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An American Story
A powerful meditation on loss and memory seen through the prism of 9/11, by one of our greatest authors.Ben Matson lost someone he loved in the 9/11 attacks. Or thinks he did - no body has been recovered, and she shouldn't have been on that particular plane at that time. But he knows she was. The world has moved on from that terrible day. Nearly 20 years later, it has faded into a dull memory for most people. But a chance encounter rekindles Ben's interest in the event, and the inconsistencies that always bothered him. Then the announcement of the recovery of an unidentified plane crash sets off a chain of events that will lead Ben to question everything he thought he knew . . . Thoughtful, impeccably researched and dazzling in its writing, this is Ben's story, the story of what happened to his fiancé, and the story of all that happened on 9/11.Christopher Priest is a genre-leading author of SFF fiction. His novel, THE PRESTIGE, won a number of awards and was adapted into a critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated film directed by Christopher Nolan (TENET, INCEPTION) starring Hugh Jackman (THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, X-MEN), Christian Bale (THE BIG SHORT, BATMAN BEGINS), Michael Caine (THE ITALIAN JOB) and Scarlett Johansson (MARRIAGE STORY, THE AVENGERS).
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 6, 2018
22 people are currently reading
362 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Priest
178 books1,073 followersChristopher Priest was born in Cheshire, England. He began writing soon after leaving school and has been a full-time freelance writer since 1968.
He has published eleven novels, four short story collections and a number of other books, including critical works, biographies, novelizations and children’s non-fiction.
He has written drama for radio (BBC Radio 4) and television (Thames TV and HTV). In 2006, The Prestige was made into a major production by Newmarket Films. Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Prestige went straight to No.1 US box office. It received two Academy Award nominations. Other novels, including Fugue For a Darkening Island and The Glamour, are currently in preparation for filming.
He is Vice-President of the H. G. Wells Society. In 2007, an exhibition of installation art based on his novel The Affirmation was mounted in London.
As a journalist he has written features and reviews for The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman, the Scotsman, and many different magazines.
He has published eleven novels, four short story collections and a number of other books, including critical works, biographies, novelizations and children’s non-fiction.
He has written drama for radio (BBC Radio 4) and television (Thames TV and HTV). In 2006, The Prestige was made into a major production by Newmarket Films. Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Prestige went straight to No.1 US box office. It received two Academy Award nominations. Other novels, including Fugue For a Darkening Island and The Glamour, are currently in preparation for filming.
He is Vice-President of the H. G. Wells Society. In 2007, an exhibition of installation art based on his novel The Affirmation was mounted in London.
As a journalist he has written features and reviews for The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman, the Scotsman, and many different magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
March 20, 2021
Hmm. This is the sort of book I felt moderately positive about when I finished it – because it’s well-written, because I was interested throughout, etc. – but on reflection... the more I think about it, the more problems I have. At first I couldn’t quite understand why I felt so irritated by Ben’s fixation with what ‘really happened’ to Lilian: on the one hand, she’s a long-ago ex who had turned out to be lying to him anyway; on the other, who wouldn’t become obsessed if their partner (appeared to have) died in a disaster like 9/11? After sitting on it for a bit, I thought it was because nothing about Lilian as a character rang true for me, meaning Ben’s love for her didn’t either. But I don’t think it’s really even that – it’s the fact that it’s obvious Priest didn’t want to write a novel about these characters, he wanted to write a book about 9/11 conspiracies, and to argue that some of them are correct. Lilian feels like a hollow cipher, a way for the narrator to come into contact with the ideas that obsess him, because she is. The web of coincidences between Ben, Jeanne and her family, Lilian, her husband, and others feels artificial because it is. Not in the sense that everything in fiction is of course ‘artificial’, but in the sense that these characters and situations are not germane to what the author truly wanted to say.
There’s some good stuff: Ben and Lucinda’s visit to the ruined hotel, during which Lucinda seems to recall false memories (which, to be honest, I probably experienced as the most exciting moment of the novel because it seemed to hint at a speculative aspect); Ben’s fascinating conversations with Kyril Tatarov, touching on both mathematical and sociological theorems; the presumably significant doubling of names, with two women whose names take three forms, each reflected by another woman whose name begins with the same letter (Lilian/Lily/Lil and Lucinda, Jacqueline/Jacqui/Jaye and Jeanne). As much as I wanted these parts of the story to work for me, however, eventually they were just drowned out by the conspiracy theory thread. (And on that: while in the author’s note Priest takes care to distance himself (albeit vaguely) from Ben’s views, the assertion that social media is rife with nonsense but ‘websites and blogs’ are reliable, integrous sources of information is bizarre.)
TinyLetter | Linktree
There’s some good stuff: Ben and Lucinda’s visit to the ruined hotel, during which Lucinda seems to recall false memories (which, to be honest, I probably experienced as the most exciting moment of the novel because it seemed to hint at a speculative aspect); Ben’s fascinating conversations with Kyril Tatarov, touching on both mathematical and sociological theorems; the presumably significant doubling of names, with two women whose names take three forms, each reflected by another woman whose name begins with the same letter (Lilian/Lily/Lil and Lucinda, Jacqueline/Jacqui/Jaye and Jeanne). As much as I wanted these parts of the story to work for me, however, eventually they were just drowned out by the conspiracy theory thread. (And on that: while in the author’s note Priest takes care to distance himself (albeit vaguely) from Ben’s views, the assertion that social media is rife with nonsense but ‘websites and blogs’ are reliable, integrous sources of information is bizarre.)
TinyLetter | Linktree
September 7, 2018
I'm grateful to Gollancz for an advance copy of this book.
An American Story is an extraordinary book, although it's hard to pin down why in a review, or indeed to pin it down at all. I think that's the point.
Part thriller, part love story, part examination of loss and grief, part history, this book revolves around the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the USA. It's not science fiction or fantasy - I wondered if Priest would use that to get at the reality (or realities?) behind 9/11 but I don't think he does. (There is one tantalising moment when a character seems to remember something that she shouldn't know, and I wondered if that might suggest, I don't know, deeper workings going on here but, characteristically, this moment is given to a character whose memory is damaged and I take it more as a hint of collective uncertainty, of the reshaping of history and truth, than as a fantastical plot development.
At one level, this story is a simple quest for the truth. Journalist Ben Matson lost his lover Lil in the attacks - lost in the truest sense of the word, as her body was never found, her very movements, even the reasons for those movements obscured among the events of that day. Thesis foreshadowed in an early scene where she and Ben argue over airline flights and meeting points. It's a little bit shifty, one thinks, what is going on here? Whatever the facts, it is a loss Ben lives with, which becomes almost more concrete fact than its cause. Again, this backward chaining of effects to causes is a central theme of the book.
Despite his grieving, Ben does eventually find a new partner, Jeanne, with whom he has a son and the present of the book in centred on their lives, looking back at 9/11 and its aftermath, so that the book is set between 2001 and a point several years in our future, when Ben is reminded of what happened to Lil by a new discovery. That's where the thriller elements kick in with Watergate-toned "Deep Throat" moments, encounters with the shadier branches of the US Government, covert meetings and a general atmosphere of threat.
But it isn't really a thriller. In particular we don't get a neat ending or conclusion. Ben has become convinced that something is wrong with the official narrative about 9/11, but he's not trying to nail the guilty or discover the truth except in one very personal sense: he wants to know what really happened to Lil. So don't expect Mission: Impossible style theatrics - this is as much Ben's quest into himself as it is an interrogation of the outside world.
Indeed, from a certain perspective not a lot actually happens, at least in the "present", at least until the very end of the book, with much of the story recounting how things got there. In keeping with that, Priest's writing is restrained, domestic, recording Ben's and Jeanne's lives, the challenges posed when her mother Lucinda becomes infirm and must stay at their house on the island of Bute and their delicate, compromise-filled days (which include negotiating the tricky question of Lil and of Ben's continuing interest in her death). These parts are never dry, filled with insight about how two people organise their lives, their feelings, around each other. Not everything needs to be said, and Priest almost lovingly creates a world around the two.
Yet into even the most domestic moments come noirish moments, consequences, incursions of the wrong. "We were all in the dark, in the shadow of 9/11, victims, or remnants of victims, losers of our lovers, relatives, inadvertent characters in the story that insidiously weaved through and around our lives, untrue, unreliable, irrational and, as yet unfinished"
The book becomes most thriller-like when Ben has to visit London for work and we see the state to which England has fallen post Brexit. It's not nice - Scotland is now independent, London has become a security-ridden hellhole best by CCTV, armed guards and immigration police. Or when he makes trips to the US. Here, jangling details stoke the tension - details of hotel rooms, flights, ordinary things like a car running low on charge or the junk dumped behind a hotel.
