A very important story that is sadly relevant to events going on right now. I enjoyed reading about the characters, and felt very attached to them. A truly emotional and gripping journey.

This was an incredible idea (and obviously haunting), but I feel that the storytelling wasn't the best it could be.

This book had a great premise and the execution was fine...flawed but fine. The protagonist was an emotionally immature teenager who was portrayed very convincing by the author. She sneaks out after curfew to steal kisses from her boyfriend without regard to consequences. She acts out rashly to guards without thought to how her actions may impact her family. Is it unrealistic to think this girl can lead a revolution? Yes, without a great deal of luck. That is where the book became a tad unrealistic for me. Layla just happens to meet the sympathetic guard(s). Her boyfriend’s father just happens to work for the State Department. The Director of the camp is even more emotionally unstable than a teenager and is depicted as a cartoon character of a villain (bulging neck and eyes along with purpling face).

I honestly loved this book because I thought it spoke better to my middle school students than to me as an adult. It took our horrific world and kind of boils it into an after school special and gets the message across. The best part of this book was the author’s note when she wraps it up by saying we’re already living in a country with internment camps at our borders. Powerful.

I DNFed this one, but not because it wasn't good or important. It's both of those things, and I would promote this work to any and every library. Fortunately it made such a scene when it hit bookshelves in March that it didn't need additional promotion from me. I have a hard time getting into certain kinds of young adult fiction. Particularly politically charged books for teens, I feel over-saturated by the calling. It's so necessary for teens to view the world through another lens and critically think about the nation they're living in, so please pass this book around.

This is by far one of the most disturbing and emotionally wrenching books I have read in a long time. Samira Ahmed's story is one where history was doomed to repeat itself. You would think that the US had learned its lesson after Manzanar, but now, the new government wants to make the country greater and better decides to round up all Muslim citizens and take them to an internment camp near Manzanar call Mobius. High school senior Layla, her parents, and other families at the camp decide to rebel, one small act at a time, ratcheting up the suspense and providing hope that not all in the country suffer from racism and Islamophobia. I highly recommend reading this book. It would make a great book club title - wait for discussion fireworks!

I was not a fan of Samira Ahmed's debut novel, Love, Hate, and Other Filters, which I read for last year's Ramadan Reading Challenge, but after seeing the many starred reviews for her sophomore novel I decided to give it a chance and lowered my expectations. Internment has a powerful and horrifyingly very possible premise in which in the near fifteen minutes of the future Muslim Americans have been registered and detained in internment camps because they have been labeled as a threat to the United State's security. They are sent to internment camps where their constitutional rights have been stripped and they are forced to comply.

I had a very hard time getting into the novel as the themes of inequality, privilege, and activism among many others are very heavy handed. I had to remind myself that this novel is not written for readers who are well informed with our current politics, but those who are completely oblivious to it. With this in mind I was able to overcome my first hurdle.

My second hurdle for this book is the weak execution of the novel that had so much potential to be better. There is a lot of telling instead of showing in this novel. Ahmed misses the opportunity to explore several key items that could have brought the book to life such as the actual politics from both the policy makers and those protesting against the Muslim ban, tying the internment camps to the actual camps during World War II to emphasize that history is actually repeating itself, exploring the intersectionality of the Muslim community which she attempts to do but barely skims the surface, and finally, but most importantly creating an activism movement that slowly builds and brings the Muslim community together rather than having a couple of reactive teens do things haphazardly.

I also wanted to dig in deeper to the characters. Layla is a sarcastic teen who doesn't know when to shut up and when to have an interior monologue. She constantly puts her family in danger because she throws a temper tantrum that she can't speak to her boyfriend David, which sets the novel in motion. I understand her rage and her desire to do something, but she is dangerously impulsive and naive to the point of stupidity to think that her actions do not have consequences. She does grow and show bravery towards the last half of the book, however, other characters especially the guards who oppose their commands are not explored. The teen led activism could have been stronger and inspirational like the #Neveragain movement, but it was handled sloppily. The Director is also a cartoonish villain and one dimensional. Despite my issues with this book, I do think Internment is an important read because of its premise, but I wish it read like a novel rather than an author's soapbox.

