The Submission by Amy Waldman

[katekintailbc]

The Submission
by Amy Waldman

This book is the All Fairfax Reads book for 2012. It's the book the county suggests we all read and then the author speaks at our book festival in September. I read last year's All Fairfax Reads book and adored it, so I was looking forward to this one.

Months since I read it, I'm still not so sure what to make of it. It's the story of a contest held to build a 9-11 memorial at Ground Zero. The contest had blind submissions, and the winning submission chosen--a design referred to as The Garden--happened to have been designed by a Muslim. Therein lies the problem.

Some people insist that shows the very freedoms of America we are striving to uphold. Others see it as an insult to the people who lost their lives at the hand of a few extremists. And the designer refuses to explain his design or want his design to be judged because of his religion.

The story follows several different threads/perspectives: the head of the memorial committee (who wants the project to bring him professional success), the "family" representative on the committee who lost her husband on 9-11 (who spearheaded the decision to choose the garden design), the designer (who isn't a very devout Muslim, but believes in the strength of his design), a brother of a man who was killed on 9-11 (who leads an effort to get the garden design thrown out), a reporter (who believes this story might make her career), a Muslim woman whose husband was killed on 9-11 (who speaks little-to-no-English and who illegally came to the US with her husband), and a woman lawyer (who is talented and speaks for victims... but who doesn't make all that much of a difference in the plot).

So this interesting situation is shown from all these different sides and perspectives. And I found myself siding with each character each time. They're sympathetic, strong characters who have good points and emotional connections. And when they clash, I find it hard to make up my mind as to who I want to win! It was also interesting to see how the country as a whole reacted to developments of the announcement. I found it believable.

At the end, I was looking forward to some resolution, some definitive winner, something to show me how this entire book of drama and debate should turn out. And I felt a bit let down with the ending. The final bit definitely helped me, emotionally, but I was shocked and kind of sad at the result.

I'm looking forward to hearing what the author has to say about the book and what sorts of questions/comments people have for her.