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A review by karieh13
The Mirage by Matt Ruff
5.0
I cannot even imagine the amount of research that went into “The Mirage”. Trying to create a storyline that is so similar to the events/people involved in 9/11 and its aftermath – while altering nearly all of the details…must have been incredibly complex. It was a bit complex for me as a reader…but since Ruff creates such great main characters in Mustafa and in Amal that once I was comfortable with them, I could let the “similar while completely different” aspects settle comfortably around me.
There were so many parts of this new/old storyline that I had forgotten – and upon remembering – appreciated the skill behind the new version. There’s no changing what happened that day, this novel aside, but given what happened afterwards, I know that I am not the only one that wishes that was possible.
There is so much in “The Mirage” that makes you think about what MIGHT have happened. All organized religions have their zealots; all have spilled blood in the name of their God – making the new reality described very possible. Including possibilities that I had never even considered. That were Texas ever a sovereign nation (!) – it might appeal to OPEC for help against attack given its major resource. That some enemies were just meant to encounter one another regardless of the circumstances…that some events just seem to be destined to happen, regardless what one might do to change things.
There are parts of “The Mirage” that made me laugh…in a bitterly ironic way. Details about “The Quail Hunter” and a certain Texas man who “in his youth it had naturally been assumed that he too would achieve great things. But he had squandered the advantages of his birth, used up all his second chances, and so come to nothing.”
Other notable figures figure prominently in this book – ones I would not have expected and two were names from the past that made me shudder when I read them again.
I know I missed much of the subtext and greater meaning in this book – I’m just not well versed enough in the subject to catch all of the changes and ironies. Plus I enjoyed reading it so much that I read it too fast.
Many things stuck with me from Matt Ruff’s excellent book “The Mirage”, but one passage in particular. When Mustafa is asked how he could do something that few people find acceptable, he replies, “The short answer is, you do it by deliberately confusing what is permitted with what is right. Money makes the confusion easier.”
While this truth is not what is at the heart of this book, this story, and the true events behind it, would not be remotely the same without it.
There were so many parts of this new/old storyline that I had forgotten – and upon remembering – appreciated the skill behind the new version. There’s no changing what happened that day, this novel aside, but given what happened afterwards, I know that I am not the only one that wishes that was possible.
There is so much in “The Mirage” that makes you think about what MIGHT have happened. All organized religions have their zealots; all have spilled blood in the name of their God – making the new reality described very possible. Including possibilities that I had never even considered. That were Texas ever a sovereign nation (!) – it might appeal to OPEC for help against attack given its major resource. That some enemies were just meant to encounter one another regardless of the circumstances…that some events just seem to be destined to happen, regardless what one might do to change things.
There are parts of “The Mirage” that made me laugh…in a bitterly ironic way. Details about “The Quail Hunter” and a certain Texas man who “in his youth it had naturally been assumed that he too would achieve great things. But he had squandered the advantages of his birth, used up all his second chances, and so come to nothing.”
Other notable figures figure prominently in this book – ones I would not have expected and two were names from the past that made me shudder when I read them again.
I know I missed much of the subtext and greater meaning in this book – I’m just not well versed enough in the subject to catch all of the changes and ironies. Plus I enjoyed reading it so much that I read it too fast.
Many things stuck with me from Matt Ruff’s excellent book “The Mirage”, but one passage in particular. When Mustafa is asked how he could do something that few people find acceptable, he replies, “The short answer is, you do it by deliberately confusing what is permitted with what is right. Money makes the confusion easier.”
While this truth is not what is at the heart of this book, this story, and the true events behind it, would not be remotely the same without it.