The Submission

by Amy Waldman

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, American, The United States Of America

387 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Amy Waldman is the author of two novels, A Door in the Earth, which will be published August 27, 2019, and The Submission, which was a national bestseller, a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist, and the #1 Book of the Year for Entertainment Weekly and Esquire. She has received fellowships from the American Academy in Berlin, Ledig House for International Writers, the MacDowell Colony, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Waldman was previously a national correspondent for The Atlantic and a reporter for the New York Times, where, as a bureau chief for South Asia, she covered Afghanistan. She lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

[Karen· · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blurbiosity overkill

Now if I had picked this one up in a bookstore it would never have carried me to the checkout. For why? For because when you look into the first few pages of a book these days, fair enough, you do expect to see not the publication details, dedication, epigraph and opening page, but first to be forced to hack your way through the choking jungle of gush, you know the style: exciting, extraordinary, exhilarating, exceptional. Thought-provoking (an absolute minimum requirement rather than praise, I’d have said). Accomplished – why, yes, for here it is, in my hands. Oh, that doesn’t just mean it’s finished?
I did a very quick, and statistically insignificant survey of the books lying within easy reach. Alice Munro: back cover only. None inside. Christopher Clark: back cover and one page inside. Thomas Mann can dispense with such vulgarity entirely. I suspect there is a direct correlation between how well established and respected a writer already is and how much blurbiness needs to get rolled out. Two pages: new writer, we’re a little concerned that no-one has heard of her. Three or four pages: we’re deeply insecure about this one. Five pages indicates a grave case of the jitters and six is, well, positively needy. The equivalent of the security blanket and a reassuring suck of the thumb.
But this one is right off the scale. We’ve gone way, way past tense and troubled. Before you even get to To my parents (aaaw) there are no fewer than eleven pages of Praise for The Submission. Let me say that again. Eleven pages. Plus quotes on the inside cover, plus three more on the back cover.
Eleven pages. That isn’t persuasion, that is harassment. That is intimidation. That is bludgeoning the audacious blogger into submission. You wouldn’t dare (would you?) disagree with ALL the prestigious British broadsheets, with Salon, Vogue and Marie Claire, with Kirkus Review, Booklist and Publisher’s Weekly. With The Washington Post and (deep intake of breath) Michiko Kakatuni in The New York Times??? You, a mere amateur could not possibly be so presumptuous as to claim to know better than these august professionals?

Well, yes, I could. (Is anyone surprised?)

Naturally I can only prove a point by finding fault, so imagine my initial disappointment when I had to admit that there was really quite a lot right with this novel. The writing is sharp and fresh, the basic premise is not entirely without interest, and Ms Waldman, a journalist herself, is unafraid, indeed reckless in her eagerness to do the dirty on one of her gild who manipulates and manoeuvres, distorts and deceives and betrays with little concern for the collateral damage. But I was soon most gratified to find that the story began to drag. When you get to chapter 8 and 9 and there are yet more new characters turning up, then you begin to wonder quite where this is going to go. The trouble is, this is a novel of ideas, and ambitious too. So every single nuance of opinion on both sides of the dividing line has to be represented. And I’m afraid that is where the people remained: in the debating club, representing a Point of View. They never got legs and ran.

Which of course begs a question: had Michiko Kakatuni been knocked senseless on the day she compared The Submission (favourably) to The Bonfire of the Vanities? No, no, no. Although the publishers included every review they could find, it goes without saying that they selected their passages very carefully. Let me insert what they omitted: ...she lacks Richard Price’s pitch-perfect ear for dialogue and instinctive sense of pacing... or the evolution of Claire’s thinking about the memorial may not make that much sense to the reader — this and the cartoony portrait of Alyssa are the novel’s two big flaws.... Funny that. Eleven pages, but no room for those remarks.

[Aaliyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Submission by Amy Waldman is a post 9/11 novel like no other. I was highly skeptical going into it but quickly found myself engaged and often laughing out loud at the witty, sarcastic and often ridiculous (in a good way) dialogue!
•
The Submission revolves around an American Muslim, Mohammad Khan who's 9/11 memorial design is picked as the winner of an anonymous competition. When the winner is revealed to be a Muslim the scandal of it all spreads across America raising uproar and conflict. Waldman successfully and impressively narrates from multiple character perspectives, each as unique and strong as the other.
•
Though I'd heard good things about the novel I was sure I would find a few things about it to critique but tbh I can't fault it! If there is one post 9/11 novel you ever read in your life I really think it should be The Submission. Waldman does a fantastic job of depicting the complexities of the mentalities and mindsets of different groups of people within America, and provides a fair critique of all. From the Muslim community just trying to get from one day to the next, the families of the victims who live with their loss every day, to the horrendous islamophobes who manipulate the pain of the families for their own advantage and take every opportunity to spread more hatred, to the hypocritical 'liberals' and ruthless journalists. This is a novel of wide scope. Not all novels with multiple narrative voices are successful but when done well, they're brilliant!

[Biogeek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amy Waldman takes on an ambitious task in this post 9-11 novel in which a Muslim American, Mohammad “Mo” Khan, wins an anonymous design contest for a memorial of the 2001 attacks on New York City. His concept, a walled garden with perpendicular waterways and a simple pavilion is selected by a jury, and especially supported by a grieving widow on the selection panel. When the information gets leaked, all hell breaks loose between every possible interest group in a country that breeds interest groups the way the rest of the world breeds political parties.

The premise is brilliant and Waldman sucks you into the turmoil within pages with strong characterizations and authentic moral and legal problems. Waldman explores the effect of grief on families, how suspicion and xenophobia lie beneath the surface of so many communities, and how emotional and rational arguments can be very different and yet exist simultaneously.

But she soon falls into the most common trap known to first-time novelists, the need to hit the 350 plus page mark. And so, after an absorbing start, readers find themselves bounced from one character to another. We get the grieving widow, the winning architect, an “illegal” from Bangladesh (maybe the novel’s most interesting character) but we also get a smarmy Post reporter, a recovering alcoholic with a violent temper, and the chairman of the memorial design contest …and in this attempt to show that this is a multifaceted issue representing many interests, Waldman lost my interest.

In addition, mainly to make that magical 350 page mark, the same “it’s an Islamic Garden/it’s not an Islamic garden” fight reappears like an especially destructive forest fire. I get that this is a hugely complex issue, and I commend Waldman for some ingenious touches (at a party peopled by Hollywood bigwigs, one guest approaches Mo and asks if he knows Shah Rukh Khan, who also played the lead role in the movie “My Name is Khan” another look at the effect on Muslims in America …the names all being a coincidence here) but I sometimes got the feeling that Waldman considered us all to be the soap-opera watching character she writes into her novel, thinking that we need a restating of all arguments every few pages.

Finally, the epilogue, in my mind, is a chapter that should best be left out of most novels, and this is no exception.

[Lorna DH · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Characters stayed with me between readings.

[Lainy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time Taken To read - 4 days

Blurb From Goodreads

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

My Review

A competition to design a memorial for the victims of 9/11 is set and a jury to pick the winner. The anonymous design is by an architect called Mohammad Khan, behind closed doors the jurors argue over the impossibility of this man being allowed to design it. What follows is a lot of anger, distrust, hurt, hate, racism and arguments/debates over what is right morally and if the design should be allowed or even announced.

I loved the start of this book. It raised so many questions and an inner debate, if I was on that jury would I have a problem with it? Would I be suspicious? Or would I be outraged on Mohammad's behalf, an American being wronged because of his religion and his appearance. I didn't like how there wasn't a lot of background on the characters but I suppose it may have taken away from the subject matter but I would have liked to know more about Mohammad and what made him the way he was (and why he reacted as he did).

You read a lot of the characters opinions as the book goes on and the debate for and against it and also how Mohammad reacts to it all and his perception. To be honest, nearing the end I started to waver and get a little bored by it. The same issues kept going round and then the end seemed to jump a fair bit. I would have liked to have had more attention paid to the final outcome of the memorial and how it came about but felt it skimmed on that and started giving us a bit more on the characters when the whole book had been about the memorial and reactions rather than any kind of depth of the characters.

It is still a very interesting read, for the most part and it certainly makes you think (I even learned a little about a different religion). I think it would make for an excellent book group read as there is much to discuss and debate on. 3/5 for me this time and thanks to Waterstones Book Club for sending this my way.

[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea was really good but in a way the book looses itself on the way. Too many words, too many stories intertwined, and in the end what really mattered (to me of course) was not what I got. I didn't even liked most of the main characters so much, and the one I loved didn't last enough....

