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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
" Her name was Violet, and she was a compulsive pessimist, always looking for the soft brown spot in the fruit, pressing so hard she created it."
Astonishing even at page 27.
I can not recall the last time a book left me speechless. Extraordinary.
Astonishing even at page 27.
I can not recall the last time a book left me speechless. Extraordinary.
Expertly written book about a fictional contest to design a 9/11 memorial, and what happens when it turns out that the winning submission was designed by a Muslim. While it's clear where the author's sympathies lie, she does a remarkable job of conveying the varied political and emotional responses to this turn of events.
I would give this 3.5 stars. A good book for a book group due to the subject matter, with ample morale, ethical, PC area to discuss. That said, I thought the characters were flat and not well developed.
The Submission was definitely interesting. It posed so many insightful and important questions. However, there was so little that went well; it felt as though almost every character was filled with some kind of painful regret. Only the child could use his imagination and creativity to make something beautiful and interpret art for himself. It's not a happy read, but definitely an important one. Give it a try, and think through the ideas expressed.
I found The Submission evocative, thought-provoking, and extremely well-crafted without straying anywhere near manipulative. I was fascinated by the character development of Mo and Claire and enjoyed that I often couldn't pin down their motivations (something even both characters expressed difficulty doing throughout the novel.)
Amy Waldman's treatment of the events, emotions, and aftermath of a fictional national terrorist attack was ripe with sympathy and, what felt to me, realistic and understandable reactions. This novel wouldn't have worked without a large amount of diversity in the cast of characters, and I thought Amy Waldman was fair in her representation of a very heterogeneous Manhattan. I always appreciate when an author's characters can recall feelings, memories - a life - before the events of the novel take place, and The Submission delivered on this level, as well.
The Submission is what all contemporary fiction should be - a modestly literary, interesting story (even if somewhat slow-moving) about realistically drawn characters that avoids calling attention to its own prose or authorial agenda. In short, I loved it.
Amy Waldman's treatment of the events, emotions, and aftermath of a fictional national terrorist attack was ripe with sympathy and, what felt to me, realistic and understandable reactions. This novel wouldn't have worked without a large amount of diversity in the cast of characters, and I thought Amy Waldman was fair in her representation of a very heterogeneous Manhattan. I always appreciate when an author's characters can recall feelings, memories - a life - before the events of the novel take place, and The Submission delivered on this level, as well.
The Submission is what all contemporary fiction should be - a modestly literary, interesting story (even if somewhat slow-moving) about realistically drawn characters that avoids calling attention to its own prose or authorial agenda. In short, I loved it.
C'était un peu long par moments, l'écriture peut être à la fois simple et complexe, parfois entraînante et en même temps soporifique. Malgré les longueurs (en 300 pages il faut le faire), c'est un livre magnifique sur les préjugés, la confiance, le racisme, le terrorisme etc...
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Submission was like a good Tom Wolfe novel without the excessive description. It presents a kaleidoscopic view of New York as it deals with a controversy after a jury in a blind selection process chose a design for the 9/11 memorial that was done by an (atheist, non-believing) Muslim. The characters are all familiar New Yorkers: the urbane architect, the widow who was married to an investment banker, the distinguished former head of an investment bank who chairs the jury as a step towards even better boards, the dead firefighter's brother whose reinfuses his life with purpose by rallying against the memorial design, the Iranian lawyer with a foot in the Muslim community and a foot in publicity, the New York Post's sensationalist reporter, the ambitious governor and most poignantly an undocumented Bangladeshi widow of a janitor who dies on 9/11.
Every one of these characters are familiar, almost a stereotype, but they are also all presented with an impressive degree of sympathy, understanding of their motives, and a presentation of how they are unsure of what they are doing.
Amy Waldman also does an impressive job of taking what seems like a clever concept and turning it into a full novel, as the plot develops and incident builds on incident, culminating in a every effective ending. And she takes what I still think of as a morally black-and-white issue but finds interesting ambiguities and questions and dilemmas that emerge from it.
The Submission has a lot of good writing and interesting phrases, but it is not an exercise in flashy writing or novel storytelling methods, instead it is more about its range of subjects and the dilemmas it presents. It is not meant as an insult to the book to say that it would be a good choice as required reading in high schools where you could picture the endless discussions of the various dilemmas it poses, as well as a lesson in intolerance and bigotry.
Every one of these characters are familiar, almost a stereotype, but they are also all presented with an impressive degree of sympathy, understanding of their motives, and a presentation of how they are unsure of what they are doing.
Amy Waldman also does an impressive job of taking what seems like a clever concept and turning it into a full novel, as the plot develops and incident builds on incident, culminating in a every effective ending. And she takes what I still think of as a morally black-and-white issue but finds interesting ambiguities and questions and dilemmas that emerge from it.