Through all this, we keep circling back to 9/11, to Ben's initial doubts and his subsequent investigation. Priest lays out some of the awkward evidence and theories about planes that weren't there, demolition charges, missing bodies, missing flight data recorders and so forth. This is all very well researched and preoccupies Ben to a point where Jeanne becomes worried about him. Ben's conviction that something is off is bolstered by meetings with shadowy insiders and possibly even with guilty parties. There is, for example, the mathematician Kyril Tatarov whose ideas about the manipulation of truth via media seem to foreshadow the "fake news" familiar today. Tatarov is an enigmatic figure, obsessed with a "Thomas theorem" (which is a real thing) that (if I have understood it correctly) reasons backward from effect to cause. As I have said, i think that's a central concern of this book, with world events since 2001 seen as the consequence, and the events of 9/11, whatever they were - if, the books seems to say, it's even possible to say what they were - the cause.
The book doesn't come to neat and tidy conclusions. As I have said, it's ultimately not a thriller. There is no revelation of what "really happened", much of the speculation is mutually inconsistent while partial truths are uncovered they don't add up to a complete, alternative narrative. Instead we are left, as is Ben, to worry about the future and about where it will all lead. That is, I think, actually the only tolerable conclusion to this story. There is room for doubt, perhaps, about the events of 9/11, about the official story, but what there isn't room for is the certainty of an alternative account which purports to be "the truth".
Bringing the story to a successful conclusion despite the degree of doubt shows Priest working at his very best. It would have been so easy to let the book sag into despairing cynicism or to set set up some other false certainty by validating conspiracy theories outright but he avoids this, keeping the story mostly personal, looking at the consequences of real actions on his fictional characters. The book ends on a questioning note, though an oddly helpful one.
I will end my review with a quote from Prof Tatarov himself. Speaking of the young men and women busily obscuring history, he says - and it sums up, I think, the central accusation of this book:
"They believe in interpretations, not reporting. They praise opinions, but they despise facts . They talk of actions, whereas they are merely noticing the consequences of other people's actions."
An American Story is an extraordinary book, although it's hard to pin down why in a review, or indeed to pin it down at all. I think that's the point.
Part thriller, part love story, part examination of loss and grief, part history, this book revolves around the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the USA. It's not science fiction or fantasy - I wondered if Priest would use that to get at the reality (or realities?) behind 9/11 but I don't think he does. (There is one tantalising moment when a character seems to remember something that she shouldn't know, and I wondered if that might suggest, I don't know, deeper workings going on here but, characteristically, this moment is given to a character whose memory is damaged and I take it more as a hint of collective uncertainty, of the reshaping of history and truth, than as a fantastical plot development.
At one level, this story is a simple quest for the truth. Journalist Ben Matson lost his lover Lil in the attacks - lost in the truest sense of the word, as her body was never found, her very movements, even the reasons for those movements obscured among the events of that day. Thesis foreshadowed in an early scene where she and Ben argue over airline flights and meeting points. It's a little bit shifty, one thinks, what is going on here? Whatever the facts, it is a loss Ben lives with, which becomes almost more concrete fact than its cause. Again, this backward chaining of effects to causes is a central theme of the book.
Despite his grieving, Ben does eventually find a new partner, Jeanne, with whom he has a son and the present of the book in centred on their lives, looking back at 9/11 and its aftermath, so that the book is set between 2001 and a point several years in our future, when Ben is reminded of what happened to Lil by a new discovery. That's where the thriller elements kick in with Watergate-toned "Deep Throat" moments, encounters with the shadier branches of the US Government, covert meetings and a general atmosphere of threat.
But it isn't really a thriller. In particular we don't get a neat ending or conclusion. Ben has become convinced that something is wrong with the official narrative about 9/11, but he's not trying to nail the guilty or discover the truth except in one very personal sense: he wants to know what really happened to Lil. So don't expect Mission: Impossible style theatrics - this is as much Ben's quest into himself as it is an interrogation of the outside world.
Indeed, from a certain perspective not a lot actually happens, at least in the "present", at least until the very end of the book, with much of the story recounting how things got there. In keeping with that, Priest's writing is restrained, domestic, recording Ben's and Jeanne's lives, the challenges posed when her mother Lucinda becomes infirm and must stay at their house on the island of Bute and their delicate, compromise-filled days (which include negotiating the tricky question of Lil and of Ben's continuing interest in her death). These parts are never dry, filled with insight about how two people organise their lives, their feelings, around each other. Not everything needs to be said, and Priest almost lovingly creates a world around the two.
Yet into even the most domestic moments come noirish moments, consequences, incursions of the wrong. "We were all in the dark, in the shadow of 9/11, victims, or remnants of victims, losers of our lovers, relatives, inadvertent characters in the story that insidiously weaved through and around our lives, untrue, unreliable, irrational and, as yet unfinished"
The book becomes most thriller-like when Ben has to visit London for work and we see the state to which England has fallen post Brexit. It's not nice - Scotland is now independent, London has become a security-ridden hellhole best by CCTV, armed guards and immigration police. Or when he makes trips to the US. Here, jangling details stoke the tension - details of hotel rooms, flights, ordinary things like a car running low on charge or the junk dumped behind a hotel.
Through all this, we keep circling back to 9/11, to Ben's initial doubts and his subsequent investigation. Priest lays out some of the awkward evidence and theories about planes that weren't there, demolition charges, missing bodies, missing flight data recorders and so forth. This is all very well researched and preoccupies Ben to a point where Jeanne becomes worried about him. Ben's conviction that something is off is bolstered by meetings with shadowy insiders and possibly even with guilty parties. There is, for example, the mathematician Kyril Tatarov whose ideas about the manipulation of truth via media seem to foreshadow the "fake news" familiar today. Tatarov is an enigmatic figure, obsessed with a "Thomas theorem" (which is a real thing) that (if I have understood it correctly) reasons backward from effect to cause. As I have said, i think that's a central concern of this book, with world events since 2001 seen as the consequence, and the events of 9/11, whatever they were - if, the books seems to say, it's even possible to say what they were - the cause.
The book doesn't come to neat and tidy conclusions. As I have said, it's ultimately not a thriller. There is no revelation of what "really happened", much of the speculation is mutually inconsistent while partial truths are uncovered they don't add up to a complete, alternative narrative. Instead we are left, as is Ben, to worry about the future and about where it will all lead. That is, I think, actually the only tolerable conclusion to this story. There is room for doubt, perhaps, about the events of 9/11, about the official story, but what there isn't room for is the certainty of an alternative account which purports to be "the truth".
Bringing the story to a successful conclusion despite the degree of doubt shows Priest working at his very best. It would have been so easy to let the book sag into despairing cynicism or to set set up some other false certainty by validating conspiracy theories outright but he avoids this, keeping the story mostly personal, looking at the consequences of real actions on his fictional characters. The book ends on a questioning note, though an oddly helpful one.
I will end my review with a quote from Prof Tatarov himself. Speaking of the young men and women busily obscuring history, he says - and it sums up, I think, the central accusation of this book:
"They believe in interpretations, not reporting. They praise opinions, but they despise facts . They talk of actions, whereas they are merely noticing the consequences of other people's actions."
August 23, 2018
With thanks to Orion/Gollancz for the opportunity to read an ARC.
September 17, 2018
While overall a very good novel, I have some conflicted feelings about it so I will try to break out its aspects in the 3 elements that were really important for me:
- as a novel (characters, energy, prose, structure) is superb and engrossing though it has no real sff elements (the only arguably sfnal element is the post-Brexit, independent Scotland part of EU vs the paranoic and isolated England)
- regarding 9/11 the storyline was ok, it didn't bother me and it sounded about right regarding the shock and confusion of the times;
- however the main disappointment was in the math/Kyril Tatarov part which was hyped so much (and started really well, while I love when the subject is competently described in fiction - the Pelerin conjecture sounded cool - clearly inspired by the Poincare conjecture with Tatarov inspired by the actual Russian guy who solved it and later refused the Fields medal and the money from the Millenium foundation) but frankly turned out as banal gibberish with the so-called Thomas theorem etc
- as a novel (characters, energy, prose, structure) is superb and engrossing though it has no real sff elements (the only arguably sfnal element is the post-Brexit, independent Scotland part of EU vs the paranoic and isolated England)
- regarding 9/11 the storyline was ok, it didn't bother me and it sounded about right regarding the shock and confusion of the times;
- however the main disappointment was in the math/Kyril Tatarov part which was hyped so much (and started really well, while I love when the subject is competently described in fiction - the Pelerin conjecture sounded cool - clearly inspired by the Poincare conjecture with Tatarov inspired by the actual Russian guy who solved it and later refused the Fields medal and the money from the Millenium foundation) but frankly turned out as banal gibberish with the so-called Thomas theorem etc
September 22, 2018
Christopher Priest is one of our leading SF authors, and there are elements of science and mathematics here in what is principally a straight novel exploring the impact of 9/11 on relatives of those who were killed, riffing on the experience of loss and the nature of memory.
