“[...]
The attack made everyone
afraid of appearing unpatriotic, of questioning government leaders. Fear
has justified war, torture, secrecy, all kinds of violations of rights
and liberties. Don’t let it justify taking the memorial away from Khan.
Everything these past couple of years has been about abdications. Don’t
succumb to the fear; don’t mistake the absolutism of Khan’s opponents
for morality…” -from The Submission, page 226 -
Two years after the 9-11 tragedy, a group of jurors has been selected
to choose a memorial design to occupy the space where the twin towers
once stood. The jurors include art critics and one family member still
reeling from the death of her husband. The submissions are anonymous to
the jurors – they have only the designs and no names to make their final
decision. After a contentious process, one design is finally chosen and
the name of the designer is finally revealed…Mohammad Khan, an American
born Muslim. Khan’s selection ignites a firestorm of protest. Should a
Muslim be allowed to design this memorial which touches the hearts of so
many Americans? Does one’s religion define who they are? Thus begins
Amy Waldman’s provocative and deeply emotional novel.
Told in multiple points of view,
The Submission takes a
searing look at one of the most traumatic events in American history and
examines our prejudices and fears seated in religious ideology,
patriotism, and collective grief. Claire Burwell, the lone family member
on the jury, is a complex character who initially fights for Khan’s
design. But political pressure and media propaganda work on her
emotions, making her doubt her convictions. Khan himself is an enigmatic
character – a man who doubts his religion and then discovers it matters
not what he believes so much as the label attached to him.
What was he trying to
see? He had been indifferent to the buildings when they stood,
preferring more fluid forms to their stark brutality, their
self-conscious monumentalism. But he had never felt violent toward them,
as he sometimes had toward that awful Verizon building on Pearl Street.
Now he wanted to fix their image, their worth, their place. They were
living rebukes to nostalgia, these Goliaths that had crushed small
businesses, vibrant streetscapes, generational continuities, and other
romantic notions beneath their giant feet. Yet it was nostalgia he felt
for them. A skyline was a collaboration, if an inadvertent one, between
generations, seeming no less natural than a mountain range that had
shuddered up from the earth. This new gap in space reversed time. – from The Submission, page 32 -
Waldman includes several engaging characters including a rabid
journalist who is willing to twist the truth for a story, a power-hungry
politician who finds the controversy is very good for votes, a radical
anti-Islamic extremist, and a Muslim woman who is in America illegally
and who is mourning her husband who worked as a janitor in the doomed
towers.
This is an affecting novel which uses one question to propel its
complicated plot. I found the title itself to be fascinating as it
alludes to not only the design which is “the submission,” but also
examines the process of judgement and the struggle for a common ground
which unfurls throughout the novel. Synonyms for the word submission
include: appeasement, assent, backing down, giving in, humility,
resignation, and surrender. And, indeed, these are words which resonate
in the story. Khan is forced to examine his motivations for submitting
his design in the face of pressure to step down and give up the
commission.
Waldman also explores creative inspiration. From where do our
artistic renderings come? Is inspiration a simple process, or does it
encompass experience, ideology and something less tangible which is
difficult to define? Some characters in
The Submission insist
on labeling Khan’s design as anti-American and read intent where none
may exist. Khan himself seems, at times, to wrestle with the origins of
his work – what exactly
was the inspiration?
The Submission is compelling fiction and would be a terrific
book club choice. It was recently nominated for the Orange Prize for
Fiction and I believe it deserves that nomination. Waldman writes with
clarity and passion and challenges readers, especially Americans, to
look deep within themselves about essential questions related to
religion, politics and fear.
Highly recommended.
- Quality of Writing:
- Characters:
- Plot:
Overall Rating:
)
)
)