The Submission has a lot of good writing and interesting phrases, but it is not an exercise in flashy writing or novel storytelling methods, instead it is more about its range of subjects and the dilemmas it presents. It is not meant as an insult to the book to say that it would be a good choice as required reading in high schools where you could picture the endless discussions of the various dilemmas it poses, as well as a lesson in intolerance and bigotry.
The Submission was published 10 years after 9/11. It imagines a competition for a national memorial at Ground Zero with the winning design being by a Muslim-American architect Mohammed (Mo) Khan. Khan immigrated with his parents as a child from India, grew up in a fairly secular middle class way, and got his architecture degree at Yale. He works for a very successful architectural firm with an international reputation, and enters the competition almost on a whim.
When the jurors who selected his design discover the architect is Muslim, they are stunned into a temporary paralysis. The group is chaired by Paul Rubin, and populated with various “artistic types”, with a single representative of families of victims, the wealthy widow Claire Burwell. While the committee tries to sit on news of their choice, it is leaked, unleashing a firestorm of protest both nationally and internationally. Opposition to the choice of Khan, and support for his right to be selected. The controversy occupies most of the novel. While it is hard to imagine how this premise could sustain over 300 pages, it doesn’t feel drawn out. This is due primarily to the character of Mo Khan. He is inflexible, infuriating in his refusal to answer questions about his design, inspiration, religiosity, aspirations, etc. The range of reactions to him across the world are unpredictable, and in this novel as complicated as real life responses.
There is an infuriating tabloid reporter who serves her purpose, and just managed not to be too annoying. Perhaps the most sympathetic character is Asma Anwar, a Bangladeshi woman, and new mother, who lost her husband in the attack. She is Muslim, and they are undocumented. She is also a very intelligent woman, although she speaks no English, is quite young, and lives secluded within the Bangladeshi, Bengali-speaking community in New York. There are a number of jingoistic characters, who may have seemed pure inventions when this book was published in 2011. However, in the past few months of the 2016 Presidential race, we have been exposed repeatedly to outrageous statements and xenophobic charges from one of the candidates. I felt that this was a very relevant book and one for our current climate. Waldman did not overuse her artistic license in creating the characters with the most reactionary points of view. Nor do her liberal characters hit any false notes.
The novel has its shortcomings. At time the writing and phrasing is gorgeous, and occasionally it seems a bit forced. Some of the characters’ motivations weren’t sufficiently clear including the widow on the jury, Claire Burwell. On the other hand, the complexities of the dilemma were presented in a convincing and thought-provoking way. It is a book I believe I will think about for some time. For that reason it merits 4.5 stars from me which I am bumping up to 5.
When the jurors who selected his design discover the architect is Muslim, they are stunned into a temporary paralysis. The group is chaired by Paul Rubin, and populated with various “artistic types”, with a single representative of families of victims, the wealthy widow Claire Burwell. While the committee tries to sit on news of their choice, it is leaked, unleashing a firestorm of protest both nationally and internationally. Opposition to the choice of Khan, and support for his right to be selected. The controversy occupies most of the novel. While it is hard to imagine how this premise could sustain over 300 pages, it doesn’t feel drawn out. This is due primarily to the character of Mo Khan. He is inflexible, infuriating in his refusal to answer questions about his design, inspiration, religiosity, aspirations, etc. The range of reactions to him across the world are unpredictable, and in this novel as complicated as real life responses.
There is an infuriating tabloid reporter who serves her purpose, and just managed not to be too annoying. Perhaps the most sympathetic character is Asma Anwar, a Bangladeshi woman, and new mother, who lost her husband in the attack. She is Muslim, and they are undocumented. She is also a very intelligent woman, although she speaks no English, is quite young, and lives secluded within the Bangladeshi, Bengali-speaking community in New York. There are a number of jingoistic characters, who may have seemed pure inventions when this book was published in 2011. However, in the past few months of the 2016 Presidential race, we have been exposed repeatedly to outrageous statements and xenophobic charges from one of the candidates. I felt that this was a very relevant book and one for our current climate. Waldman did not overuse her artistic license in creating the characters with the most reactionary points of view. Nor do her liberal characters hit any false notes.
The novel has its shortcomings. At time the writing and phrasing is gorgeous, and occasionally it seems a bit forced. Some of the characters’ motivations weren’t sufficiently clear including the widow on the jury, Claire Burwell. On the other hand, the complexities of the dilemma were presented in a convincing and thought-provoking way. It is a book I believe I will think about for some time. For that reason it merits 4.5 stars from me which I am bumping up to 5.