To do this, Priest makes uses of a mathematician who seems to be involved in a project that draws a parallel between a mathematical conjecture and a psychohistory-like concept where reality is forged from perception. I say ‘seems to’ as almost everything that happens in the book has a dream-like uncertainty. For example, the main character’s mother-in-law claims to have been in a car with his former girlfriend years after she was killed on American Airlines Flight 77.
I usually find books that jump backwards and forward in the timeline really irritating, and Priest does this a huge amount, but given the nature of the topic, the effect just added to the sense of mystery and connections that may or may not be true - although done differently, I was reminded of the way Alan Garner plays around with time in his masterful novel The Owl Service.
This was, then, a fascinating novel, and very readable too for a book that surely could be considered literary fiction. However, I also found aspects of it irritating and disturbing. This started with the probably unintentionally hilarious fantasy that after Brexit, Scotland would benefit financially from coming out of the union, losing its subsidy from England, and would magically get straight back in the EU and be able to pass the economic tests to join the euro.
I also was a little disappointed by the most science-related bits. The main character is a freelance science writer - but he simply didn’t ring true. As a science writer myself, I’ve never come across a real one who like the fictional Ben had no specialisation or apparent expertise. This particularly came through when he interviewed a mathematician, who also spoke totally unlike any mathematician I’ve ever come across, more like a liberal arts lecturer than a mathematician - all indirect and waffly with none of the precision you’d expect.
The sense of unease came to a head when it became clear that Priest was basing his story on 9/11 conspiracy theories, making the 9/11 event an act of the US government as an excuse for war, and naively blaming every negative thing that has happened since on it. If this had been pure fiction without a basis in real life, it wouldn’t have mattered, but when there are so many real families who suffered as a result, it’s distinctly creepy to impose this on them. In an author’s note at the end, Priest claims to find the conspiracy theories plausible, though he does also seem to acknowledge that they have been comprehensively debunked (I’d recommend reading the book 9/11 Myths, based on the article Priest mentions), which makes me wonder whether the line is more political than down to actual belief.
Despite my concerns, I think this is a really interesting novel and one I would recommend reading, not because I think the conspiracy theories are right, but rather because it does what all good novels do and makes the reader think - even if the resultant thoughts are very different from those that I suspect Priest intended.
To do this, Priest makes uses of a mathematician who seems to be involved in a project that draws a parallel between a mathematical conjecture and a psychohistory-like concept where reality is forged from perception. I say ‘seems to’ as almost everything that happens in the book has a dream-like uncertainty. For example, the main character’s mother-in-law claims to have been in a car with his former girlfriend years after she was killed on American Airlines Flight 77.
I usually find books that jump backwards and forward in the timeline really irritating, and Priest does this a huge amount, but given the nature of the topic, the effect just added to the sense of mystery and connections that may or may not be true - although done differently, I was reminded of the way Alan Garner plays around with time in his masterful novel The Owl Service.
This was, then, a fascinating novel, and very readable too for a book that surely could be considered literary fiction. However, I also found aspects of it irritating and disturbing. This started with the probably unintentionally hilarious fantasy that after Brexit, Scotland would benefit financially from coming out of the union, losing its subsidy from England, and would magically get straight back in the EU and be able to pass the economic tests to join the euro.
I also was a little disappointed by the most science-related bits. The main character is a freelance science writer - but he simply didn’t ring true. As a science writer myself, I’ve never come across a real one who like the fictional Ben had no specialisation or apparent expertise. This particularly came through when he interviewed a mathematician, who also spoke totally unlike any mathematician I’ve ever come across, more like a liberal arts lecturer than a mathematician - all indirect and waffly with none of the precision you’d expect.
The sense of unease came to a head when it became clear that Priest was basing his story on 9/11 conspiracy theories, making the 9/11 event an act of the US government as an excuse for war, and naively blaming every negative thing that has happened since on it. If this had been pure fiction without a basis in real life, it wouldn’t have mattered, but when there are so many real families who suffered as a result, it’s distinctly creepy to impose this on them. In an author’s note at the end, Priest claims to find the conspiracy theories plausible, though he does also seem to acknowledge that they have been comprehensively debunked (I’d recommend reading the book 9/11 Myths, based on the article Priest mentions), which makes me wonder whether the line is more political than down to actual belief.
Despite my concerns, I think this is a really interesting novel and one I would recommend reading, not because I think the conspiracy theories are right, but rather because it does what all good novels do and makes the reader think - even if the resultant thoughts are very different from those that I suspect Priest intended.
December 21, 2018
What to make of An American Story.
For a while I thought it was going to be a profound exploration of objectivity, reality and the bedrock of truth - topics Priest has been interested in over many years. There’s a moment, about two-thirds of the way through, when the main character, Ben Matson and his ailing mother-in-law (she’s recently suffered a stroke) have conflicting memories about a particular event (the details of which aren’t worth discussing). It’s here I thought Priest, like he had with The Adjacent and The Gradual, was going to explore the unreliability of memory and history. And to an extent he does. Except any of the nuance is clouded by how the novel actively promotes the 9/11 truther movement, i.e. a plane did not crash into the Pentagon, and the Twin Towers (including the third Tower) couldn’t possibly have collapsed the way they did unless explosives had been detonated in the basement of each building. These are theories that have been debunked time and time again, and yet here is Chris Priest, a writer I admire for his intelligence, mostly endorsing this position.
He says in the Author’s Note that he doesn’t necessarily agree with the views of his protagonist. He also accepts that there are some crazy conspiracies around 9/11 (Protocol of Zion, anti-Jew bullshit, though Priest never says as much), but he does spend a page pointing out the sites open minded people might check out if they want to understand the contradictions in the official report. He ends by begrudgingly mentioning that famous Popular Mechanics article which dealt with and eviscerated each Truther claim - an article, by the by, that Ben Matson, a journalist, never seems to come across in his own one-sided research.
Worst of all, while the novel is readable, in terms of plotting it’s a mess. For one, there’s the many, many coincides: Matson’s girlfriend was married to the man who masterminded 9/11. His girlfriend also died on Flight 77. Matson’s wife’s father died in mysterious circumstances surrounding 9/11 and a scientist who befriends Matson is also heavily involved in the conspiracy. And don’t get me started on the item Matson discovers at the end of the novel amongst wreckage of a recently recovered World War 2 ship (that Truthers believed was actually the wreckage of Flight 77). The novel is also very repetitive, partly because it moves backward and forward in time (over a 25 year period) and partly because Priest (or Matson) is desperate to question and undermine the established 9/11 account.
Priest’s depiction of that horrible day is powerful and upsetting and by far the highlight of the book. But to have that follow a deep dive into 9/11 conspiracy bullshit leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
I suppose it could be worse. I suppose Priest could have written a pro-anti-vaxx novel.
For a while I thought it was going to be a profound exploration of objectivity, reality and the bedrock of truth - topics Priest has been interested in over many years. There’s a moment, about two-thirds of the way through, when the main character, Ben Matson and his ailing mother-in-law (she’s recently suffered a stroke) have conflicting memories about a particular event (the details of which aren’t worth discussing). It’s here I thought Priest, like he had with The Adjacent and The Gradual, was going to explore the unreliability of memory and history. And to an extent he does. Except any of the nuance is clouded by how the novel actively promotes the 9/11 truther movement, i.e. a plane did not crash into the Pentagon, and the Twin Towers (including the third Tower) couldn’t possibly have collapsed the way they did unless explosives had been detonated in the basement of each building. These are theories that have been debunked time and time again, and yet here is Chris Priest, a writer I admire for his intelligence, mostly endorsing this position.
He says in the Author’s Note that he doesn’t necessarily agree with the views of his protagonist. He also accepts that there are some crazy conspiracies around 9/11 (Protocol of Zion, anti-Jew bullshit, though Priest never says as much), but he does spend a page pointing out the sites open minded people might check out if they want to understand the contradictions in the official report. He ends by begrudgingly mentioning that famous Popular Mechanics article which dealt with and eviscerated each Truther claim - an article, by the by, that Ben Matson, a journalist, never seems to come across in his own one-sided research.
Worst of all, while the novel is readable, in terms of plotting it’s a mess. For one, there’s the many, many coincides: Matson’s girlfriend was married to the man who masterminded 9/11. His girlfriend also died on Flight 77. Matson’s wife’s father died in mysterious circumstances surrounding 9/11 and a scientist who befriends Matson is also heavily involved in the conspiracy. And don’t get me started on the item Matson discovers at the end of the novel amongst wreckage of a recently recovered World War 2 ship (that Truthers believed was actually the wreckage of Flight 77). The novel is also very repetitive, partly because it moves backward and forward in time (over a 25 year period) and partly because Priest (or Matson) is desperate to question and undermine the established 9/11 account.