L'idea credo fosse veramente buona, ma il libro si perde per strada. Troppe parole, troppe storie intrecciate e alla fine, quello che ho letto non é stato quello che mi importava sapere. Inoltre non mi piacevano nemmeno la maggior parte dei personaggi e l'unico che mi piaceva non é nemmeno durato tanto....

[Adelyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded down.

This is not an easy book to read, which I did expect due to the subject matter, but the writing style is also very dense and this didn't help. There is a lot of information packed into every sentence, often very nuanced, and I found that I had to very often go back and re-read sentences to fully get the picture. The premise is intriguing: Two years on from 9/11, a jury is assembled to select a design for the memorial from submissions which have been anonymously entered. Only after the winning entry is decided upon is the name of the designer revealed, and it is apparent from his name that he is Muslim, opening up a whole host of what-do-we-do-nows.

I liked the fact that, despite being told the above on the blurb, the story actually opens with the scenes preceding the selection of the winner, with the jury shown debating between two choices (they had already narrowed down to two by this stage). The reader isn't explicitly told which of the two designs being debated actually won, they are being referred to as "The Garden" and "The Void" with their associated descriptions, and I think this opens up the potential for readers to develop a favourite of their own independently of the rest of the storyline .

As can be expected of a nation as large and as diverse as America, everyone has very different viewpoints to the situation - and reactions within those groups are equally diverse. I liked the way that the author presented the multiple points-of-view, each of which with their own set of reasonable supporters (although there are also the fair share of those who take to violence to air their views), leading to a situation where there are clearly very differing, yet equally valid, viewpoings on the situation - that at the end of the day need to be resolved as there can only be one memorial. It would have been tempting, I suspect, to write this as a multi-narrator format. There were certainly enough main characters to do so, but I sort of like this approach that the author took instead.

In the first half of the book, this was firmly coasting towards 5 stars, but I thought the neat writing fell apart about halfway through the second. It was obvious to anyone reading that there would be no way to please everyone, whatever the outcome, and I would have been happy for her to just choose one and go with it. But instead I felt the book dithered and dithered and dithered for about 50 pages too long before eventually settling on the chosen conclusion. A new character would need to be injected into the story at this point to avoid going around in circles, and I feel like the author attempted this with Asma's speaking up at the meeting and her subsequent death , but I thought that was too sudden an injection into the storyline that it didn't come across as very well integrated.

I did like the epilogue though. It wasn't obvious to me how many years had passed since the preceding chapter, though I guessed that it was quite some time as Mo had clearly moved on significantly. It's not hard to agree with the choice that he made, and I did feel happy that the garden was constructed eventually, albeit not where he had initially intended. I liked the little twist at the end with William being the cameraman - I didn't see it coming and I thought it really brought things to a close with a full circle . Considering I was starting to lose patience with the book in the final few chapters before this stage, I thought it was a solid ending.

It's a very thought-provoking book, and one that I did find a good read, that only misses full score because of one lament too many.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Submission starts with a jury selecting a memorial for the victims of 9/11, two years after the attacks. All the designs are anonymous and after fierce deliberations, they decide that a garden would be the best memorial, the designer's name learnt: Mohammad Khan (Mo to his friends). This opens debate into Islam, what art is and grief.

The story focuses on the aftermath of Mohammad Khan's win and tells the story in 3rd person, focusing on different characters. The 3 main characters are Claire, a widow who was the biggest supporter of the garden design until it starts to throw up opposition from other people who lost loved ones in the attack and is hounded by journalists. Asma, a Bangladeshi illegal immigrant who is also a widow but also the mother of a child born on American soil. Lastly, Mo, the winner who is isolated and caught up in the debate despite no strong feelings towards Islam and being a born and bred American. I found these three characters the best developed. The raw emotions of both widows was very well captured and I really felt for Mo.

The other characters whose stories we learn, just do not feel so well developed and feel quite flat at times. But they all had important parts to play in the story and I suppose Waldman felt she could not write the story without giving us their backgrounds, thoughts and fears.

I liked the book. It was thought-provoking, well written and very easy to get into. Waldman captured a tragedy bringing America together but also bringing out the best and worst in people. It is written quite well and the subject area handled with care.

