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A review by andrew_russell
Atta by Jarett Kobek
2.0
Mohammed Atta, the infamous ringleader of the 9/11 terrorist plot that led to the collapse of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, provides the subject matter of Jarett Kobek's short work of fiction.
In many ways, Atta's infamy is both the main selling point, as well as the main weak point of Kobek's novel. For those old enough at the time to recollect the aftermath of 9/11 and the subsequent media reports, Atta's photograph, showing a tight-lipped and stone faced young Middle Eastern man, is an image that is burnt into their memory. The activities of the terrorist cell that he led were exhaustively reported. All this adds up to a challenging task for any potential author. In essence, the challenge is 'what can I add to that which is already known?' Any such author has two main means of doing so - either revealing something novel about Atta's psyche, or using prose style to provide an aesthetic which so impresses the reader, that the events themselves prove to be of secondary importance.
I got the impression that Kobek employed both of these strategies, at varying intervals throughout the book. As far as the prose goes, it's at times almost dazzling, particularly when Kobek writes of Atta's disdain for the consumerism that is ever present in the US. These narrow vignettes almost leap off the page. The multiple Z's towards the end of the book serve little purpose other than to distract though, and for those segments of prose that do impress, they are just that - segments, that often prove all too brief.
But the events that Kobek relates through the eyes and mind of Atta also fall short. There isn't much in the way of anything new and original. And the leap from first person to third person narrative styles detracts from any attempt to construct a solid psychological portrait of Atta himself. Those sections that deal with Atta's religious ideology are challenging for anyone that doesn't already have at least a vague understanding of where it may have come from - a question that remains unanswered through the books short length.
Overall, this never really hits the sweet spot that a solid psychological portrait should but does have brief flourishes of poetic brilliance as far as the prose is concerned.
In many ways, Atta's infamy is both the main selling point, as well as the main weak point of Kobek's novel. For those old enough at the time to recollect the aftermath of 9/11 and the subsequent media reports, Atta's photograph, showing a tight-lipped and stone faced young Middle Eastern man, is an image that is burnt into their memory. The activities of the terrorist cell that he led were exhaustively reported. All this adds up to a challenging task for any potential author. In essence, the challenge is 'what can I add to that which is already known?' Any such author has two main means of doing so - either revealing something novel about Atta's psyche, or using prose style to provide an aesthetic which so impresses the reader, that the events themselves prove to be of secondary importance.
I got the impression that Kobek employed both of these strategies, at varying intervals throughout the book. As far as the prose goes, it's at times almost dazzling, particularly when Kobek writes of Atta's disdain for the consumerism that is ever present in the US. These narrow vignettes almost leap off the page. The multiple Z's towards the end of the book serve little purpose other than to distract though, and for those segments of prose that do impress, they are just that - segments, that often prove all too brief.
But the events that Kobek relates through the eyes and mind of Atta also fall short. There isn't much in the way of anything new and original. And the leap from first person to third person narrative styles detracts from any attempt to construct a solid psychological portrait of Atta himself. Those sections that deal with Atta's religious ideology are challenging for anyone that doesn't already have at least a vague understanding of where it may have come from - a question that remains unanswered through the books short length.
Overall, this never really hits the sweet spot that a solid psychological portrait should but does have brief flourishes of poetic brilliance as far as the prose is concerned.