Reimagining 9/11 and its aftermath, Amy Waldman's provocative novel begins with a resonant scene: a jury gathers in Manhattan to choose a memorial for the victims of a devastating Islamic terrorist attack. After tense deliberations, they select the Garden, which features trees both living and made from salvaged steel. Then the jury discovers that the anonymous architect who created the winning design is an American Muslim.
The revelation triggers both fury and ambivalence throughout New York, making the designer the staunchly independent Mohammed "Mo" Khan a symbol of beliefs that seem foreign to him. His most visible defender is Claire Harwell, the only member of the selection committee who lost a loved one in the attack. Cool and eloquent, Claire grows increasingly frustrated by Mo as he stubbornly refuses to answer concerns about the origins or meaning of his design.
At the helm of the memorial project is Paul Rubin, a grandson of Jewish peasants who has risen to a position of influence and wealth. Paul's idea of America is rooted in tolerance, but he must also take into account the emotions of outraged, grieving family members who want him to quash Mo's design. Within the crowds, two powerful voices come to dominate the debate: the widow of an undocumented worker who cleaned offices champions Mo's design, while the brother of a fallen firefighter calls it the worst kind of disrespect.
299 pages (August 2011)
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Conversation: Amy Waldman, Author of The Submission from PBS News Hour
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Author Talk: The Submission by Amy Waldman (from CBS News):
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Title Read-alikes: One True Thing by Anna Quindlen; Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar; Half a Heart by Rosellen Brown; Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult; Midwives by Chris Bohjalian; Submission by Michel Houellebecq; Now and Again by Charlotte Rogan; The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid; Terrorist by John Updike; This is How It Begins by Joan Dempsey; The Miracle Girl by Andrew Roe; Minaret by Leila Aboulela; and Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta.
The moment this book begins it has you in it's grips. Not in an action book, or thriller kind of way. But the way the author makes you think, and frankly, question your own prejudices is really something. History has had many moments like this that were not fiction. I hope we can grow as a country to get passed these type of situations.
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