Some books you feel guilty about not liking. This novel about a future civil war in the United States has most of the elements of great fiction: sympathetic characters, attention-grabbing storyline, elaborate world-building and intelligent metaphors. But the overall effect is somehow less than the sum of the parts.
Maybe that’s because this dystopia isn’t surprising. Of COURSE America will one day go doolally and blow itself to bits while sea levels rise and pandemics rage. It’s pre-ordained—just ask the 70% of Republicans who think Joe Biden stole the election. Internecine insanity is the only cure for two centuries of unrivalled empire. I just wish this take on the end of America had a little more emotional truth to go with all the intellectual sharpness. Reviewed on May 6, 2021