The Submission by Amy Waldman

Amy Waldman is a brave writer. She has created a novel about 9/11 that is both readable, dense and thought provoking without being sappy and sentimental. Not many authors would attempt to put this national tragedy in the spotlight of their first work of fiction, but more importantly, not many would be able to pull it off with such aplomb.

This is the fictional story of the politics and polarization that occurred around the building of the 9/11 memorial. Eleven jurors finally decide on the anonymous plan to design the memorial only to find out that the architect who submitted the design is an American Muslim. On the jury, the sole survivor family member is the one who stands behind the design placing herself squarely in a swirl of controversy. We follow her, the jury chairman, several other survivor family members and the architect himself as the process is dragged through the media and the rancor of racial factions come to a head.

Waldman knows her stuff. Her background as a New York Times reporter and the South Asia bureau chief, gives her the understanding of both the emotion that accompanied the first years after 9/11 and the subtle differences between the opposing factions’ points of view. She is able to give a believable voice to each of these players.

Honestly, I enjoyed the first part of the novel, but then it sort of flagged in the middle. Toward the end, I was ready to give The Submission a so-so review, until the last chapter, when Waldman brought it all together for me. The infighting, the stupidity and the negative attitudes toward all things Muslim bothered me, but in the end I realized how much I didn’t know about what happened after the glare of the spotlight faded from the people and groups that were involved. I think those of us who don’t live in New York City or know people who lived there during the attacks think of the actual tragedy itself and the people who lost their lives there, but don’t necessarily think about how, in the wake of the event, the world’s acceptance and tolerance of Islam and the Muslim world turned on a dime. This book drove that point home for me.

In the end, The Submission is a book about memory and how we memorialize tragic events. What is an appropriate memorial for one person may not be appropriate for others. What makes a memorial? How are these spaces used by the public? Are they used to help people heal or are they for reliving the events? This was the core of the book for me.

The events of 9/11 are remembered in terms of brave people doing brave things to save us from horrible acts of violence.  I think Ms. Waldman may be one of the bravest of all in the aftermath because she is unafraid to tell people’s stories with unabashed truth. She meets their stories head on and without fear of backlash and we learn from her bravery. Some are touting this book as the quintessential 9/11 book of our time. I don’t know if that’s the case, but for me it was one of the few I have read and enjoyed. While this book was not my favorite read, it might be the book I learned the most from.