07 Dec / The Submission by Amy Waldman
This is one of those spectacular titles that the less you know about it, the better your read. The amazing levels of meaning contained in the title alone makes it worth your utmost attention.
Of course, if you haven’t been hiding under a rock (like me), you might have read too many of the endlessly glowing and starred reviews that have cascaded forth this year and think you already know the story. But no, you really need to read every page to realize just how much this title deserves all those kudos, the latest of which is inclusion in The New York Times‘ “100 Notable Books of 2011.” [Amy Waldman herself is a former NYT reporter, and her worldwide experience (including co-chief of the South Asia bureau) is a major plus here.]
Here’s an overview of the first … say … two chapters. Two years after 9/11, a carefully chosen jury is charged with deciding the winning design for a memorial. After heated deliberations – “‘How can we ask this country to come together in healing if this jury can’t?’ the jury’s chairman portends – the winner is finally revealed: submission number 4879 (of 5000 anonymous entries) known simply as the Garden. Its architect’s name: Mohammad Khan.
“‘It’s Maya Lin all over again. But worse.'”
“‘I think we need to assume the worst – I mean, that he’s a Muslim.'”
“‘All over the Muslim world they’ll be jumping up and down at our stupidity, our stupid tolerance.'”
“‘Tolerance isn’t stupid … Prejudice is.'”
“‘Are you saying he’s a terrorist?'”
“‘But people are afraid. Two years on we still don’t know whether we’re up against a handful of zealots who got lucky, or a global conspiracy of a billion Muslims who hate the West, even if they live in it. We’re rarely rational in the face of threats to our personal safety, let alone our national security.'”
“Did Muslims ruin whatever they touched? The question, so unfair, startled him, as if someone else had asked it.”
No more, no more! Read on already!
Regardless of your beliefs about religious differences, religious tolerance, multiculturalism, civil rights, politics, patriotism … everything to do with a post-9/11 reality, you will find yourself questioning and challenging your own reactions throughout this taut, provocative, un-put-down-able debut novel. Don’t miss it!
Tidbit: I haven’t yet visited the real-life 9/11 Memorial. I did peruse the website, and couldn’t help noticing that in the winning architect’s biography, this sentence appears: “[Michael] Arad, a native of Israel, was reared in his country, the United States and Mexico.”
Readers: Adult
Published: 2011