The Mirage discussion thread

[A Piece of History]

What is everyone's opinion on the Mirage? It's a book written by Matt Ruff which depicts a world that from our perspective, is upside down and mixed up. It describes a alternate reality where the only superpower in the world is a nation called the United Arab States and they fight a 'War on Terror' against Christian fundamentalists after they crash planes into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad. As a result, the Arabians invade America, which basically turns into their equivalent of Iraq.

That's the background, anyway. The full-length background and story are much more complicated to explain.

What is everyone's opinion on this book? Frankly, I think it's a entertaining read, just going by the premise alone.

 

[UEF-Hokie]

I've read it. The premise/setting is very interesting and is explored quite well throughout the book. The differences between OTL and the one created by Ruff are very thought provoking but the characters of the book are much more the focus than the alternate world.

 

[Baconheimer]

It was hard to take the Northern Virginia stuff seriously if you take the butterfly effect into account. I know the point was to transpose Iraqi areas into an American setting, but it was just a bit hard to wrap my head around.