Priest’s depiction of that horrible day is powerful and upsetting and by far the highlight of the book. But to have that follow a deep dive into 9/11 conspiracy bullshit leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
I suppose it could be worse. I suppose Priest could have written a pro-anti-vaxx novel.
April 25, 2021
Tenía serios prejuicios sobre An American Story después de haber leído su sinopsis y alguna reseña que invitaban a pensar que Priest se había dejado llevar por la conspiranoia del 11S. Sin embargo, en esta historia sobre un periodista que, a lo largo de 20 años, va y vuelve sobre unos atentados donde perdió a su pareja, no elucubra sobre qué pudo haber pasado; explora la naturaleza de esa duda y los conflictos que despierta, a nivel individual y social. La dificultad, cuando no imposibilidad, de casar algunas evidencias o testimonios con el relato oficial abren las puertas a cuestiones problemáticas como la aceptación de narrativas con una base factual precaria o las consecuencias de convertir los informativos en campos abonados a la opinión. Hay otros temas de máxima actualidad, caso del uso de las redes sociales y diferentes sesgos para influenciar en la opinión pública, que convierten este libro en el más explícitamente contemporáneo de Priest desde The Extremes. Por eso da todavía más pena que haya pasado tan desapercibido.
En parte porque el propio autor no ha hecho bien los deberes y ciertos aspectos argumentales y de trama se sienten perezosos, torpes, descuidados. Por ejemplo, todo lo que rodea al matemático que guía la investigación requería más trabajo de integración. Mientras, la manera en que se manifiesta el Brexit en el testimonio del narrador parece más propia de un adolescente cabreado con una ruptura sentimental. Además, aunque An American Story (título magnífico por lo que implica y por cómo se usa) es lo más cerca que Priest ha estado de escribir algo parecido a un bestseller, ya sólo llega a sus lectores. Al menos estos se ven recompensados por esos iconos ya inevitables (gemelos, coincidencias constantes...) y ciertos carices que invitan a pensar en la autoficción. Pero no deja de ser desesperanzador que alguien con una visión tan clara sobre las tensiones que desgarran nuestro presente, y el precario pegamento que une los fragmentos no coincidentes de ese cuadro que llamamos realidad, haya caído en el olvido. Más cuando escribe un texto tan abierto y claro como este.
En parte porque el propio autor no ha hecho bien los deberes y ciertos aspectos argumentales y de trama se sienten perezosos, torpes, descuidados. Por ejemplo, todo lo que rodea al matemático que guía la investigación requería más trabajo de integración. Mientras, la manera en que se manifiesta el Brexit en el testimonio del narrador parece más propia de un adolescente cabreado con una ruptura sentimental. Además, aunque An American Story (título magnífico por lo que implica y por cómo se usa) es lo más cerca que Priest ha estado de escribir algo parecido a un bestseller, ya sólo llega a sus lectores. Al menos estos se ven recompensados por esos iconos ya inevitables (gemelos, coincidencias constantes...) y ciertos carices que invitan a pensar en la autoficción. Pero no deja de ser desesperanzador que alguien con una visión tan clara sobre las tensiones que desgarran nuestro presente, y el precario pegamento que une los fragmentos no coincidentes de ese cuadro que llamamos realidad, haya caído en el olvido. Más cuando escribe un texto tan abierto y claro como este.
April 15, 2025
#6 Priest: Reality, Perception, and the Echoes of 9/11
It's probably because of my personal affinity for aeroplanes and the stories behind some of the most famous (and not so famous) crashes in history, but every few weeks the same or sometimes new videos of the tragic moments of 9/11 pop up on my social media timeline. From my perspective, it is still incomprehensible what the situation must have been like for all those ordinary passengers on board the planes, but also for those on the ground, especially in New York City. In spite of the many videos and testimonies, or perhaps because of them, many myths have grown up around the event, not all of which can be dismissed as nonsensical.
Christopher Priest now tackles these 'conspiracy narratives' and the whole 9/11 issue in his usual narrative style: episodic, jumping around in time, focusing on personal experience and aiming to involve the reader in the story by asking many questions and answering them only cryptically or vaguely, if at all. This is what makes the book so appealing, as it is only in the final pages that you seem to be sure of what really happened, but of course only in fragments, leaving room for interpretation.
Basically, the novel revolves around the life of Ben Matson, who works as a freelance journalist for various science magazines and interviews numerous scientists and theorists. Among them is a mathematician who accompanies him throughout his life and about whose work we learn a great deal. This mathematician is very obscure to the layman in what he reports, but he seems to hold the key to explaining 9/11. These episodes with Matson and the mathematician are key experiences in Matson's life and, despite their complexity, are a real pleasure to read.
Ben Matson lost the love of his life on 9/11, and he won't give up trying to find out for sure. Because a body, or at least DNA, was never found at the site of the tragedy, she was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. But was she really on the plane?
Christopher Priest knows how to immerse the reader in the story like no other, creating a remarkable depth, many emotional, but also seemingly comical moments that make the book very speculative, despite the lack of science fiction elements. Particularly clever is the inclusion of a theorem by two sociologists, the Thomas Theorem, which runs like a thread through the book and makes you think about the political decision-makers in the countries of the world. One wonders how much practical truth there is in these short words, and is simply impressed by the way Priest weaves them into his story:
“If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”
All in all, 'An American Story' is the next strong book by Priest that I have read in just a few days and which makes me want to read more of his books. However, compared to 'Airside', which I read before, I have to deduct one star, as the latter inspired me even more.
It's probably because of my personal affinity for aeroplanes and the stories behind some of the most famous (and not so famous) crashes in history, but every few weeks the same or sometimes new videos of the tragic moments of 9/11 pop up on my social media timeline. From my perspective, it is still incomprehensible what the situation must have been like for all those ordinary passengers on board the planes, but also for those on the ground, especially in New York City. In spite of the many videos and testimonies, or perhaps because of them, many myths have grown up around the event, not all of which can be dismissed as nonsensical.
Christopher Priest now tackles these 'conspiracy narratives' and the whole 9/11 issue in his usual narrative style: episodic, jumping around in time, focusing on personal experience and aiming to involve the reader in the story by asking many questions and answering them only cryptically or vaguely, if at all. This is what makes the book so appealing, as it is only in the final pages that you seem to be sure of what really happened, but of course only in fragments, leaving room for interpretation.
Basically, the novel revolves around the life of Ben Matson, who works as a freelance journalist for various science magazines and interviews numerous scientists and theorists. Among them is a mathematician who accompanies him throughout his life and about whose work we learn a great deal. This mathematician is very obscure to the layman in what he reports, but he seems to hold the key to explaining 9/11. These episodes with Matson and the mathematician are key experiences in Matson's life and, despite their complexity, are a real pleasure to read.
Ben Matson lost the love of his life on 9/11, and he won't give up trying to find out for sure. Because a body, or at least DNA, was never found at the site of the tragedy, she was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. But was she really on the plane?
Christopher Priest knows how to immerse the reader in the story like no other, creating a remarkable depth, many emotional, but also seemingly comical moments that make the book very speculative, despite the lack of science fiction elements. Particularly clever is the inclusion of a theorem by two sociologists, the Thomas Theorem, which runs like a thread through the book and makes you think about the political decision-makers in the countries of the world. One wonders how much practical truth there is in these short words, and is simply impressed by the way Priest weaves them into his story:
“If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”
All in all, 'An American Story' is the next strong book by Priest that I have read in just a few days and which makes me want to read more of his books. However, compared to 'Airside', which I read before, I have to deduct one star, as the latter inspired me even more.
November 5, 2018
Mucha paranoia con el 11S. Un repaso a buena parte de las teorias conspiranoicas con lo que o te gusta o lo odias.
Por otro lado, Priest vuelve a ahondar en la mente humana. En este caso en como reacciona tras unos eventos tan criticos como los que sucedieron en Nueva York.
Lo he leido con agrado.
Por otro lado, Priest vuelve a ahondar en la mente humana. En este caso en como reacciona tras unos eventos tan criticos como los que sucedieron en Nueva York.
Lo he leido con agrado.
September 3, 2018
The story of Ben Matson and his exploration into how he lost his girlfriend during 9/11, An American Story explores themes such as love and conspiracy theories.
The way book is written as almost a stream of consciousness, can be a little offputting at first as it feels almost tangential, however I think it adds to the personality of the book as it continues, giving us what Ben is going through, what he is thinking and what is going on throughout the book.
The plot unravels well, but the whole conspiracy thing feels like a book trying to say something and not really working it out well. This book is certainly well researched when it comes to the subject at hand but sometimes it can feel like it goes down an internet rabbit hole.
The story of Ben and Lil is nice, but overall, I just liked it.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for a honest review).