17 year old Layla Amin has been watching her world slowly dissolve for a while. As a Muslim-American, her freedoms are being removed systematically by new government leaders who believe that she and other Muslims are dangerous. When her family is removed from their home and taken to an internment camp, just miles away from the one to which Japanese Americans were assigned during World War II, the experience is surreal. She cannot believe that her situation is permanent or real. But when people are hurt before her very eyes and begin disappearing from the camp under cover of darkness, the harsh reality of her new life sets in. She knows she must do something to stand up for her family and her new friends at the internment camp, but what can a teenager trapped in a restrictive facility do to defend her rights?

This is dystopian fiction at its most terrifying, just on the edge of today's trending topics. Ahmed's imagining of another group of Americans being placed in internment camps does a convincing (and scary) job of speculating at the steady progression of events that could lead to such a drastic action. Layla is a fascinating blend of typical teenager, who resents the loss of creature comforts and privileges previously taken for granted, and powerful activist, who cannot fathom the complicit acceptance exhibited by many and willingly puts herself in danger for the greater good. This book is a terrific conversation piece, intersecting perfectly with current events, as well as the study of history, psychology, sociology or civics. Read this book to root for Layla and to consider the cost of complacency in the face of fear and hatred.

What a powerful and meaningful novel! Ahmed imagines a near-future America that is unfortunately not too far-fetched.
Borrowing heavily from the horror and abomination of the concentration camps in Europe and the Japanese Americans internment camps in the United States during World War II, Ahmed tries to remind us of our past, in the hope that we will heed the tough lessons that history has taught us.
Layla's voice, and her experience, is chilling and truly important in our current political climate.

INTERNMENT by Samira Ahmed is a must-read novel set in the near future where seventeen year-old Layla Amin and her family – all American citizens – are sent to an internment camp that, ironically, lies not too far from Manzanar. Surrounded by an electrified fence, Layla and other detainees are forced to live in surplus FEMA trailers, eat at the Mess, attend meetings at the Hub auditorium and listen to limited information from their media units. When Layla first arrives at the camp and sees all of the guards, guns and watchtowers, she muses, "I wonder what else they've built. What else can they do to us when America isn't looking?" Gradually, a small group of teens begin non-violent resistance actions and manage, with the help of a few sympathetic guards, to get the word out about what is happening at Camp Mobius.

It's a disheartening and disorienting experience; one where finding an inner strength is a constant battle. As Layla’s friend, Ayesha, says, "Hope is basically faith, right? It's intangible. You literally can't grasp it. That's why it is easier to doubt than believe. That's why it's easier to give up than persists. ... it actually is important to question, because searching for the answer can strengthen our resolve. But holding on to hope isn't easy. It's work."

Best-selling author Samira Ahmed’s work will definitely prompt discussion. Her comments are uncomfortable and harshly critical at times; plus, some of the characters' actions (meekness of adults, risk-taking of guards, cruelty and physical violence of the Director) can feel unrealistic. However, given actual recent actions of the government like housing undocumented immigrants (including children and babies) under a bridge in ElPaso, it seems essential to foster these discussions. I can envision developing a unit that shares resources like this map of the world's religions or this list of other books (some for younger readers) advocating social justice.

INTERNMENT received well-deserved starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, School Library Connection, and School Library Journal. I would like to include many more quotes here, but encourage you to read the entire book instead. Meet the author at 3pm on Sunday, March 31st at 57th Street Books in Chicago.

Links in live post:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/el-paso-bridge-immigrants/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/03/this-is-the-best-and-simplest-world-map-of-religions/
https://www.teachthought.com/literacy/teaching-social-justice-25-books-students-change-world/
https://www.semcoop.com/event/samira-ahmed-internment

Holy crap, this book. It's just as intense as you would expect but the scariest thing is how plausible it feels.

