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arcookson 's review for:
The Submission
by Amy Waldman
Full review available here
This will be one of my favorite reads of the year. I adore Waldman’s prose and this is a beautiful, thoughtful, thought-provoking-in-a-good-way, amazing novel. I wish we could bring such intelligence and insight to all discourse in our country, be it political, religious, cultural or all of the above.
It would be easier for a writer to play favorites among her characters and their views, but aside from Alyssa, the journalist, Waldman evokes empathy and sympathy, if not agreement, for each of her characters and their positions. Somewhere along the way, we lost that ability to understand without agreeing. Asking us to do so again is one of the many reasons I was so moved by The Submission.
The Submission of the title is the Garden, but I also thought of submission in relation to Mo, the architect. It is not his nature to submit. He’s not a religious Muslim, he does not submit to god, but he also does not submit to others. His attitude reminded me of Joan Allen in The Contender. As a nominee for Vice President, she won’t respond to certain allegations because if she were a man, the questions would not be asked. If Mo were not a Muslim, the questions would not be asked. This could be read as arrogance, but as another character muses “maybe arrogance is necessary for greatness” (272).
I don’t know if Waldman is arrogant. I suspect not, since her writing is brilliant yet also subtle, but she is certainly great, and The Submission is a work of greatness.
This will be one of my favorite reads of the year. I adore Waldman’s prose and this is a beautiful, thoughtful, thought-provoking-in-a-good-way, amazing novel. I wish we could bring such intelligence and insight to all discourse in our country, be it political, religious, cultural or all of the above.
It would be easier for a writer to play favorites among her characters and their views, but aside from Alyssa, the journalist, Waldman evokes empathy and sympathy, if not agreement, for each of her characters and their positions. Somewhere along the way, we lost that ability to understand without agreeing. Asking us to do so again is one of the many reasons I was so moved by The Submission.
The Submission of the title is the Garden, but I also thought of submission in relation to Mo, the architect. It is not his nature to submit. He’s not a religious Muslim, he does not submit to god, but he also does not submit to others. His attitude reminded me of Joan Allen in The Contender. As a nominee for Vice President, she won’t respond to certain allegations because if she were a man, the questions would not be asked. If Mo were not a Muslim, the questions would not be asked. This could be read as arrogance, but as another character muses “maybe arrogance is necessary for greatness” (272).
I don’t know if Waldman is arrogant. I suspect not, since her writing is brilliant yet also subtle, but she is certainly great, and The Submission is a work of greatness.