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Nov 16, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

A nation's tragedy brings out the best and the worst in its citizens. Amy Waldman places her story at the center of America's tragedy, two years after the devastation. A contest for a 9/11 memorial where the World Trade Center once stood brings to a boil all the simmering hurt and mistrust and fear about the future. What is it that causes this firestorm of media distortion and political posturing? What revelation leads to threats and accusations and even violence? Just a name. The name of the co More...

9 comments like (14 people liked it)

Dec 25, 2011

Kathy rated it:

This novel came in for me during the weekend of 9/11. Being the 10th anniversary of the attack, I looked forward to reading it over the weekend. I was very disappointed.

It begins two years after the September 11th attacks, and a jury has been assembled to select a WTC memorial from thousands of submissions that are anonymous. After much discussion, “The Garden” is selected. When the sealed envelope is opened the architect is revealed, a Muslim named Mohammad Khan. “Mo” as his frie More...

5 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2012

Nate rated it:

The premise is so intriguing: What would happen if a nation-wide contest to design the 9/11 Memorial was held and the blind judging panel picked a Muslim winner?

SPOILERS AHOY AHOY

Amy Waldman's story unravels realistically. The media churns out drivel and instigates more controversy. The panel collapse into themselves with over-thinking and uber-PC dialogue. The winner broods and employs lawyers to get a fair shake at the prestige of honoring those that were killed. The ra More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2012

Ed rated it:

A Muslim American named Mohammad "Mo" Khan wins a blind design contest for NYC's WTC memorial? That premise alone tells Amy Waldman's debut novel is a work of fiction, but the events that swirl around the submission proves to be an all too true examination of post-9/11 America.

I found the novel to be quite reminiscent of what has been my favorite/best post-9/11 novel to-date, Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin. Both novels operate under a similar structure, a large an More...

4 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2012

Michael rated it:

Although I was once a New Yorker and had family members on the scene of 9/11 in NY and DC (all thankfully safe), I am not a 9/11 obsessive or fanatic (Both My Former Hometowns Were Terrorized and I All I Got Was Two Wars, the Patriot Act and This Lousy T-Shirt.) Like a low-key take on "Bonfire of the Vanities," heavy on compassion and easy on the sarcasm, Waldman's wonderful what-if tale (what if a Muslim won the 9/11 Memorial competition?) successfully explicates a kaleidiscope of vie More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 04, 2011

Susan rated it:

Really 4.5 stars. I read this during the week of the tenth anniversary of 9-11, and it was a fitting book to get me to think about what effect the event really had on our country.

This novel takes place two years after the 9-11 attacks. A jury has been set up to judge entries submitted for a 9-11 memorial. All entries are anonymous, and the jury is shocked when they discover that the entry they pick was created by an American named Mohammed Khan. The story is about the fallout.
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2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 27, 2011

Teresa rated it:

The Submission made my ten best books for 2011. It is an extremely thought provoking read that I would recommend to anyone, especially those who may be scared or ignorant of the Muslim religion.

This story takes place in 2003 NYC. They city has assembled a group of judges, who accept, and wade through, submissions for a memorial at the site of the twin towers. The group decides they do not want to know who the designer is until they have made a final decision as to which design they More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2012

Lisa rated it:

This novel felt so true to life that I often wondered if it had already happened. Waldman sets up a hypothesis and portrays the resulting scenarios in a frighteningly accurate way. Any possible thought or action that could be expected in such a situation is touched upon. Hearing from the different people involved allows us to gain more sympathy for the varying perspectives. At first when I realized the last chapter was set 20 years in the future, I was annoyed; it was an abrupt plot device. But More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Booksaremyboyfriends rated it:

I felt this book on a visceral level. It sucked me in, lit a rage fire in my belly, drove me up the wall, and broke my heart. A panoramic depiction of a series of fictional post-9/11 events, this is an important book for Americans to read. And don't let the adjective "important" trick you into thinking this is anywhere in the same universe as boring. I ripped through this motherf---er like it was HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. Recommend, recommend, recommend.