We aren't at this point. I don't think we're in immediate danger of detaining our fellow citizens based on their religion...but I definitely see how we get there from here.

This book hinges on Layla and I think a less strong character would've made the book fall apart. From the first page, I completely understood who Layla was and I respected her and her bravery. She knew it was dangerous and that she and her parents could very easily be tortured or killed, but she refused to back down. I hope that I would be that brave.

This is such a fantastic book and I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

When the president's new Exclusion Act sends American-Muslims into "camps," Layla decides that enough is enough. She's going to fight back. No matter what the cost.

Four years ago, this book's premise would be ridiculous. Over the top. No way in hell would America ever lock its own citizens into concentration camps "for their protection and for the protection of the country." Never again.

Fast forward to today.

Not only is this an entirely plausible scenario,, it's also one that has happened, in some degree, to immigrants and people who entered into the country illegally (or whose visa expired).

It's a future that is not only happening to some portions of people living here, but could happen to other marginalized communities of American citizens, people who have been deemed Other because their skin color, religion, citizenship status or sexuality/gender orientation didn't match the ~American Ideal.~

Hmm. That sounds weirdly like another point in history.

Oh.

Where you thinking the Nazis?

Because I was thinking something a little closer to home.

Slavery. Jim Crow. Executive Order 9066. The blacklisting of gay, communist, or non-Christians during the McCarthy era (in addition to rampant racial discrimination. Aw the 50s. Such a wonderful time).

Too far into the past?

DOMA. 9/11. Guantanamo Bay. The PATRIOT Act. ICE and the detainment of illegal immigrants. The Muslim Ban. Any Trump rally. The Religious Freedom Acts being pushed through various state court systems, affecting the LGBTQIA community and other marginalized communities. General Islamophobia. #BlackLivesMatter. The military's reinstated transgender ban. And on and on and on.

Oh, am I reaching? These things aren't so bad?

Talk to the people being impacted by these various actions.

Anywho.

Enough real-time talk. Let's talk about this book.

It was fantastic. (view spoiler)

This book takes the nation's current temperature on Islamophobia and brings it to its worst case (hell, this is like, third not worst case, let's be honest) conclusion—the president has drawn so much power onto himself and spun up white America into such a frenzy about the dangers of Muslims as the Other that over the course of two years things go from bad to worse as rights are slowly removed from Muslim-Americans.

It plays out very, very similarly to the fate of the Jews during the Nazi regime. Small things go first. Hate acts increase. Then bigger things are taken away. Other rights are removed from the general population—more surveillance, more security, more restrictions—for everyone's protection because we're at war. Laws are passed authorizing what would in normal days be considered illegal as hell. Then the restrictions against the targeted population get bigger. Fear and hatred rises as the othering spikes. And then the real restrictions begin. Curfews. Job loss. Pulling kids from school. And on and on until the disappearances begin. And then continue until Muslim immigrants and those with work visas are removed from the country or locked into detainment centers. And Muslim-American citizens are snatched away in the middle of the night to be relocated to a camp that's literally right next door to Manzanar.

Coincidentally, events like these have happened in similar extents across America (and hell, in our territories and the places we have occupied).

This book is literally Fascism 101.

However, the message of the story is that peaceful resistance is hard. It is difficult. You will put your life and the lives of your loved ones at risk.

But peaceful resistance is better than silence and compliance.

And resistance is worthless without being publicized and broadcast.

To conclude another ridiculously long review that few people will read, I did like that Layla had help from one of the guards—one who became many—showing that members of the military aren't automatons but are trained in ethics and what constitutes a lawful order. And how to legally disobey lawful orders. Trust me. Officers get a whole class on this because it's such a big deal. However, the disobedience of some of the guards and their kind treatment towards some of the detainees didn't erase their overall complicity (because they didn't act out until Layla was at risk—never mind the others who went missing in the night or the three women who were brutally beaten in front of everyone).

