June 15th 2021

Illuminating, and Final Review of "Internment"

Over the course of 2 weeks, My group and I have been reading the book “Internment”.
Today was our final book club meeting where we discussed the last 150 pages of the book. These
pages were a rollercoaster of emotions, and being the Illuminator for this book club, I took some
passages from the book that I thought were the most important. The first passage that I thought
was descriptive was on page 298 of the book. This passage describes the time when one of
Layla’s friends didn’t know the electric fence was turned on, and tried to scale it.

“Stop, Soheil. Please.

He pushes past a cop, and for a fleeting second, our eyes meet.
He skirts by the orange plastic barrier, then jumps toward the fence,
like he’s going to scale it. Like he can bring it all down with the power of
his leap. Caught in midair, like a ballet dancer, defying gravity.
Soaring toward eternity.
Like that poem. “Hope is the thing with feathers.”
I watch his fingers reaching through the metal.
The action swirls around me in slow motion. My focus blurs.
A hum and a crackle.
A sickening buzz.
A bone-shattering scream.
Then the air is thick with shouts like daggers.
The guards, who were breaking up the protest inside the camp, sprint
toward the fence. The hum stops.
Too late.
Soheil falls to the ground. His body jolts and then goes limp.”

Like I said before, I thought this passage was very descriptive. The second passage was about
Layla facing the director of the camp. I saw this as very powerful and brave. On page 309 it
states:

“I sit and wait. And wait. The Director doesn’t turn toward me. The
room is silent except for his loud breathing and his occasional guttural
throat clearing. He taps on the window. The silence feels loaded. I’m
pretty certain it is meant to intimidate me—and it’s working. I want to
scream or cry out, end the silence, but I don’t want to give the Director
the satisfaction.
I grip the arms of the chair. The sweat from my hands makes them
slippery, but I hold on like my life depends on it. I close my eyes, try to
breathe through the dread. I inhale and focus on my own breath traveling
 June 15th 2021

through my body before exhaling. I feel its resonance in my bones. I

mute the Director’s breathing and tapping until it disappears.
Inside me, it is still. And through the silence, I hear voices: You’re not
alone. David. Jake. Ayesha. My mom. My dad. You’re not alone. You’re
not alone. You’re not alone.”

The third passage was very emotional for me. It was about a guard that helped Layla try and
escape from the camp, and they built a tight friendship. Corporal Jake Reynolds jumped in front
of Layla when she was about to get shot. On page 368 it states:

Don’t close your eyes, Jake. Please. Please. I look down. My hands are
smaller than his, but it’s like he’s shrinking, losing his muscle mass. He’s
trying to wrap his fingers around my hand, but he can’t. His skin is so
cold; the pads of his fingers are almost blue. His eyes are open but
they’re glassy, and I don’t even know if he can see me anymore.
I can feel his life ebbing away. Please, God. We already lost Soheil
and so many others; please don’t take Jake, too. Is there something I can
do? A covenant to make that will save him? But there is no bargaining
with death. When it comes, it gives no quarter and doesn’t care about
your merits.
I hear my mother’s voice and other voices. I glance up and see my
parents and people from different blocks kneeling in a semicircle around
us. Hands cupped in front of their faces, heads bowed, murmuring a
prayer: “Merciful God, forgive him his trespasses. Make wide his grave
and light his path. Raise him unto the highest heavens.”
“Ameen,” I whisper. I see Jake’s weary eyes close.
I know it’s for the last time.

As I said, this part of the book was the most emotional for me because he was one of the main
characters of the story.

I would recommend this book to anyone ages 12 and up (only because of the swearing
and descriptiveness) who likes a fast-paced book with events on each page. It was a really good
book, and it was very easy to read it fast because it kept you interested.