A brief overview of the world in which Internment takes place is necessary to paint the proper context. Samira Ahmed's novel exists somewhere eerily similar to the United States of 2019 in which the book was published; it could be best described as a more extreme version of the real political climate. The boundaries of American politics are pushed further to the right, resulting in a unique sense of empathy between readers and the protagonist, who is beset by intolerant policies.

Layla Amin is a 17-year-old who just wants to be a normal 17-year-old. Unfortunately, severe religious intolerance has forced her and her parents into an internment camp for Muslim Americans. The novel traces Layla’s transformation from a young girl to a powerful voice of resistance, a personal transformation occurring at the same time as a storm of political unrest unfolds around her, with levels of instability and hatred reminiscent of Hitler’s Germany. Readers see Layla lose hope when she first enters the camp. At this stage, she believes that the government has taken everything from her: her free will, her carefree youth, and her boyfriend, David. Over the course of the story, Layla learns how wrong she was in that moment, how deeply she underestimated her own strength and the strength of those around her.

The “15 minutes in the future” setting is the author’s daunting reminder to the reader of just how close contemporary readers are to the book’s aggressive political reality. There are several direct parallels to Trump-era political unrest in the United States. In the book, the fictional President of the United States tweets daily about his hatred for Muslims. Fake news media outlets spread propaganda accusing refugees of being rapists and criminals. Other forms of government intolerance include the election of a severely Islamophobic “Secretary of War” (a position not held in the White House since WWII).

The themes of religious intolerance and racism are prevalent throughout Layla’s trials and tribulations. At one point, Layla mentions that “[one year ago] our answers on the Census landed us on the Registry.” One cannot help but think back to the identical treatment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. The methods by which the government slowly takes away Muslim Americans’ rights are informed by practices found in the historical record. In Layla’s world, “Exclusion Laws” appear almost overnight, allowing Muslims to be fired from jobs in the public sector merely on the basis of their religious beliefs. Even her own father, once a poetry and writing professor for the local university, was suddenly fired after being deemed unqualified for the tenured professorship he held for over a decade.

A particularly eerie aspect of the fictional religious intolerance happening "15 minutes from now" is how so many Americans either allow it or encourage it. This is one instance in which the author uses fiction to show readers the jarring nature of the contemporary world.

In this excerpt, Layla mentions the initial resistance by the people and its undoing:

I thought our little liberal college town would fight it longer, hold out. Some did fight it. But you’d be surprised how quickly armed military and pepper spray shuts down the well-meaning protests of liberals in small, leafy towns.

One message that surfaces again and again is the importance of fighting against complicit silence. Groupthink and conformity can be extremely dangerous when individuals are separated into “us” versus “them.” There is an underlying lesson regarding the power of unity and how far people will go to survive and to help others. The author eloquently forces readers to question those imaginary boundaries that separate people.

The final and most important theme found all throughout is that of hope. Hope is a constant and central message, and people of all ages exhibit courage at one point or another during the course of the story. The author makes a point of proving that the youth must never be underestimated. After all, in the world 15 minutes from now, the youth won’t have the luxury to wait for leaders—they will be forced to become them.