The way book is written as almost a stream of consciousness, can be a little offputting at first as it feels almost tangential, however I think it adds to the personality of the book as it continues, giving us what Ben is going through, what he is thinking and what is going on throughout the book.
The plot unravels well, but the whole conspiracy thing feels like a book trying to say something and not really working it out well. This book is certainly well researched when it comes to the subject at hand but sometimes it can feel like it goes down an internet rabbit hole.
The story of Ben and Lil is nice, but overall, I just liked it.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for a honest review).
November 24, 2020
I’m a big fan of Christopher Priest so I was looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, I had mixed feelings about it and was somewhat disappointed.
This book is basically straight-up fiction about how new niggling details about 9/11 rekindles the interest of the main character about the girlfriend he lost on that day. It’s well written as a Priest book always is with good prose and great characterization. It has the usual Priest style of uncertainty and unreliability, manifesting this time as inconsistencies and rumors about that eventful day.
Which…seems beside the point because everyone remembers where they were that day so everyone’s memories of it will be different. Priest does bring up some interesting ideas namely how stroke victims may create false memories as part of their recovery, the use of high math and social theory to explain how one can define truth and action, and how social media may be used to control information in the internet age. The problem then is that he doesn’t do anything with them. Instead, it feels more like Priest just rehashes conspiracy theories to show that everyone is being lied to about 9/11 and that certain people may have benefited from it.
The whole book just feels unnecessary.
Edited to add: changed the rating down to two stars as my view of the book has soured over time. Never thought Priest could write a bad book, but he did.
This book is basically straight-up fiction about how new niggling details about 9/11 rekindles the interest of the main character about the girlfriend he lost on that day. It’s well written as a Priest book always is with good prose and great characterization. It has the usual Priest style of uncertainty and unreliability, manifesting this time as inconsistencies and rumors about that eventful day.
Which…seems beside the point because everyone remembers where they were that day so everyone’s memories of it will be different. Priest does bring up some interesting ideas namely how stroke victims may create false memories as part of their recovery, the use of high math and social theory to explain how one can define truth and action, and how social media may be used to control information in the internet age. The problem then is that he doesn’t do anything with them. Instead, it feels more like Priest just rehashes conspiracy theories to show that everyone is being lied to about 9/11 and that certain people may have benefited from it.
The whole book just feels unnecessary.
Edited to add: changed the rating down to two stars as my view of the book has soured over time. Never thought Priest could write a bad book, but he did.
June 16, 2019
This is a very well-written book. The authorial voice is impeccable. Reading it was a pleasurable experience.
However, it's weakness is that it contains an uneasy mix of reality and fiction. It is an energetic indictment of the American government for manipulating truth in pursuit of political ends married to a novel about love and loss and getting on with life. The novel suffers as a result. Priest is clearly very angry (as are many of us) about the way life has changed since 9/11. He wants to tell us the American people are a relaxed, contented flock of fools being manipulated by elements of the American government; that England also is not doing well and this is the fault of America (Scotland, on the other hand, seems to have escaped the worst). However, he apparently thought he'd be derided/ridiculed/mocked if he said all this directly, but he could probably get away with saying it all if he disguised it as a novel. The result, though, is that the action of the novel is unconvincing, and the characters are two dimensional. It is probably impossible to write a political piece about real events and make it a good work of fiction, but people keep trying.
However, it's weakness is that it contains an uneasy mix of reality and fiction. It is an energetic indictment of the American government for manipulating truth in pursuit of political ends married to a novel about love and loss and getting on with life. The novel suffers as a result. Priest is clearly very angry (as are many of us) about the way life has changed since 9/11. He wants to tell us the American people are a relaxed, contented flock of fools being manipulated by elements of the American government; that England also is not doing well and this is the fault of America (Scotland, on the other hand, seems to have escaped the worst). However, he apparently thought he'd be derided/ridiculed/mocked if he said all this directly, but he could probably get away with saying it all if he disguised it as a novel. The result, though, is that the action of the novel is unconvincing, and the characters are two dimensional. It is probably impossible to write a political piece about real events and make it a good work of fiction, but people keep trying.
May 11, 2019
This had much more potential than what we were given. Priest offered some interesting theories about the events of 9/11 and as a result, uncertainties of the death of the main character’s girlfriend who was aboard one of the doomed planes. He proposed mathematical and social theories to account for inconsistencies in the reporting of what happened on that dreadful day. Unfortunately, these theories were never fully explored leaving me perplexed as to their significance. There were certain gripping sections of the book and some interesting conspiracy theories however the book ended with things not really tying together. Too bad.
January 1, 2023
First book of the year (sort of).
I always look out for Christopher Priest novels so I picked this one up from my local library to read over the Christmas holidays.
Essentially, it is about a journalist who has connections to the 9/11 terror attacks and wants to find out more about what happened. His beliefs of the events are challenged as his investigations continue and as the reader, our understanding of events that happen on media and social media are questioned.
It was a compelling read and I finished it in good time. I love Priests style and will read more of his books in the future.
A decent start to 2023!
I always look out for Christopher Priest novels so I picked this one up from my local library to read over the Christmas holidays.
Essentially, it is about a journalist who has connections to the 9/11 terror attacks and wants to find out more about what happened. His beliefs of the events are challenged as his investigations continue and as the reader, our understanding of events that happen on media and social media are questioned.
It was a compelling read and I finished it in good time. I love Priests style and will read more of his books in the future.
A decent start to 2023!
January 3, 2019
That Priestian cognitive dissonance we've come to love and expect, but this time from what seems like the most conspicuous of places: 9/11 and fake news, which stirs a little resentment in me, purposeful though I'm sure it is. Enjoyable as Priest always is, and certainly hard-to-put-down, but still not quite sure what to make of it.
December 9, 2021
A powerful fascinating exploration of 9/11, and the way governments protect and hide information. The protagonist in the novel lost his partner in the plane that supposedly hit the Pentagon. Since he was personally involved, he investigated the facts and discovered that the official version of events did not make sense.
January 22, 2021
This wasn't all that bad but my feeling was that Mr Priest's researches into the inconsistencies of the official 9/11 narrative overwhelmed the story. However the book did bring up these issues that I haven't been previously aware of so useful on that front.
November 30, 2021
Started it today, expect it to be great, already intrigued and excited after reading a couple of pages.
My favourite author (except on those days when it's Stephen King).
Finished it, and it was not a comfortable read, any more than I had expected it to be.
The story is told in the first person of Ben Matson, an English journalist who is in the USA at the time of the 9/11 attacks. He has a deeply loved girlfriend who, inconveniently, is married to a powerful figure in the Republican Party. She dies, or at least disappears, on the fateful day.
The action takes place 'then', from just before 9/11/2001 to 2006, and 'now', which is a near-future Britain, in which newly independent Scotland is now a member of the EU. Matson now lives in Scotland, on the island of Bute, with his wife and kids. Bute also has a connection to 'then', and Matson's meeting with an enigmatic mathematician in 2006.
The plot centres round Matson's attempts to discover what happened to his girlfriend, who is thought to have been on the aircraft that crashed into the Pentagon, though she appears on no passenger list. What Matson discovers is that what hit the Pentagon might not even have been an airliner, but something more akin to a cruise missile.
Other doubts emerge about the fall of the Twin Towers in New York. The way they collapsed was more in keeping with an expert demolition than by impact with aircraft, though of course that did happen also.
Gradually, Matson's delving reveals a story which suggests the 9/11 attack was a fake planned by Bush and his lackey Blair, as an excuse for the US-led attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan that were to come. The evidence mounts, piece by piece, as Priest weaves together a terrifyingly plausible story.
There is a chilling final chapter, set in the future, where the former girlfriend's husband is installed as US Vice-President.
This novel is an uncomfortable mix of fiction and real life, an historical novel set in the present, as it were. Perhaps the Author should be allowed the final word.
"'An American Story' is of course fiction, a novel. It is not investigative journalism. However, the narrator is a journalist and he does investigate. Ben Matson's views are not necessarily mine, but we did much the same research."
My favourite author (except on those days when it's Stephen King).
Finished it, and it was not a comfortable read, any more than I had expected it to be.
The story is told in the first person of Ben Matson, an English journalist who is in the USA at the time of the 9/11 attacks. He has a deeply loved girlfriend who, inconveniently, is married to a powerful figure in the Republican Party. She dies, or at least disappears, on the fateful day.
The action takes place 'then', from just before 9/11/2001 to 2006, and 'now', which is a near-future Britain, in which newly independent Scotland is now a member of the EU. Matson now lives in Scotland, on the island of Bute, with his wife and kids. Bute also has a connection to 'then', and Matson's meeting with an enigmatic mathematician in 2006.
The plot centres round Matson's attempts to discover what happened to his girlfriend, who is thought to have been on the aircraft that crashed into the Pentagon, though she appears on no passenger list. What Matson discovers is that what hit the Pentagon might not even have been an airliner, but something more akin to a cruise missile.
