From Aldous Huxley's Brave New World to George Orwell's 1984, dystopian literature has always proved to be successful in capturing people's imagination. These days, it has even become part of the pop culture that many novels, such as The Hunger Games and the Divergent series, have been made into popular Hollywood movies that have earned millions of dollars.
Omar El Akkad's new book, American War, is a recent example of a dystopian novel that explores the possibility of a turmoil caused by the wars in this century, particularly in the United States. Similarly, Kuwaiti author Saud Al Sanousi also imagined in his latest book, Mama Hissa's Mice, a future war-torn Kuwait as a result of regional sectarian conflicts.
Although we might disagree with their premises, we can all agree that these novels discuss real issues that otherwise cannot be discussed openly. They can come as a wake-up call for us. After all, we live in a world that inspires such scenarios.
