American War

After all of the enjoyable fluff I've been reading lately, it was time to read something serious and literary.
At first, I couldn't put this down. Sara T's family is forced from their home in Louisiana to a refugee camp near the M.A.G. (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia) Line. Life in camp is full of poverty. There were times when I was reading I forgot we were in America, this all felt so foreign and I'm not from that part of the world. It doesn't mean I couldn't empathize, it just meant it wasn't hitting me as hard as it would have if I recognized the landmarks.
The final quarter, however, was insanely brilliant and I fell in love with the book again. Thus the 4 star rating.