Other doubts emerge about the fall of the Twin Towers in New York. The way they collapsed was more in keeping with an expert demolition than by impact with aircraft, though of course that did happen also.
Gradually, Matson's delving reveals a story which suggests the 9/11 attack was a fake planned by Bush and his lackey Blair, as an excuse for the US-led attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan that were to come. The evidence mounts, piece by piece, as Priest weaves together a terrifyingly plausible story.
There is a chilling final chapter, set in the future, where the former girlfriend's husband is installed as US Vice-President.
This novel is an uncomfortable mix of fiction and real life, an historical novel set in the present, as it were. Perhaps the Author should be allowed the final word.
"'An American Story' is of course fiction, a novel. It is not investigative journalism. However, the narrator is a journalist and he does investigate. Ben Matson's views are not necessarily mine, but we did much the same research."
October 10, 2018
An American Story is a very classic Christopher Priest book and I would even recommend NOT starting reading his works by this novel. We follow the thoughts of a journalist who lost his girlfriend in 9/11 and is taken back to that fateful day over and over again by destiny… or mathematics.
It is not surprising that the book was not published in the States. Not surprising by quite shocking honestly as the novel perfectly explains why it is wrong: by not debating this event, we surrendered our rights to know the Truth with a capital T.
Yet, the Truth is not in the book. It is NOT a book about the events of 9/11, NOT a book showing the US lied to us, NOT a book about conspiracies. It is simply a book daring to ask: why aren't we discussing this event?
It is not surprising that the book was not published in the States. Not surprising by quite shocking honestly as the novel perfectly explains why it is wrong: by not debating this event, we surrendered our rights to know the Truth with a capital T.
Yet, the Truth is not in the book. It is NOT a book about the events of 9/11, NOT a book showing the US lied to us, NOT a book about conspiracies. It is simply a book daring to ask: why aren't we discussing this event?
November 17, 2018
3.5 stars.
Christopher Priest has written a thoughtful and rather uncomfortable novel. At some point you will set the book down and ask yourself if you're really sitting through a 9/11 truther novel. And then you'll wonder if Priest could write such a novel without being a truther himself. Hopefully at some point you will begin to question the binary nature of 9/11 conspiracies - why do we only have 2 choices - (1) believe everything the government tells us (which is laughable on the face of it) and (2) believe anything from holograms to aliens that some nut posts on youtube.
Christopher Priest has written a thoughtful and rather uncomfortable novel. At some point you will set the book down and ask yourself if you're really sitting through a 9/11 truther novel. And then you'll wonder if Priest could write such a novel without being a truther himself. Hopefully at some point you will begin to question the binary nature of 9/11 conspiracies - why do we only have 2 choices - (1) believe everything the government tells us (which is laughable on the face of it) and (2) believe anything from holograms to aliens that some nut posts on youtube.
March 1, 2019
This book is all about the tragic events of 9/11 and whether we the public know the whole story. Half way through this book I was thinking I would be giving it 5 Stars as I was so gripped by the story. But then it got a bit repetitive and boring and did not live up to its early promise. On completing it I was extremely disappointed. It has set me thinking though, and I wonder how much of what is in the book about 9/11 is just from the authors imagination, and how much is real fact. Perhaps the internet will enlighten me, or has that as he suggests been purged of real evidence.
January 12, 2019
9/11 Truther garbage. Exceedingly disappointing coming from an otherwise tremendous writer. Priest’s The Islanders was probably the best book I read in 2018 and An American Story will most likely be the worst book I read in 2019
March 7, 2024
Christopher Priest est un grand nom de la SF dont j’ai souvent entendu parler mais que je n’avais pas pris le temps de découvrir. Il m’aura fallu la triste nouvelle de son décès pour oser sortir de ma PAL ce roman, qui n’est d’ailleurs peut-être pas le plus représentatif de son oeuvre, tant la SF y est mineure… Mais ce fut l’occasion de me frotter à sa plume et ce ne sera pas la dernière fois !
Connu pour son grand succès Le Prestige adapté au cinéma par Christopher Nolan, il est aussi l’auteur d’un classique de la SF : Le monde inverti où un des habitants de la cité Terre, une mégalopole progressant sur le sol inconnu d’une planète effrayante, ne sait rien de l’extérieur et doit maintenant jurer qu’il ne révélera jamais ce qu’il y découvrira. Mais le long des rails qui mènent à l’optimum, il découvrira un monde dominé par le chaos et la barbarie, des paysages déformés, éclairés par l’hyperbole du soleil. Nous sommes bien loin de l’enquête sur le 11 septembre qui est le sujet du roman que je vais vous présenter.
Sachant que l’auteur était un spécialiste de SF, j’ai d’abord été surprise de découvrir un récit plutôt très contemporain, où on se met dans les pas d’un journaliste scientifique qui va subir un drame terrible lors du 11 septembre et s’acharner ensuite à essayer de comprendre ce qui s’est réellement passé. Bien loin de la SF que j’attendais donc, celle-ci ne survenant que dans les ultimes pages pour une petite anticipation de la situation politique américaine quelques années après la fin de l’écriture du roman. C’est bien mince.
Après, je n’ai été nullement déçue. Cela m’a permis de rencontrer la plume de l’auteur et de découvrir la facilité avec laquelle il sait déployer ses scénarios et ses ambiances. Ici, nous sommes dans un récit assez sombre, assez dramatique où l’on suit un homme blessé, qui a du mal à faire son deuil, à tourner la page et qui est obsédé par ce qui est arrivé ce jour tragique. On le suit dans son enquête, ses souvenirs, ses doutes, sa nouvelle vie qui peine à démarrer. C’est tour à tour glaçant, poignant, bouleversant et ça se dévore.
J’ai aimé découvrir aux côtés de Ben les mécanismes des théories du complot, la façon dont celles-ci naissent et croissent sur les cendres d’un dossier opaque que les politiques ne souhaitent pas entièrement ouvrir au public, ce qui suscite des interrogations. De leurs maladresses, leurs incohérences, leurs zones d’ombres profitent ceux qui veulent faire progresser ce genre d’idée et on se retrouve avec une instrumentalisation de moments tragiques. C’est très bien décrit ici à travers la figure toute en nuance de Ben aux côtés duquel on doute jusqu’au bout, car certains éléments collent et d’autres non. Cela m’a beaucoup plu car cela a ravivé des souvenirs en moi, cette tragédie ayant eu lieu quand j’entrais au lycée, j’en ai un vif souvenir et je comprends les interrogations de Ben. J’ai d’ailleurs également apprécié que l’auteur profite de ce sujet pour traiter de la société américaine mais également mondiale, à travers le phénomène croissant des réseaux sociaux et leur rôle dans ces situations. C’était assez fascinant sous sa plume, toujours fine et juste.
Alors non pas de SF ici, ou si peu qu’elle n’a pas besoin d’être mentionnée, mais à la place un récit de vie contemporain poignant sur la difficulté d’un homme à tourner la page après avoir perdu son grand amour dans un terrible accident imprévisible. Une évocation angoissante du 11 septembre et de ses conséquences sur ceux l’ayant vécu et subi. Une enquête pleine d’émotion qui se met à la place de celui qui peine à croire la vérité officielle sans jamais le juger. Je suis ravie d’avoir découvert Priest avec ce texte à la fois intimiste et universel.
Article complet : https://lesblablasdetachan.wordpress....
Connu pour son grand succès Le Prestige adapté au cinéma par Christopher Nolan, il est aussi l’auteur d’un classique de la SF : Le monde inverti où un des habitants de la cité Terre, une mégalopole progressant sur le sol inconnu d’une planète effrayante, ne sait rien de l’extérieur et doit maintenant jurer qu’il ne révélera jamais ce qu’il y découvrira. Mais le long des rails qui mènent à l’optimum, il découvrira un monde dominé par le chaos et la barbarie, des paysages déformés, éclairés par l’hyperbole du soleil. Nous sommes bien loin de l’enquête sur le 11 septembre qui est le sujet du roman que je vais vous présenter.
Sachant que l’auteur était un spécialiste de SF, j’ai d’abord été surprise de découvrir un récit plutôt très contemporain, où on se met dans les pas d’un journaliste scientifique qui va subir un drame terrible lors du 11 septembre et s’acharner ensuite à essayer de comprendre ce qui s’est réellement passé. Bien loin de la SF que j’attendais donc, celle-ci ne survenant que dans les ultimes pages pour une petite anticipation de la situation politique américaine quelques années après la fin de l’écriture du roman. C’est bien mince.
