Reviews

Internment by Samira Ahmed

cmumma's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

bibliobrandie's review against another edition

1.0

Wow, this is one book that I really expected to like and ended up rolling my eyes all the way through. I really wanted to like this book and it just didn’t work for me. The book takes place “fifteen minutes in the future” in a world where anyone who registered as Muslim on the census is placed in an internment camp. Our protagonist, 17 year old Layla, is more interested in her boyfriend - putting her family in danger to steal kisses from him - making it hard to believe that she’s going to lead the revolution out of the camp (*spoiler* which she successfully does a very short time after arriving there). It reads like a 17 year old actually wrote it. I thought this might be a good conversation about internment camps with students but it’s really more about teen angst than racism, hatred, the rise of Islamophobia, or fascist dictators. This story would have worked well as just a love story between a Muslim teen and her Jewish boyfriend. Placing it all in an interment camp just does not work.
I also listened to the audio version and so many moments made me jump or pull the headphones from my ears - loud knocking on the door or actual use of a blow horn - which did not add to the narrative so not sure why it was used. The narrator was very breathy through the whole thing, I did not enjoy it.

jthobe's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

anneessdee's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

tishywishy's review against another edition

3.0

Interesting premise but some of the parts didn't make sense. It's hard to go into details without spoilers but an example of this is the protagonist getting caught meeting up with someone from the "outside", and the Director and his security detail walking away, leaving them together. It really needed some fine tuning.

melodys_library's review against another edition

1.0

Disappointing

custicm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

aheinicke27's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This story is a terrifying and rage inducing look “15 minutes into the future” if the Trump presidency had increased persecution of Muslim people during his presidency. Drawing strong parallels to the Holocaust and the Japanese interment camps of WWII, the story is unsettling to read in a contemporary setting. Layla, the main character, is a brave, strong willed young woman who refuses to comply when her family is sent to a camp. While I appreciated Layla’s spirit for justice, she is also very much a frustrating high school girl at times who fails to think her actions through. (

Like sneaking your high school boyfriend into an internment camp so you can make out for 5 minutes?? Seriously girl???

). Layla grows a lot over the course of the book, but I wouldn’t say that growth happens until the very end. The beginning and middle of the book felt somewhat slow and drawn out, but the ending was really tense and page turning. Overall, this is an important book to read, as it is a very real possibility of what can happen when people lead with fear and hate in their hearts. Layla shows us the importance of using our voices and actions to combat this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Torture

izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition

3.0

3/5

Loved scary future of this book. The characters determination and the story. I just felt like the pacing was odd

kaylakathleen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0