[Larry Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Amy Waldman’s 9/11 novel The Submission an enjoyable read. But I also found myself wishing that there was just a bit more depth, perhaps a bit more verisimilitude to the whole proceeding. I have no doubt that Waldman has a bright future as a novelist. But The Submission read more like a good airport novel than a serious treatment of the divisions and contradictions of an America still wounded by something as traumatic as 9/11. Perhaps this is the type of straightforward story telling that most readers need and any aspirations towards so called literary merit on the part of the writer a distraction. But I felt that a novel dealing with the issues raised by a memorial to 9/11 designed by a Muslim should offer a bit more of a challenge to the reader.

That being said, I think Waldman is a perceptive writer who manages to tackle her controversial subject matter with sensitivity. I do not fully agree with some reviewers who found that the characters were mere mouthpieces to carry the arguments for and against the memorial. I think that Walden included enough detail to allow us a fairly well developed picture of the main characters especially Mohammed Khan, Claire Burwell and Asma Anwar. But I agree that the characters were a bit too insubstantial to really matter to the reader in the way the author might have intended. I never really came 'feel' Mohammed Khan by the novels end. Still, I gave it four stars for its readability, pace and the fact that despite the book’s shortcomings, Waldman managed to hold my interest to the end.

[Aoife · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not too sure what to write about this. It's an interesting book and I think I enjoyed reading it but having said that it took me almost a fortnight to read. That's a long time for me. Two of the words on front of this book (from reviews I presume) are "Exhilerating" and "exciting" and to me this book was neither. I wasn't gripped with the "just one more page" feeling... in fact I could easily put this book down for 24 hrs at a time which is pretty unusual for me.

I think that The Submission deals with a difficult topic and it is well handled. It's not that the editing isn't tight enough, but there was/is just something about this book that made it easy for me to not read it. Rather than being mainly interested in the main characters I found myself much more interested in the side character of Asma and I'm sorry that there wasn't more of her. In fact, as I write this, I think that she was the only character that I actually cared about. I'm not sure that I cared what happened to anybody else in the story.

Having this I still think that this is a 4 star book - it's well written, it's dealing with an out of the ordinary storyline and it's well handled. On the downside it's not a page turner (and I'm not talking just easy read thrillers, I couldn't put Wolf Hall down when I was reading that), and I just didn't care about any of the characters in any way.

[The Bookish Wombat · Rating 2 out of 5]

In New York a specially-selected panel unanimously selects a memorial for the victims of a terrorist attack. When the winning architect is revealed, he is an American Muslim which splits the panel and the whole of America into violent opposition or support.

I found reading this novel a bit of a struggle as it is so American and so intimately connected with the events of 9/11 and its aftermath. Though non-Americans obviously share the horror of what happened on that terrible day I don't think we have the same visceral connection to it which means that "9/11 novels" as a genre don't seem as immediate.

The novel seemed to me to have been written as an intellectual exercise and a study of how nationalism and fear of other cultures can run riot, and as such I felt strangely detached from it. Though the author is writing about desperate times and the terrible toll of terrorism it never felt like there was much emotion in the book. There are flashes of humour, one of which made be chuckle out loud, but I was never moved by it.

I found The Submission interesting and worth reading, but I didn't have any feelings for it or feel that I was altered in any way by reading it.

[sauvageloup · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book had a lot going for it, but dragged somewhat in the middle, though that may have been my impatience.

pros:
- it agilely and emotionally explores differences of opinion, bigotry, patriotism and national trauma.
- the writing is very good - I picked out several powerful sentences
- the characters are powerful and real in their conflict and their changing opinions
- it handles a lot of difficult subjects very well
- the story ties together beautiful - suggesting allegories with the characters and faith from the reader, even as it discussing those things through the garden within the book

cons:
- Asma's death didn't move me as much as it could have, because we flick through so many POVs. i'm not too sure that Sean and Alyssa's POVs added that much overall
- it did drag a bit for me - it seems ideas heavy and plot light, even though there is actually a fair amount of plot. it seems a good book to study but a little slow to read

overall very interesting and would probably reward a re-read. a bit slow, but i'm glad I read it and I think it will stick with me for a while

[Chris Meigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the aftermath of the September 11 Attacks, The Submission follows a jury decision on the commission of a memorial to honour those killed that day. All is going well, until the name of the winning entry, a garden cut into 4 quadrants, is revealed to be Mohammad Kahn, a Muslim American. The Submission, cited as a modern day Bonfire of the Vanities questions prejudice, the American identity and the line between honouring the victims and honouring a decision.

