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A review by danilanglie
The Submission by Amy Waldman
2.5
Gosh, I feel so conflicted about this. Probably a 2.5 star read. There were things I thought were really good, the prose style was clean, there were moments when I felt very deeply immersed in some of the various perspectives over this situation.
But you know what... I couldn't see past the fact that this is real life. I got distracted whenever there were political figures or aspects that didn't actually happen but were meant to mirror/reflect actual recent US history. Mostly, it felt strange to invent this fictional focal point for the vile racism suffered by American Muslims and Arab people all over the world, when we know they suffered and continue to suffer in reality from Islamophobia. This whole memorial business acts as the fictional justification for all the fears and doubts and bigotry, but like... it was there. It was all really there. You don't have to invent it in fiction in this way.
I was so distracted by that, any time I was asked to step into the minds of the white characters whose racist reactions to the situation were so... grating and often monstrous. See, I think this is probably a realistic look at some of the different mindsets going on at the time, I thought it was well reasoned and well written, but I had a hard time being asked to sympathize with the white characters in this book, as if their perspective is the one we needed to be listening to. I think you could have written this whole with every POV character being Muslim, and have the various perspectives: the winner of the contest, the widows of some of the Muslims who died on that day, various other political forces... like, why not a Muslim American journalist hunting for a story and finding herself making some unsavory choices, instead of a white one? Why not have a Muslim person on the jury to begin with, originally thought to be there as a token gesture, but then thrust unfairly into the center of the story when the winner turns out to be Muslim as well?
I don't know. I just felt really uncomfortable with a lot of this book, and it felt disheartening and bleak and ugly by the end, without really having a thematic coherence for me to justify the chore of getting through it. I feel like I'm being a little harsh, probably, but that's my genuine reaction after finishing this today.
But you know what... I couldn't see past the fact that this is real life. I got distracted whenever there were political figures or aspects that didn't actually happen but were meant to mirror/reflect actual recent US history. Mostly, it felt strange to invent this fictional focal point for the vile racism suffered by American Muslims and Arab people all over the world, when we know they suffered and continue to suffer in reality from Islamophobia. This whole memorial business acts as the fictional justification for all the fears and doubts and bigotry, but like... it was there. It was all really there. You don't have to invent it in fiction in this way.
I was so distracted by that, any time I was asked to step into the minds of the white characters whose racist reactions to the situation were so... grating and often monstrous. See, I think this is probably a realistic look at some of the different mindsets going on at the time, I thought it was well reasoned and well written, but I had a hard time being asked to sympathize with the white characters in this book, as if their perspective is the one we needed to be listening to. I think you could have written this whole with every POV character being Muslim, and have the various perspectives: the winner of the contest, the widows of some of the Muslims who died on that day, various other political forces... like, why not a Muslim American journalist hunting for a story and finding herself making some unsavory choices, instead of a white one? Why not have a Muslim person on the jury to begin with, originally thought to be there as a token gesture, but then thrust unfairly into the center of the story when the winner turns out to be Muslim as well?
I don't know. I just felt really uncomfortable with a lot of this book, and it felt disheartening and bleak and ugly by the end, without really having a thematic coherence for me to justify the chore of getting through it. I feel like I'm being a little harsh, probably, but that's my genuine reaction after finishing this today.