I was a little wtf over how Layla became the face of it all and the target of the Director's wrath and Jake's fascination, when it should have been towards Soheil or any of the other protestors. It felt weird that right from the beginning she was singled out by Jake...why her? Why not anyone else?

Anywho, concluding for real: this is a must read.

It is both warning and prophecy, a Handmaid's Tale dystopia that is shockingly plausible, particularly in the current political climate, and for some people it's already happening.

Remember folks, when it comes to fascism, silence is consent.

In a re-imagined present, all Americans who identify as Muslim are relocated to an internment camp. They are watched over by armed guards, penned in by an electric fence, and are unable to communicate with anyone outside of the camp. Layla refuses to follow this unjust way of life, even as her parents encourage her to go along and stay safe. However, Layla knows that nothing about this new world is safe. She quickly develops an unlikely friendship with one of the guards and is able to reach out to her boyfriend and the media. It is through their help that Layla and several other teens from the inside begin staging protests and shining light on the injustice of this camp. It is a deadly and painful path, but the other option offers nothing safer.

This is an important novel in today’s political climate. The concept is believable. However within the confines of the story, not all plot points work. The relationship between the guard and Layla is never addressed, it is almost like insta-love, but without the romantic relationship. I found myself asking, “why Layla and not any one of the others in the camp?” This novel came from a place of passion, and does highlight the potential issues within our society. It is an important book that I can see myself recommending to other readers.

Fair warning, this book has a Point of View, and it is not subtle - that's not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing you should know going in to it. I spent a lot of the book wondering if I thought the basic premise - in the near future there are internment camps being set up for Muslim Americans a la the internment camps for Japanese Americans during WWII - was far fetched, or perilously realistic.

There is a lot to recommend this book - the friendships Layla develops in Camp Mobius are very well done, and I appreciated the moments of humor and sarcasm that leavened the narrative (also, I always like a good Star Wars reference). I also appreciated the depiction of the diversity of the Muslim American community and experience. I thought the descriptions of how somewhere can be beautiful and still a cage, and the the slow creep of feeling helpless were threaded through the book in a particularly effective way. As was Layla's growing understanding of the fear her parents experienced for her, and their inability to protect her from what was happening to them as a community.

There were times that I wished the book was a little more subtle - the villains are villainous, the good guys are shiny and noble. And, as an adult reader I wanted a little more about the politics of the near future world - what made the collaborators collaborate, what made the dissenters dissent (there appears to be a faction of the military taking orders from someone to help the internees - and I could read a book about that alone, and the politics of that are also flat out terrifying), or how America got to internment camps, but the book is Layla's POV so those are beyond the scope. I also thought the end of the book/the end of the camps was perhaps a little too optimistic - or maybe the slow grind of reading the newspaper on a daily basis has made me too cynical.

Set in a near future United States this was the story of hope in the face of hate. 17-year-old Layla Amin and her family are taken, along with other Muslim Americans, to an interment camp in the desert. There they are treated like prisoners, segregated by race and culture and stripped of their rights as American citizens. Among this backdrop of hate Layla makes friends and rallies to escape the nightmare her life has become.

Layla Amin is a regular American teenager. Only the America she lives in is under the control of a bunch of racist pieces of shit. Ahmed never gives names to these assholes in power - you can guess - but they don’t even really need names. It’s depressingly easy to imagine just who these people are. Anyway, the people in power are doing whatever they want. So they’ve declared all Muslims enemies of the state. Because of course they would.

Unfortunately, Layla comes from a Desi family who are Muslim. They’re not super religious or anything, but that doesn’t matter. Rather than checking the “no religion” box on the census, the Amins refused to hide who they are, so they put down that they are Muslim. And now the Administration is using that data to round up all Muslim Americans and put them in internment camps.

