Amy Waldman said at a special lecture at Kalamazoo College that she is
interested in “fiction wrestling with the times we live in.” In her debut novel,
The Submission, Waldman wrestles with
the xenophobia heightened in the aftermath of 9/11.
The story revolves around the selection of
memorial to be designed for the victims of the terrorist attacks. But when the
architect of the anonymous submission turns out to be a Muslim man, latent
prejudices rise to the surface. An emblem intended to unify a broken nation
serves as a catalyst that instead deepens personal and political wounds.
Waldman interweaves the stories and
perspectives of different characters including the architect Mohammed Khan, the
reporter who broke the story, and family members of different victims of the
attacks. Setting up these various threads takes up nearly half of the book, and
makes for a sluggish start. Not until the narratives begin to overlap does the
reader decide to fully invest in the characters and their stories.
However, investment should be used as a
loose term; curiosity more so than genuine emotional interest in the
characters’ fates propels the reader forward. This is primarily due to
Waldman’s style of disaffected prose. A former correspondent for the New York Times, Waldman proves she is a
good journalist, but not necessarily an effective novelist. She reports their
personal histories and comments on her characters’ feelings, offering readers
more of a profile than a person to relate to.
The conclusion of the novel would have
done well to occur before the epilogue, which seems to diminish any resonance
gleamed from the resolution of the conflict. The added material tidied up the
mess that made the book at all interesting in the first place. Waldman already
broke decorum writing about religion and politics, but seemed afraid of
complicating these notions with a more ambiguous ending.
Writing about any sort of large-scale
tragedy is a daunting task and requires an acute balance of emotion and
reverence. Waldman, it seems, tipped to the side of the ladder, forgetting that
when it comes to “wrestling with the times we live in,” it’s the blood, sweat,
and tears that make it a fight worth fighting…or at least a book worth reading.
I totally agree about the end. The epilogue seemed entirely too tidy, especially given the subject matter of the novel. Good review!
ReplyDeleteBrittany,
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm not sure we agreed on every aspect of the book, I totally am with you on this point: "Setting up these various threads takes up nearly half of the book, and makes for a sluggish start. Not until the narratives begin to overlap does the reader decide to fully invest in the characters and their stories." In saying we didn't totally agree - it's important to note that your review was very well-balanced and well done! You make a convincing and compelling argument. Nice work girl!