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Sep 24, 2011

Barbara rated it:

This is an excellent lesson in humility. It is impossible to sit and read It smugly,at least for me. As abhorrent as many of the views and reactions of the characters were, I realized that it was difficult not to find myself rationalizing their pettiness. Reading THE SUBMISSION was uncomfortable, with characters all too familiar and human. This is a superb read.

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Feb 17, 2012

Liz rated it:

I liked the premise of this book -- it stirred up some of the dormant rage at the whole NYC mosque incident, which basically offended me on a personal level to an extent that most political bullshit doesn't.

That said, the premise is the best and most ambitious part of this book. The main characters start off promising, but end up disappointing. There was character development, but no character growth -- the main characters basically regressed into worthless human beings.

I'm s More...

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Feb 04, 2012

Alex rated it:

4.5 stars, really. (Please, Goodreads, add halves! It bugs me to be so inexact, heh.) In this story, a group meeting to choose a design for a 9/11 memorial unwittingly (the competition is anonymous) chooses the design of a man with the name of Mohammed Khan. Political pandemonium ensues. As I read this book, I had two major thoughts. One was: "Wow! It's amazing how realistic this book feels! What a coup by Waldman!" The second was: "This book is infuriatingly realistic! I totally More...

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Feb 04, 2012

Becca rated it:

Three and a half stars. The novel begins with a promising concept: An arts jury selecting the design for a 9/11-like memorial discovers that the architect is a Muslim-American. With the stage set, Waldman opens a window into the minds of several characters as they react to the news.

The concept is certainly timely - closely mirroring the recent furor over building an Islamic Center near Ground Zero. However, Waldman's characters fail to surprise or come to life. A young journalist for More...

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Jan 22, 2012

Jenny rated it:

The Submission is a serious and thought provoking novel about issues of racism, tolerance, and awareness; about immigration, belief systems, and grief's healing processes. It's two years after the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers. A jury of artists and professionals, including one family member of a person who died in that attack, have convened to choose the winning architectural entry for the memorial that will be built at ground zero. After some conflicts and thorough discussion, they decide on More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 07, 2011

Julie rated it:

The Submission takes the reader back to the time following the terrorist attacks on September 11 and imagines the events that might unfold if the anonymously-submitted design of a Muslim was selected in a juried competition for a memorial to the victims of that attack. In so doing, the author is able to present in a kind of Greek chorus fashion the kaleidoscope of perspectives, emotions, and agendas that colored that time. I thought the author was able to convey the core of many characters wit More...

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Nov 01, 2011

Jane rated it:

Thought for the Day
If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.

Margaret Mead

The above passage came to me as one of a series of daily inspirational messages I receive. Margaret Mead makes the same point Waldman makes in her novel: we in the US must learn to regard each person as un More...

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Sep 30, 2011

Matt rated it:

I really enjoyed this, even though I think it has some obvious limitations and especially since it's part of a whole sub-genre of literature these days, where ensemble casts interact somewhat soap operatically around a social issue of the day, which lately seems to be 9.11.

But in spite of that, I really liked it. Part of my appreciation might be the timing, that I'm reading this book as its still in the news cycle and not well after it like I usually do. But there are other factors, to More...

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Sep 24, 2011

Carol rated it:

I really benefited from reading this novel. With the actual opening of the WTC Memorial having recently occurred when I started this book, it was especially interesting to read at this time. I also appreciated discovering an article about the architect (Michael Arad), who designed the real memorial - thanks, to Goodreads’ member, McKensie.

The complex personalities involved in this story made it seem very authentic. I can visualize a committee of people arguing about choosing a winn More...

1 comment like

Sep 19, 2011

Felice rated it:

The Submission by Amy Waldman is a 9/11 story set in 2003, two years after the attacks. The plot centers around a jury selected to view the design applications for a 9/11 memorial in New York City and the architect of the winning design. Originally these people come together for aesthetic and professional reasons. The judges were selected by the Governor and then they chose the winner anonymously. All that professionalism is knocked for a loop when after the choice is made by the jury it is dis More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 16, 2012

Vanessa rated it:

Okay. I could see this trying to go the same way as "The Bonfire of the Vanities," with points of view from the rich widow, the poor widow, the Muslim architect, the oily journalist, the female Rush Limbaugh, etc. But it fell short to me, mostly because it lacked a sense of place. With "Bonfire," I really got a sense of place about NYC. But in this book, especially with 9/11 as a literally earth-shattering event that affected all New Yorkers, I never really got a sense of NYC More...