Sound familiar? Yeah, because we’ve totally done it before. The Internment of Japanese Americans during WWII might feel like distant history, but it seriously wasn’t that long ago. Like, for serious serious not that long ago. 77 years is not that long ago in the grand scheme of things. People who were in those internment camps are still around. Like American Treasure and Mr. Sulu, George Takei who was just a kid when he was interred, first in Rohwer, Arkansas then at Tule Lake in California. As you can imagine, the internment camps for Japanese Americans were put in places that were less than hospitable. Like the middle of the desert. Because humanity can really be the worst sometimes.

Anyway, back to Layla. One night she breaks the nation-wide curfew to go and see her boyfriend, David, as teens are wont to do. Soon after she gets home, though, men with guns show up at her house and give her and her parents 10 minutes to pack up what they need. They’re taken to L.A. where they’re put on a train then put onto buses to a camp called Mobius somewhere outside Independence, California. Just a hop, skip and a jump from Manzanar! So...the desert. And no, this Mobius isn’t anything like the famous Möbius strip, either. This is a cross between a FEMA camp like you’d see after a natural disaster combined with a prison camp. Sure, they have food, water, and adequate shelter. It’s still a goddamn prison camp, though, run by the sadistic Director, whose actual name is never given but you can really picture who this guy looks like. Layla’s parents are, naturally, terrified by the whole situation and just want to keep their heads down and survive. Not Layla, though. She is going to resist, goddamn it! Plus, there’s a guard who is totally on her side. Or is he?

So, Internment - overall I thought the book was OK, but then again, I’m pretty biased towards stories that feature magic and dragons and steampunk. 15-minutes-into-the-future dystopias are less my thing at the moment. Probably because we live in one, but still. The writing was good, especially the descriptions of the yucky dusty desert. I’m a Pacific Northwesterner to my core - give me rain and trees, not desert. Let’s just ignore the fact that a huge portion of my home state is desert. I did like how Ahmed didn’t condemn Layla’s parents for wanting to keep their heads down and endure. Lots of YA novels tend to dismiss or ignore the fears and worries of parents in favor of the teen perspective, so it was nice to see a YA novel that acknowledges the parents’ fears. The main villain, the Director, was a mite cartoonish - but then again, if you watch Sophie Scholl: Die letzten Tage and think the Nazis in that movie are cartoonish, just remember they used actual court transcripts of Sophie Scholl’s trial for that movie. Evil can be pretty cartoony - doesn’t make it less scary.

However, my favorite part of the whole book is Laya’s friend Ayesha. Ayesha is the best. Why? Because she loves Star Wars and also Riz Ahmed. Because, seriously, how can you not love both Star Wars and Riz Ahmed. I mean, come on. He’s just so damn gorgeous.

Internment by Samira Ahmed is a powerful story that should that be read and discussed by young people. I recommend Internment for middle school and up.

3.5*
This is a book that’s hard to rate. It has so many strengths yet falters in some ways. The concept of internment of Muslims is stunning and yet in today’s political climate, it’s not hard to imagine such drastic measures being taken.

The references to the Japanese Internment during WW II add credence to the reality of the story. Layla and her family are among the interned and they find the situation degrading and shocking. Gone is the concept of civil rights and due process. The camps they are taken to are similar to prisons and there is no doubt they must obey or there will be serious consequences.

Layla finds herself recalling books and themes she read when she still attended school and these literary allusions are a nice touch that bring to mind other classic tales of resilience and hope. The Muslim camp mandates that the internees demonstrate total obedience to the strict rules. Removing one’s humanity, one’s choice, one’s freedom, is the intended goal of subjugating prisoners to the unjust incarceration.

Layla can be admired for her courage but she also can be excessively self-centered. Her demands to see her boyfriend and call him preclude the needs of everyone else around her. She is simply too headstrong in her behavior. Despite her self-interest, her actions of taking a stand for the benefit of all are the heart and strength of the book. The world is full of people who want to exert power over those they dislike because of political, racial or religious disagreements. It is necessary for individuals to take a stand and call attention to the abuse of power. This book highlights these issues and that is why it’s important.