Après, je n’ai été nullement déçue. Cela m’a permis de rencontrer la plume de l’auteur et de découvrir la facilité avec laquelle il sait déployer ses scénarios et ses ambiances. Ici, nous sommes dans un récit assez sombre, assez dramatique où l’on suit un homme blessé, qui a du mal à faire son deuil, à tourner la page et qui est obsédé par ce qui est arrivé ce jour tragique. On le suit dans son enquête, ses souvenirs, ses doutes, sa nouvelle vie qui peine à démarrer. C’est tour à tour glaçant, poignant, bouleversant et ça se dévore.
J’ai aimé découvrir aux côtés de Ben les mécanismes des théories du complot, la façon dont celles-ci naissent et croissent sur les cendres d’un dossier opaque que les politiques ne souhaitent pas entièrement ouvrir au public, ce qui suscite des interrogations. De leurs maladresses, leurs incohérences, leurs zones d’ombres profitent ceux qui veulent faire progresser ce genre d’idée et on se retrouve avec une instrumentalisation de moments tragiques. C’est très bien décrit ici à travers la figure toute en nuance de Ben aux côtés duquel on doute jusqu’au bout, car certains éléments collent et d’autres non. Cela m’a beaucoup plu car cela a ravivé des souvenirs en moi, cette tragédie ayant eu lieu quand j’entrais au lycée, j’en ai un vif souvenir et je comprends les interrogations de Ben. J’ai d’ailleurs également apprécié que l’auteur profite de ce sujet pour traiter de la société américaine mais également mondiale, à travers le phénomène croissant des réseaux sociaux et leur rôle dans ces situations. C’était assez fascinant sous sa plume, toujours fine et juste.
Alors non pas de SF ici, ou si peu qu’elle n’a pas besoin d’être mentionnée, mais à la place un récit de vie contemporain poignant sur la difficulté d’un homme à tourner la page après avoir perdu son grand amour dans un terrible accident imprévisible. Une évocation angoissante du 11 septembre et de ses conséquences sur ceux l’ayant vécu et subi. Une enquête pleine d’émotion qui se met à la place de celui qui peine à croire la vérité officielle sans jamais le juger. Je suis ravie d’avoir découvert Priest avec ce texte à la fois intimiste et universel.
Article complet : https://lesblablasdetachan.wordpress....
October 6, 2018
Always thrilled to receive the new Chris Priest with trembling fingers. I realize he is more popularly known for The Prestige, but I prefer his fantastical realism books like The Gradual, The Adjacent, and his work in the Dream Archipelago.
An American Story is rather a left turn in Priest's oeuvre, a thinly veiled journalistic fiction regarding the causes outcomes, and coverup of the 9/11 tragedy. The narrator, a science journalist, investigates 9/11 relentlessly at various times over the 20 years since it had occurred (book time) because he lost a lover On American 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. But personal and world events leading up to that fateful day and the singular lack of answers and lies around never recovering any of her DNA form the basis for the narrator's obsession.
It is also a meditation on group think: If everyone believes a lie, then it becomes truth. Plus emerging efforts by the government to use the early forms of social media to obfuscate and control their narrative. Priest doesn't champion any particular theory, but lays out many of the possible reasons why 9/11 was a hoax in some way, shape, or form. He credits no particular conspiracy theory, nor does he discount well-reasoned experts. That is for the reader to decide and, as I said, the list of each is hardly exhaustive, merely representative.
But it is fiction. That is what the reader must remember. Perhaps most telling is that even though the book moves forward and backwards in time to tell its semi-non-linear story, the date that the book is written, according to the narrator, is 2021.
I think this was something Priest needed to get off his chest, similar to Neal Stephenson,so full of current and near-future realistic space flight/living factoids,he was compelled to barf volumes of said details in Seveneves. An American Story is far better.
My only complaint is that a Priest book is such a rare occurrence, I'm a little disappointed that it wasn't up to my expectation, hence the four stars. Yet, as always, the prose is flawless, effortless, and the characters vivid. Crossing my fingers that Gollancz already is working with him on a new manuscript.
An American Story is rather a left turn in Priest's oeuvre, a thinly veiled journalistic fiction regarding the causes outcomes, and coverup of the 9/11 tragedy. The narrator, a science journalist, investigates 9/11 relentlessly at various times over the 20 years since it had occurred (book time) because he lost a lover On American 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. But personal and world events leading up to that fateful day and the singular lack of answers and lies around never recovering any of her DNA form the basis for the narrator's obsession.
It is also a meditation on group think: If everyone believes a lie, then it becomes truth. Plus emerging efforts by the government to use the early forms of social media to obfuscate and control their narrative. Priest doesn't champion any particular theory, but lays out many of the possible reasons why 9/11 was a hoax in some way, shape, or form. He credits no particular conspiracy theory, nor does he discount well-reasoned experts. That is for the reader to decide and, as I said, the list of each is hardly exhaustive, merely representative.
But it is fiction. That is what the reader must remember. Perhaps most telling is that even though the book moves forward and backwards in time to tell its semi-non-linear story, the date that the book is written, according to the narrator, is 2021.
I think this was something Priest needed to get off his chest, similar to Neal Stephenson,so full of current and near-future realistic space flight/living factoids,he was compelled to barf volumes of said details in Seveneves. An American Story is far better.
My only complaint is that a Priest book is such a rare occurrence, I'm a little disappointed that it wasn't up to my expectation, hence the four stars. Yet, as always, the prose is flawless, effortless, and the characters vivid. Crossing my fingers that Gollancz already is working with him on a new manuscript.
March 22, 2019
I greatly admire Chris Priest's work. His novel “The Prestige”, about two dueling magicians in Victorian times, is a brilliant piece of deception (pun intended). It was made into a fairly successful movie starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, directed by Christopher Nolan. I highly recommend the book BEFORE you see the movie; you'll get the full benefit of Priest's narrative deception.
Deception, ambiguity, misleading references, conflicting statements... Chris Priest always challenges a reader to figure out what is going on, who is a reliable narrator (even to themselves), and what does it all mean. He presents the reader with alternative possibilities of the story he's telling. There seems to be multiple, contradictory storylines in each of his books.
But he's never done this with a 'real' event. Until now.
This is a book about 9/11, and the stories we told ourselves afterwards. The first-person narrator is a journalist who does much of the same research that Priest admits doing in an afterword. To say Priest is not a conspiracy theorist but a skeptic would be fair. He uses his patented approach of presenting alternative explanations of a story's actions by applying it to the events of 9/11. In the book a mathematician summarizes this philosophy by recounting the Thomas Theorem of sociology: If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. In other words, the interpretation of a situation causes the action. So whatever 'really' happened, it is meaningful only in the way that people perceive it and act on it subsequently.
I can't say I enjoyed this book, because like many people within the book I detest the implications of the thesis. But as usual, I admire Priest's method of challenging my understanding of what is 'real'.
Priest is British and I read the British edition on Kindle, and while most of his books find American publishers, I can find no indication it has been picked up yet by an American publisher. You don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to understand why: it's a heartbreaking read for an American audience.
Deception, ambiguity, misleading references, conflicting statements... Chris Priest always challenges a reader to figure out what is going on, who is a reliable narrator (even to themselves), and what does it all mean. He presents the reader with alternative possibilities of the story he's telling. There seems to be multiple, contradictory storylines in each of his books.
But he's never done this with a 'real' event. Until now.
This is a book about 9/11, and the stories we told ourselves afterwards. The first-person narrator is a journalist who does much of the same research that Priest admits doing in an afterword. To say Priest is not a conspiracy theorist but a skeptic would be fair. He uses his patented approach of presenting alternative explanations of a story's actions by applying it to the events of 9/11. In the book a mathematician summarizes this philosophy by recounting the Thomas Theorem of sociology: If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. In other words, the interpretation of a situation causes the action. So whatever 'really' happened, it is meaningful only in the way that people perceive it and act on it subsequently.
I can't say I enjoyed this book, because like many people within the book I detest the implications of the thesis. But as usual, I admire Priest's method of challenging my understanding of what is 'real'.
Priest is British and I read the British edition on Kindle, and while most of his books find American publishers, I can find no indication it has been picked up yet by an American publisher. You don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to understand why: it's a heartbreaking read for an American audience.
December 22, 2023
This book reads to me like an itch the author had to scratch. It is a page turner, all right, but it does run around in circles a bit, and hammers a few points a little too hard.
Would have been better if it were somewhat shorter. Highly readable, and generally pretty plausible, and with a few things to say about truth, openness and human fallibility; but to me it feels like a relatively minor work.
If this is the only Priest book you have read, and you're unimpressed, have a go at something else; if you like the playing with narrative order, the confused protagonist who is searching for answers and the difficulty of being sure of the answers that are found -- all of which are pretty true to life! -- then have a go at another one; maybe The Separation or The Prestige or The Affirmation. I also enjoyed The Adjacent, but I think that one would be more interesting to a reader who had read the other books I have listed first.
