In alternating chapters, we learn the story of the boy's life and of how he came to be on the boat; and we follow the girl and boy as they make their way toward a vision of safety. But as the novel unfurls we begin to understand that this is not merely the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world, it is the story of our collective moment in this time: of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair--and of the way each of those things can blind us to reality, or guide us to a better one"--

What Strange Paradise

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • From the widely acclaimed, bestselling author of American War—a beautifully written, unrelentingly dramatic, and profoundly moving novel that looks at the global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child. More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vänna. Vänna is a teenage girl, who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though Vänna and Amir are complete strangers, though they don’t speak a common language, Vänna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy. In alternating chapters, we learn about Amir’s life and how he came to be on the boat, and we follow him and the girl as they make their way toward safety. What Strange Paradise is the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world. But it is also a story of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair—and about the way each of those things can blind us to reality.

A novel

"An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle--a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself. Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, and that unmanned drones fill the sky. When her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she begins to grow up shaped by her particular time and place. But not everyone at Camp Patience is who they claim to be. Eventually Sarat is befriended by a mysterious functionary, under whose influence she is turned into a deadly instrument of war. The decisions that she makes will have tremendous consequences not just for Sarat but for her family and her country, rippling through generations of strangers and kin alike"--

American war

O relato de uma América futura despedaçada pelas suas divisões políticas, tribais e humanas. Sarat Chestnut nasceu no Louisiana e tem apenas seis anos quando a Segunda Guerra Civil Americana eclode em 2074. Mas até ela sabe que o petróleo é proibido, que metade do Louisiana está submerso e que drones não tripulados sobrevoam os céus. Quando o seu pai é morto e a sua família é obrigada a viver num campo de refugiados, ela rapidamente começa a ser moldada por esse tempo e lugar até que, finalmente, pela influência de um misterioso funcionário, se transforma num instrumento mortífero da guerra. A sua história é contada pelo seu neto, Benjamin Chestnut, que nasceu durante a guerra - parte da Geração Milagrosa - e é agora um idoso a confrontar os segredos negros do passado, do papel da sua família no conflito e, em particular, a importância da sua tia, uma mulher que salvou a sua vida ao destruir a de outros.

Guerra Americana

Als het Noorden fossiele brandstoffen verbiedt en het Zuiden zich verzet, woedt tussen 2074 en 2095 de tweede Amerikaanse Burgeroorlog.

An audacious and powerful debut novel"An extraordinary novel." Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven"American War, a work of a singular, grand, brilliant imagination, is a warning shot across the bow of the United States." David Means, author of HystopiaSarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, that unmanned drones fill the sky. And when her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she quickly begins to be shaped by her particular time and place until, finally, through the influence of a mysterious functionary, she is turned into a deadly instrument of war. Telling her story is her nephew, Benjamin Chestnut, born during war - part of the Miraculous Generation - now an old man confronting the dark secret of his past, his family's role in the conflict and, in particular, that of his aunt, a woman who saved his life while destroying untold others.A second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle - a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself.

American War: A novel (Random House Large Print)

Co by se mohlo stát, kdyby Amerika obrátila svůj nejničivější arzenál – i ten politický – sama proti sobě? Když v roce 2074 vypukne druhá americká občanská válka, je Sarat Chestnutové z Louisiany pouhých šest let. I ona však ví, že ropa je zakázaná, Louisiana napůl pod vodou a oblohu křižují drony. Když jí při atentátu zemře otec a rodinu přesunou do Camp Patience, tábora pro vysídlence, nové prostředí se na ní nesmazatelně podepíše. Ne každý je tu navíc tím, za koho se vydává. Sarat se spřátelí s tajemným starcem, pod jehož vlivem se z ní stává smrticí zbraň. Její následná rozhodnutí nebudou mít dalekosáhlé důsledky jenom pro ni a její rodinu: na mnoho generací poznamenají celou zemi i národ. ---- Sarat je fascinující postava. Inspirativní a závažná kniha. El Akkad bravurně a kousavě tepe Spojené státy za odtažitost, s níž mnohdy přistupují k dnešním katastrofám. Ty jako by se pokaždé děly někde jinde – ne tak tentokrát. - Jeff VanderMeer, spisovatel Působivé. Stejně děsivý postapokalyptický svět, jaký vytvořil Cormac McCarthy v Cestě, a stejně zničující pohled na dopad národních událostí na americkou rodinu, jaký popsal Philip Roth ve Spiknutí proti Americe. […] Americká válka je nečekanou kombinací nesmlouvavé válečné reportáže a vypravěčských postupů, jaké dobře znají čtenáři soudobých dystopií Hunger Games a Divergence. - The New York Times Ať už Americkou válku čteme jako varovný příběh o krajně vyhroceném politickém rozkolu, alegorii minulých konfliktů, nebo jako psychologickou studii o dopadech války, je to hluboce znepokojivý román. Jedinou útěchou, kterou kniha nabízí, je vědomí, že jde o fikci. Alespoň prozatím. - Justin Cronin, spisovatel

Omar El Akkad

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