I want to preface this review with the disclaimer that I’m not Muslim. While this is obviously a positive review of this book, I want to acknowledge that on the Goodreads page, there are reviews by Muslims that I think are important to read, especially when it comes to a book like this. Whether their opinion is mixed, negative, or totally positive, please listen to them and learn.

There are people out there who will question why a book like this is important or relevant or even being published today.

So here’s a story for you. When I went to BookExpo in 2018, my co-worker and I were in the post office room when she struck up a conversation with a former military guy. They got to talking about their family members who had served in World War II. Then my co-worker, who married into a Japanese family, mentioned she’d had family members who were in internment camps during WWII, and the guy said that there had been a valid reason for them. He SAID that.

Another story. When I visited my family for the holidays this past year, my mom started talking about her trip to Germany earlier in the year. Then, somehow, she got into a story about how this Muslim girl was hanging out at the airport near the security section with her bag sitting next to her. My own mother, who usually votes on the blue side of things, said that she’d been scared. The girl had just been chilling with her bag next to her and my mother was “scared.”

If you think the plot of this story isn’t important or can’t happen anymore, you need to revisit your own experiences with the people around you. You have to look at yourself and listen to what you say to others. The current presidential administration was built on fear and hate of anyone who is different, but it was more than easy to convince the average person to vote for it. It promises to keep our country safe from outsiders, and, yes, we know that one of these groups of outsiders is made up of Muslims.

And that’s where this book comes in. Layla lives in a version of the U.S. where an administration like the one we live under takes things just a step further, regulating how Muslims live their lives, such as enforcing curfews, forcing them out of their jobs, and destroying the literature they write. But soon that’s not enough. Layla’s family is brought to an internment camp for Muslims, even more restrictive than their lives were before.

But Layla refuses to take it. She makes friends in the internment camp and she is able to contact her boyfriend on the outside. Together, all start to resist their camp, their situation, the camp’s Director, everything. She knows it’s dangerous, but to Layla, it’s obvious that it’s the right thing to do. She endures negativity from her fellow internees, who are obviously very scared, and she endures torture from the Director and the powers that be. Still, she’s brave and is determined to prevail no matter what.

I thought this book was well-written. I’ve seen reviews saying that Layla is so obviously a teenager, worried about contacting her boyfriend and talking about fandoms with a friend she makes, so obviously this girl can’t be the leader of a revolution inside an internment camp. But this is a book written for a TEEN audience. It’s meant to inspire young readers to stand up against oppression, whether they use their privilege to do it or are caught right in the middle of it. It’s meant to inspire bravery.

Overall, I think this is such a necessary read for today, and especially for the generation that is growing up right now. We all need to be prepared, especially in the current political climate. We need to stand up for people when it’s the right thing to do. We need to do everything we can.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This near future 'what if' story has resonance and power during a time in American politics where Muslims are targeted and scapegoated by bigots and racists. I thought that Ahmed did a good job of drawing parallels between the plot and past atrocities involving internment of minority groups, and that the escalation felt chilling and realistic. While sometimes I thought that some of the points Ahmed was trying to make were laid on pretty thick (and I know this is for a YA audience, but I think that teens can handle nuance), it wasn't so much that I was completely taken out of the story. I liked Layla as a protagonist, and while sometimes I felt that she kind of shifted between motivations, who's to say that wasn't intentional to show the stress and trauma of the situation that she was in.

Overall, INTERNMENT is a powerful and timely novel that paints a bleak picture of where our current political climate could lead. Take heed, and warning. And speak out.

While I think this is an important book, I'm disappointed at the heavy-handed messaging. Young adults are able to understand theme and lessons without being hit over the head with them. So while I will definitely recommend this book to students, I wish the author would not have simply told a good story and let the writing and plot do the teaching.