On the whole, not bad but not at the first rank of the author's work. I expect it took some bravery to publish it -- author runs the risk of looking like a nutjob conspiracy theorist, rather than a writer using a major real event to explore the power of stories, the personal need for some kind of truth and the manipulation of the media and of public attention, all of which are topics well worth exploring.
It would be easy to fail to understand what the author is trying to do and then denigrate the book accordingly.
But, as I said, it is rather a page-turner.
Turn that page
Would have been better if it were somewhat shorter. Highly readable, and generally pretty plausible, and with a few things to say about truth, openness and human fallibility; but to me it feels like a relatively minor work.
If this is the only Priest book you have read, and you're unimpressed, have a go at something else; if you like the playing with narrative order, the confused protagonist who is searching for answers and the difficulty of being sure of the answers that are found -- all of which are pretty true to life! -- then have a go at another one; maybe The Separation or The Prestige or The Affirmation. I also enjoyed The Adjacent, but I think that one would be more interesting to a reader who had read the other books I have listed first.
On the whole, not bad but not at the first rank of the author's work. I expect it took some bravery to publish it -- author runs the risk of looking like a nutjob conspiracy theorist, rather than a writer using a major real event to explore the power of stories, the personal need for some kind of truth and the manipulation of the media and of public attention, all of which are topics well worth exploring.
It would be easy to fail to understand what the author is trying to do and then denigrate the book accordingly.
But, as I said, it is rather a page-turner.
Turn that page
October 14, 2018
Pour se débarrasser des choses qui fâchent, je vais tout de suite faire part de ma surprise, en effet étant un roman de la collection Lunes D'Encre, je m'attendais à un roman de science-fiction (ou au moins un récit en ayant des éléments), mais ici il n'en est rien. Nous suivons un journaliste impliqué dans les conséquences de l'après 11 septembre 2001, obsédé par l'événement ici présenté sous forme d'enquête mais aussi de moments de vie et de souvenirs et ce pour une raison, faire son deuil de ce jour tragique.
En dehors cette déconvenue de contenu, j'ai passé un moment de lecture très agréable, une enquête rondement menée avec une théorie intéressante et des recherches poussées sur une catastrophe qui nous a tous marqués au fer rouge, je me souviens encore de ma découverte de cet événement sur toutes les chaînes en direct ce jour tragique, des images atroces que l'ont nous a martelé en boucle pendant des jours.
L'intrigue est fictive bien-sûr mais aussi plausible. S'y mêle une belle histoire d'amour et surtout un deuil impossible à faire lorsque l'être cher s'est volatilisé sans traces. Le personnage du journaliste est excellent psychologiquement parlant.
Christopher Priest nous propose cette histoire avec une écriture ciselée et complexe telle une toile d'araignée, en entremêlant les époques nous tenant en haleine de bout en bout sans jamais nous perdre car tout est bien placé, bien calculé, même avec ce récit emmêlé diluant les informations avec parcimonie tenant le lecteur captivé.
C'est un des rares récits sur les attentats du World Trade Center qui ne fait ni l'apologie de ce que l'on nous a montré dans les médias ni celle de la théorie du complot, le lecteur se fait son propre avis ou alors il se laisse porté par l'histoire contée ici sans prendre parti.
Une réelle bonne surprise, mais qui aurait bien plus sa place au rayon littérature contemporaine.
Voir la chronique sur mon blog :
https://unbouquinsinonrien.blogspot.c...
En dehors cette déconvenue de contenu, j'ai passé un moment de lecture très agréable, une enquête rondement menée avec une théorie intéressante et des recherches poussées sur une catastrophe qui nous a tous marqués au fer rouge, je me souviens encore de ma découverte de cet événement sur toutes les chaînes en direct ce jour tragique, des images atroces que l'ont nous a martelé en boucle pendant des jours.
L'intrigue est fictive bien-sûr mais aussi plausible. S'y mêle une belle histoire d'amour et surtout un deuil impossible à faire lorsque l'être cher s'est volatilisé sans traces. Le personnage du journaliste est excellent psychologiquement parlant.
Christopher Priest nous propose cette histoire avec une écriture ciselée et complexe telle une toile d'araignée, en entremêlant les époques nous tenant en haleine de bout en bout sans jamais nous perdre car tout est bien placé, bien calculé, même avec ce récit emmêlé diluant les informations avec parcimonie tenant le lecteur captivé.
C'est un des rares récits sur les attentats du World Trade Center qui ne fait ni l'apologie de ce que l'on nous a montré dans les médias ni celle de la théorie du complot, le lecteur se fait son propre avis ou alors il se laisse porté par l'histoire contée ici sans prendre parti.
Une réelle bonne surprise, mais qui aurait bien plus sa place au rayon littérature contemporaine.
Voir la chronique sur mon blog :
https://unbouquinsinonrien.blogspot.c...
January 17, 2023
Christopher Priest has spent fifty years misleading, manipulating, tricking and thoroughly unsettling his readers and in this novel, he's on excellent form. A lot of writers would have made this a straightforward thriller in which a bereaved lover searching for explanations in the aftermath of 9/11 comes up against scary US government agencies in one of those 'you're not paranoid, they really are out to get you' plotlines. Priest however largely avoids putting his protagonist in direct physical danger, preferring to spend the story undermining anything his characters thought was 'true'. As ever in Priest's work, reality is a subjective and negotiated construct and nothing is ever what it seems.
I found a lot of this novel fascinating, but the maths element left me cold (was it even necessary to the whole?) and the plethora of unanswered and unanswerable questions wore me down. It wasn't that I expected a conclusive revelation - I've read enough Priest to know that that would not be forthcoming. Rather, it was the accumulation of small ambiguities, might-have-beens, and general 'what ifs' that made the book more a philosophical investigation into the nature of truth than a compelling story in itself. I love Priest's style...I counted only one simile in the whole thing, yet the descriptions were consistently evocative and haunting. An intriguing, provocative, and deeply frustrating novel which is far more than 'another 9/11 book'. The afterword is well worth a look, too.
I found a lot of this novel fascinating, but the maths element left me cold (was it even necessary to the whole?) and the plethora of unanswered and unanswerable questions wore me down. It wasn't that I expected a conclusive revelation - I've read enough Priest to know that that would not be forthcoming. Rather, it was the accumulation of small ambiguities, might-have-beens, and general 'what ifs' that made the book more a philosophical investigation into the nature of truth than a compelling story in itself. I love Priest's style...I counted only one simile in the whole thing, yet the descriptions were consistently evocative and haunting. An intriguing, provocative, and deeply frustrating novel which is far more than 'another 9/11 book'. The afterword is well worth a look, too.
October 20, 2019
A slightly different direction for Mr Priest, and not one that initially interested me. However, I decided to give it a go, as the basic premise of the story – conspiracy theories – is similar to the regular themes which underpin most of his writing.
He tells the story in a typical Priestian way; a couple of chapters in and I was really enjoying it and looking forward to the dark twists and turns that would be uncovered. But that wasn't really to be. Three quarters through, and it really felt like the author had got so sidetracked with reading up on 9/11 conspiracy theories, that he lost enthusiasm for his own story.
What we have is a good, expertly written, researched and detailed story, but a straightforward one. I was desperate for it to go into slightly more harrowing territory. It does make you think and perhaps question things, but if you're a fan of his usual style of alternative existences or timelines, then yo might be a little disappointed in the direction An American Story takes.
He tells the story in a typical Priestian way; a couple of chapters in and I was really enjoying it and looking forward to the dark twists and turns that would be uncovered. But that wasn't really to be. Three quarters through, and it really felt like the author had got so sidetracked with reading up on 9/11 conspiracy theories, that he lost enthusiasm for his own story.
What we have is a good, expertly written, researched and detailed story, but a straightforward one. I was desperate for it to go into slightly more harrowing territory. It does make you think and perhaps question things, but if you're a fan of his usual style of alternative existences or timelines, then yo might be a little disappointed in the direction An American Story takes.
August 14, 2019
I really liked this book and had trouble putting it down. I never knew that it was hard to publish a book on 9/11 - let alone a fictional book on 9/11. I remember a couple days after 9/11, I said to my colleague that it wouldn't surprise me to find out that the US was involved. Of course my colleague got very angry at me, because if you are an American citizen you are not to ever question the leaders of the US, and if you do, you don't love this country. Such an antiquated way of thinking, especially if you know how the US came about, a bunch of terrorists rebelled against their king. US citizens were born to question their authority. So it wasn't shocking to read this book at all. And even though it's fiction, I wouldn't be surprised at all if some of it were true.
Even though this book didn't have more fantastical images, plot twists, etc, I still really liked it. My favorite book of Priest's still remains to be The Quiet Woman, so far.
Even though this book didn't have more fantastical images, plot twists, etc, I still really liked it. My favorite book of Priest's still remains to be The Quiet Woman, so far.
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