The start of the novel is really interesting, the concept of a moral dilemma over the memorial kept me interested and I thought there was some good characterisation and ideas. I felt the book lulled in the last 3rd as it came to a rather repetitive and lukewarm finale but it was enjoyable nonetheless. I didn't dislike the end it was just as predicted.

[L. Toh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Submission” by Amy Waldman, a jury gathers in Manhattan to select a design for the memorial to be constructed for the victims of a devastating terror attack and after deliberating, the jurors opens the envelope only to discover that the winner they have picked is an American Muslim. Instantly the jurors are cast into a controversial debate about the claims of grief surrounding 9/11, the submission, its art and the meaning of Islam.

One of the jurors, Claire whose husband died in the tragedy was told by one of the victim’s brother. “ You don’t know what you want,” he said, haltingly in front of her, peeved by the difference in their height. “ You know what you’re supposed to want, but not what you really want. Step aside, Claire. Let people who know their own minds fight this out.”

An interesting read.
https://lifang-leehong.blogspot.com/2...

[WallofText · Rating 4 out of 5]

A contest to design a memorial commemorating the lives lost during 9/11 spirals out of control, touching the lives of many. This novel goes so many directions, offering insight into half a dozen characters, their pain and their joy. It’s unexpected and heart-wrenching, lively and a little cold. Some story strands feel a little short cut, some scenes were a little awkward and in general the book felt a little off sometimes, the the author didn’t have enough space for what she wanted to do. Still, this book was very impactful and suspenseful and necessary.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hesitated between 3 or 4 stars - can't quite work out why I didn't like this more than I did, perhaps something about the characters just not coming fully to life. However, I think it's a "worthy" book in that it does raise loads of important issues about how people react in quite visceral but illogical ways to events very often, and how prejudices are very hard to overcome. Definitely worth reading, and lots to think about in it.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thought provoking investigation into attitudes in the USA -and by extension, the rest of the West, to Islam after 9/11.
An anonymous competition to design a memorial for the victims of 9/11 results in a garden designed by a Muslim being selected. Through the eyes of fellow Muslims, victims families and right wing extremists, the author explores attitudes and prejudices. Particularly impressive is the variety of views expressed within each group-the author has avoided lumping people together.

[Cate Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really PC, basically accuses all Americans of bigotry for being suspicious of a Muslim who wants to design a 9/11 memorial. The ending was really, really rough. The prose itself was lovely and light. The pacing was excellent and the characters were knowable. I just found the preachiness insufferable.

[Ally · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real page turner with some very human and believable characters. It was very thought provoking, and raised some interesting questions about the lines between religion and culture, recognising difference, and what separates values, principles and prejudices. It also made me think about whether you can separate art from the artist, and I'm not sure I have an answer.

[sisterimapoet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the premise a lot - interesting and timely and it felt like it could be very close to how such events might actually be handled. However the novel felt a bit too long - some parts were rather laboured which made me think that a bit tighter editing might have earned it an extra star from me!

[Esther Button]

(read for uni)

just realised I never reviewed this, lol. I am still not going to rate it, but just know that I had issues with this book. It's ambitious, and it tries to be nuanced, but it falls into the trap of bothsidesism (or, the false balance fallacy); ultimately it gives the voices of bigots far too much sway.

rating as of 04/12/2024: no rating

[Louisereviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best book I've read this year. A thought-provoking look at America's response to 9/11 and how American Muslims were treated in the aftermath.

An intriguing premise and a cast of complex characters none of whom are purely the good guys or bad guys.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm of two minds about this one. The controversy at the center of the plot is realistic in its nuance and its bureaucracy, but there were stylistic and maybe ideological choices the novel makes that I'm not sure I was entirely on board with.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Struggling to review this, but it certainly makes you think... deeply and at length. Certainly one of the best books of the last few years and a brilliant achievement for a debut novel.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has to be one of the most, emotional, thought-provoking, moving and just down right well written books I've ever picked up and read on a whim, without knowing anything before going in.

[Claire O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

A interesting read that makes you think and question. Not the most beautifully written prose, but not offence either. Interesting enough that I read it quickly.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was looking at such an interesting problem, trying to consider all the sides.

[Katrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good 9/11 novel, gets a bit weaker towards the end.

[Ann Tonks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book exploring the role of Islam in America post-9/11. Should be read ibn conjunction with watching "The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

[vic · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5 stars