by Amy Waldman
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011
320 pages Fiction
The Submission is an alternate history novel about the
development of a memorial to the World Trade Center by journalist, Amy Waldman.
Our city, Kalamazoo, Michigan, is reading the book for our community read this month,
and my book club is discussing it this evening. It is an excellent choice for a
community read because it delves into all the emotional and explosive issues
surrounding September 11, 2001.
We all know where we were and how we felt when the planes
flew into the World Trade Center. More than a year after the attacks, I visited my son in New York. He had a dinner party to introduce me to all his friends. At dinner, it was very important to my new acquaintances that they explain to me their experiences on that day. In part, it was how they introduced themselves to me; it was their new definition of themselves.
In The Submission, it is just three years
later, and feelings are still very raw. A committee comprised of artists,
historians, civic and political leaders along with a representative of the
families have gathered to choose the winning design in a blind contest. One of
the two finalist designs is a beautiful walled garden with the names of the deceased
etched in the walls. After a great deal of debate, the garden design is chosen;
then the group discovers that the winner of the contest is an American Muslim
named Mohammad Khan. This information is leaked to the media and mayhem ensues.
As one reviewer says, "The debate moves from the design's attributes to
its attribution." A surprisingly intense review in Entertainment Weekly
says that The Submission is "a scathing, dazzlingly crafted indictment of the messes
people make when they mistake ideology for morality and bigotry for patriotism."
The many characters in the novel are involved in vigorous
debate, much of it recorded by the author. Some of the characters are exactly
what you would expect--the Rush Limbaugh character, the blogger, the racists, the politicians, and the haters. There is also the dignified and wealthy woman representing her
deceased stock broker husband and the other families on the committee; there is
the itinerant younger brother of one of the dead firefighters seeking justice
for his brother and his grieving parents; and there is young Bangladeshi widow
of one of the World Trade Center's custodians who ultimately provides the moral
compass for the novel. My favorite character is the de facto leader of the
Bangladeshi community. He is a strong, resilient, loving man who exhibits that
which is best in a city of divided loyalties. He remains true to his community
and to the young widow he takes under his wing.
I frankly don't know when I have read a novel so compelling
in its moral intensity. We are exposed to all sides of the controversy, and
quite frankly, we are pulled in every direction. The only direction in which we
are not pulled is in the direction of the architect, who comes off as a
shallow, rather incomplete person whose motives seem opportunistic rather than
altruistic. It is not until the end of the book that we get some real insight
into Mohammad Khan's character.
This is not a plot driven novel, but you keep reading the
dialogue and keep trying to figure out what should be the appropriate decision. And
like almost all such political decisions, the compromise is unenlightened and
superficial. Then there is the question about why we need symbolism and why we
need to create memorials. I am sure, for instance, that there will be a
memorial built to commemorate the children of the Sandy Hook shooting. I kept
asking myself if a memorial to the World Trade Center, no matter what is
chosen, can possibly solve the issue of terrorism in the same way that a memorial
to the Sandy Hook children cannot possibly solve the issue of gun violence. In
The Submission, the compromised memorial solves none of the problems nor does
it serve as comforter. It is not until the epilogue that we learn what the
whole experience has meant to the key players, and in one small heartfelt gesture,
the humanity of all the players is brought to a moment of heart stopping
clarity. It is the most fitting memorial.
This is Amy Waldman's first novel. She will be speaking in Kalamazoo next Tuesday
evening. I will be there and if given a chance, I am going to ask her,
"What was your motivation for needing to tie up the loose ends in the
epilogue? " In the case of the World Trade Center, it is likely that the
loose ends will never be tied up.
Chris Cleve's review in the Washington Post. Chris Cleve is
the author of Little
Bee which I reviewed a couple of years ago: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-08-15/entertainment/35272087_1_architect-michael-arad-design
The review in EW: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20515098,00.html
An interview with Amy Waldman on NPR: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2011/09/conversation-amy-waldman-author-of-the-submission.html
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