American War by Omar El Akkad

Vintage, 432 pages, $16.95 (c2017, Vintage c2018)

Yes, author Omar El Akkad has given us another American Civil War, this time because of the Free Southern States’ desire to keep using fossil fuels, despite an environmental disaster created by global warming. Yes, the war is between the Blues and the Reds, beginning in the year 2075. Yes, there is a plague that has forever sealed off South Carolina from the rest of the country. Yes, the United States of America is no longer the world’s leading power; that role is fulfilled by both China and the Bouazizi Empire (Egypt with parts of former Arabian and African countries). Yes, large portions of the coastal areas have been lost to the invading seas and rivers, so much so that the Capitol has been relocated to Columbus, Ohio. But this is all background noise.

The real story is about Sara T. Chestnut, who at an early age renamed herself Sarat. The willfulness and determination behind that act follows her for the rest of her days.

Sarat’s story begins at the age of six in a metal container where she lives with her twin sister, older brother, and parents. The war is getting closer, so the container’s useful days are numbered. After Sarat’s father disappears, she and the rest of her family struggle to get to a refugee camp. There Sarat learns survival and self-reliance. There she becomes a potential resistance fighter.

The crux to any story about war and a land under siege is how people are dislocated, both physically and mentally. Each time Sarat becomes acclimated to a place, she is then torn away. What can she believe in when there are only sham legal venues for aid and restitution? When there is much in-fighting among the “leaders” of the cause? When friends can turn out to be enemies? When the family center cannot hold?

I think this book is more about what war, any war, does to people and their motivations rather than it is a political statement about our current times or even an environmental warning. People can war about many things. If there are bloodshed and lines drawn in the sand, then there is trauma, and people must look deep to see what is inside themselves and what has importance to them.

“American War” is disorienting because Sarat doesn’t really fight against the Blues; she fights against the faceless people who have slowly taken away what she loves. Then she fights faces she knows, and victory seems an empty promise. Nevertheless, the book is situated in a Blue versus Red arena, and the geography — however misshapen by environmental forces — is familiar. That adds a dimension to “American War” that wouldn’t be there if it were a dystopian novel set in the far future or on another planet. Most of us will have a visceral reaction to El Akkad’s setup.

Omar El Akkad was born in Cairo, Egypt, and was a war correspondent for Canadian media. I don’t know how much time he spent in the U.S. South, but I like the flavor of his setting. Coincidentally, he now lives not too far from where I am in Oregon. Obviously, he has moved through very different environments, just as his story moves from the South and ends in Anchorage, of all places. His experience with war in the Middle East must have greatly informed the details of Sarat’s tale. The terror, anger, and deprivation seem so authentic.