Absolutely incredible work. It was horrifying to read about the cooperation of big tech with federal police and border control and then open the news to read about more and more detentions, deportations, and increasing surveillance systems. The writing was so gripping that I often found myself confused at what I had read in the news and what I was remembering from the book. Having also read Conditional Citizens by Lalami, I expected no less!
The biggest disappointment was how much the main character fixates on longing to vacation in Hawaii with no mention of how Indigenous Hawaiians have had their land stolen, resources depleted, and have spent decades asking tourists not to come and organizing against further land and resource theft with little outside support. Thankfully the character doesn’t go in the text, but it was out of place considering the other themes of the work.
This book will haunt me in the most useful ways, and I hope will inspire other readers to organize, oppose police states, and stand up against detention centers in their own lands.