That’s the very reason I never read Laurie Halse Anderson’s Chained series. In this day and age, we know the importance of #ownvoices in literature and I didn’t know if she knew that. I had my doubts going into it considering the fact that it is written by a white women.

You can tell this book is well researched.

Anderson delivers another tour-de-force that will leave readers at the edge of their seats. In this riveting, unflinching tale of sacrifice and hope, critically-acclaimed author Natalie C. But everything changes when Abdi’s picked up for a petty theft, which sets into motion a chain reaction that forces him to reckon with a past he’s been trying to forget. Eventually, he finds himself on the streets of Sangui City, Kenya, stealing what he can find to get by, sleeping nights in empty alleyways, wondering what’s become of the family that was stolen from him. He only escapes after he is forced into a suicide bomber’s vest, which still leaves him stumps where two of his fingers used to be and his brother near death. If Abdi’s duplicity is discovered, he will be killed.įor weeks, Abdi trains with them, witnessing atrocity after atrocity, becoming a monster himself, wondering if he’s even pretending anymore. The jihadists trust Abdi immediately because his older brother, Dahir, is already one of them, protégé to General Idris, aka the Butcher.

In order to save the lives of those he loves, and earn their freedom, Abdi agrees to be embedded as a spy within the militia’s ranks and to send dispatches on their plans to the Americans. When Abdi’s family is kidnapped, he’s forced to do the unthinkable: become a child soldier with the ruthless jihadi group Al Shabaab. Let’s Go Swimming on Doomsday was published in January of 2019.įorced to become a child soldier, a sixteen-year-old Somali refugee must confront his painful past in this haunting, thrilling tale of loss and redemption for fans of A Long Way Gone and What is the What The edition I’m reviewing is an uncorrected proof I received from a friend at Penguin Random House. It was painful to read at times, but also quite necessary. I had to reread several statements just to make sure I’d read them right. Somehow I simultaneously couldn’t put this book down but I couldn’t keep reading.

Doomsday book review