Tribalism, Evil, Hell on Earth, and The Other in The Painted Bird and Night

This Painted Bird post explains a lot of the novel's background and themes. I could compare the novel to Elie Weisel's Night. This could be a 1A book perhaps? Not 1C?

If Muscle is truly out of print, then you could replace it with Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face. 

For 1C, you might also consider the novel Being There.