The Submission

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Ten years after 9/11, a dazzling, kaleidoscopic novel reimagines its aftermath

A jury gathers in Manhattan to select a memorial for the victims of a devastating terrorist attack. Their fraught deliberations complete, the jurors open the envelope containing the anonymous winner's name-and discover he is an American Muslim. Instantly they are cast into roiling debate about the claims of grief, the ambiguities of art, and the meaning of Islam. Their conflicted response is only a preamble to the country's.

The memorial's designer is an enigmatic, ambitious architect named Mohammad Khan. His fiercest defender on the jury is its sole widow, the self-possessed and mediagenic Claire Burwell. But when the news of his selection leaks to the press, she finds herself under pressure from outraged family members and in collision with hungry journalists, wary activists, opportunistic politicians, fellow jurors, and Khan himself-as unknowable as he is gifted. In the fight for both advantage and their ideals, all will bring the emotional weight of their own histories to bear on the urgent question of how to remember, and understand, a national tragedy.

In this deeply humane novel, the breadth of Amy Waldman's cast of characters is matched by her startling ability to conjure their perspectives. A striking portrait of a fractured city striving to make itself whole, The Submission is a piercing and resonant novel by an important new talent.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Bernadette Dunne narrates this audio version of Waldman's insinuating tale of post-9/11 paranoia, reflexive patriotism, grief, and the collision of liberal pieties with anti-Muslim bigotry. The novel is a symphony of competing perspectives, its characters squabbling furiously over Muslim architect Mo-hammed Khan's proposed plans for the 9/11 memorial in New York City. Dunne must scramble to keep up with the parade of angry, profane, mournful, and frustrated voices. And while she's not a particularly energetic reader-occasionally emphasizing words at random-Dunne skillfully maneuvers her way through the novel, mostly eschewing the temptation to provide distinct voices for each character and instead maintaining a fairly uniform tone of breathy, occasionally husky combativeness. Dunne stands back as the characters steadily inflict wounds on each other and themselves while attempting to assert moral superiority. Perhaps learning the book's lesson, Dunne asserts no superiority, letting Waldman's book stand or fall distinctly on its merits. A Farrar, Straus and Giroux hardcover. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.