Internment

By: Samira Ahmed

Narrated by: Soneela Nankani

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Rebellions are built on hope.

Set in a horrifying near-future United States, 17-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.

With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp's director and his guards.

Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges listeners to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today.

"A riveting and cautionary tale. Internment urges us to speak up and speak out, to ask questions and demand answers, and when those answers prove unsatisfactory, to resist." (Stacey Lee, award-winning author of Outrun the Moon)

©2019 Samira Ahmed (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Taking on Islamophobia and racism in a Trump-like America, Ahmed's magnetic, gripping narrative written in a deeply humane and authentic tone, is attentive to the richness and complexity of the social ills at the heart of the book." (Kirkus, starred review)

"[A] poignant, necessary story that paints a very real, very frank picture of hatred and ignorance, while also giving readers and marginalized individuals hope." (Booklist, starred review)

"An unsettling and important book for our times." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

shakes you to the core.

this book is eery and horrifying...why? because we're 15 minutes from this in the future. #resist #standup

The audio made this for me!

Wow, this was so intense. I was enraged and despondent and had all the feels while listening to this. It was so real and scary because I think we are kind of on the path to this now. It's a call to do more, pay more attention, and don't stay silent when you see something wrong happening. Layla was scared, who wouldn't be, but knew what was happening was not right and spoke up. I saw some reviews that said she made too many waves and should have kept quiet. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! No way should she have just followed the rules, even if there were harsh consequences. Layla had to speak up for what was right and gave others the courage to do the same. That's the entire point of the book.
The narrator was amazing, she totally embodied the voice of Layla to me and added an extra impact that made me love listening to this. Definitely recommend listening to this one!

Politically bias, perpetuates hate

If this book had been clearly hypothetical with no reference to current politicians than perhaps it would have been a better read, but the authors intent was clearly to bash the Trump administration and the way the American government works by missing using sound bites, exaggerating policies, and placing a greater stereotype on those with conservative views than is factual, thus creating unnecessary fear of where America is headed. I was offended that the soldiers were all white males as if to imply that our military is not represented by persons of every gender, faith, race, and nationalities. I also was disturbed by the blanket view that people who still hold fast to traditional values are filled with hate towards those who are different. The fact that the story is told from a teenage girls perspective, whose mouth is excessively foul, adds to the dismay that his is the type of future our country has seeing as she is painted as the hero despite her foolish and boy crazy coincidentally lead her to be the leader. I feel this book also misrepresents Muslim people as the girl shows little evidence of her faith, but rather Islam as a culture.

Absolutely amazing

This book was beautiful. I don't know how to out my feelings into words for this book, but I want everyone to read it.

Heart wrenching

This book is such a window into what is possible if we do not take a stand, as well as what people in the past experienced. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. I really believe that this book has the power to change the hearts and minds of Americans far and wide.

Great Story

The narration was very slow. Once I sped it up to 1.25, it didn’t get in the way of enjoying the story.

Great story

This book had a really solid concept and over all it did a decent job of relaying what it was trying to say. It took on a really tough subject one that sadly keeps getting more and more relevant with each passing day. It made the subject palatable to a wider ranger of people without becoming preachy. (Though I never really mind when that happens).
That all being said I am curious how much more in-depth and visceral Ahmed could have gotten if she had written this book for older teens or even adults. I realize the point was to make the story more accessible but I feel like maybe it just could have packed a bit more of a punch if it was set for just a slightly older audience but again that is all just more of a personal curiosity than a real critique.
My only really "problem" with this story was the underlying romance... I know I am always complaining about romances popping up in places they don't belong but in the case of this book it just sort of cheapens the whole story for me. I felt that the romance not only didn't fit but it was just added to appease people. The romance felt like an after though in some places and in others it undermined her whole purpose. If I have said this once I have said it a thousand times, stop adding in a romance to a book it has no business in! It may gain you a few readers but it cheapens the overall experience of your story. If it was not for that romance I would have given this book a 4.5 or even 4.7 stars.
All that being said I would recommend this book to anyone. This book is so timely and its something we all need to consider. This book really made me step back and wonder not only what I would do but what I can do now. Like I said in the beginning overall this book did exactly what it was meant to do. It made me stop and consider.

A future too scary to not prevent

Internment is a book set “15 minutes into America’s future”. The book immediately drew me in and had me crying and spitting with rage at the horrible injustices faced by Layla and her fellow Muslim brothers and sisters throughout the story. S. Ahmed is an artist in the way she wove in parallels to Japanese internment camps, WWII concentration camps, and the fictional camp Mobius. These parallels and the stark descriptions of life inside Mobius were the highlights of the book for me. I wish I could have seen more detail in the lives of the prisoners and more interactions between them and the guards.

Layla had some irresponsible and annoying qualities, which I will go into next, but for the most part she was a wonderful MC. Jake, a guard whom she meets inside Mobius, was a great supporting character, but I wish his history would have been hashed out a little more. I wanted to understand his motives more clearly and felt his character would have been even better had he more layers and complexities.

Unfortunately, there were a couple things that kept this from being a 5 star read for me. Mainly it was the “love story” aspect the book. I put that in quotes because I really didn’t see any chemistry between Layla and her hometown boyfriend, David. I actually found myself shipping Layla and Jake more because they seemed to have way more on page chemistry than L and D ever had. I think David’s character would have been better if he had been just a friend or even taken out altogether. This segues into my next gripe: Layyyllaaaaa, girl. What are you doing. She took so many dangerous and unnecessary risks to see David. I mean, literally risking her own, Jake’s, and her own parent’s lives just to talk to him on the phone and see him? These cringy moments were distracting to the powerful message of the book.

The flow of the book was perfect up until the ending, which felt rushed and unrealistic. I would have like to seen the resolution happen on a more realistic political time-frame (weeks/months instead of days), but overall I was happy with it (except one tiny thing *rocks myself while crying in a corner*, but it’s a spoiler so I won’t say).

These aside, the book is so good. This message needs to be heard and warnings need to be heeded, because in the current state of our divided nation, Mobius truly is possible if we do not stand up and fight for what is right.

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The Audio: Soneela Nankani's performance was flawless. She voiced distinguishable voices for various characters and her cadence throughout the story was on point. I look forward to listening to another performance by her.

Heart wrenching Story

I couldn't put this book down. I cried many times but was very good. It is worth reading! This book also relates to what's going on now in the world.

Powerful

Eloquent, Real, A Hard To Read Beautiful Truth,
Be sure to read authors note at the end. Definitely worth using audible to be able to listen to it, narrator did a Great job.