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Oct 21, 2011

Holly rated it:

I prefer novels and stories that deal with 9/11 obliquely, like Saturday by McEwan, Deborah Eisenberg's "Twilight of the Superheroes," maybe Netherland by O'Neill, and especially James Hynes's Next. So for me this was not the "9/11 novel we have been waiting for," and which Maureen Corrigan gushed about as being "poetic and polemical."

I thought Waldman's best writing was in the longer descriptive passages. There is a scene near the end in which the reade More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 29, 2011

McKenzie rated it:

This novel examines the tensions between Muslims and Americans following 9/11, and how the media, collective ignorance, and general xenophobia have the potential to destroy the basic tenets of American democracy and tolerance. I was very impressed by Waldman's handling of the story, which is gripping and heartbreaking, but less so with her characterization. In her attempt to create nuanced characters who vacillate between supporting and rejecting the 9/11 Memorial designed by an American of Musl More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 13, 2012

Larry rated it:

This was a fantastic, thought-provoking book.

Two years after the 9/11 attacks, a competition is underway to design a memorial at Ground Zero. A jury composed of noted artists, historians, critics, and Claire Burwell, a young widow whose husband was killed in the attack, has narrowed down the selection to two finalists. After an impassioned discussion led by Claire, the jury selects a winner, known as The Garden. And when the name of the architect is revealed (all submissions were an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 25, 2011

Rosie rated it:

I love this stuff: cultural identity and collective memory and the politics of art and memorialisation. It's what gets me thinking and feeling and really quite exercised in a very good way.

How does a person and a people balance rational thought and emotional unease? Is discrimination based on race or religion anything other than racism and bigotry? Should art transcend personal grievance? My sympathies barely wavered as I read because I know where I stand on these things, but it wa More...

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Nov 26, 2011

L-J rated it:

A jury of artists, historians, architects, and a family member of a victim judge the anonymous submissions of designs for a 9/11 memorial at the site of the WTC. They unknowingly select the design submitted by a Muslim American. And all hell breaks loose.

This book had a very New York-y rhythm and vibe that hooked me immediately (I guess it's like riding a bike...). Like Bonfire of the Vanities and the wannabe Visits from the Goon Squad, a large and disparate group of people react an More...

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Nov 13, 2011

Mom rated it:

A very interesting plot -- a committee is charged with selecting the design of a 9/11 memorial, and after they select the winner they discover that he is a Muslim. The ethical and political dilemma that follows is engrossing and complex. The characters are interesting and fluid, like real people, and the plot moves swiftly. The story really made me think; the dilemma is not as clear-cut as you'd initially think, especially because the key characters do not fit expectations. For example, th More...

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Aug 25, 2011

Kasa rated it:

This could well be titled "Immolation of the Vanities" in that it mirrors the current age as did Tom Wolfe's 1987 exploration of greed and hubris of the 80's. The events surrounding a proposed memorial to the victims of 9/11 are personified by an extraordinarily rich cast of characters. Each is an embodiment of a different aspect of the attacks, but none are one dimensional. Their conficts and high emotional responses are recognizable and complicated. As described, events are set i More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2012

Jo rated it:

Wonderful book.

The following review is from Amazon but summarizes it better than I can.

Ten years after 9/11, a dazzling, kaleidoscopic novel reimagines its aftermath

A jury gathers in Manhattan to select a memorial for the victims of a devastating terrorist attack. Their fraught deliberations complete, the jurors open the envelope containing the anonymous winner’s name—and discover he is an American Muslim. Instantly they are cast into roiling debate about the claims More...

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Aug 28, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

I am going to try to do this book justice, although my ability to write a compelling book review is sadly lacking (especially considering my current profession).

It is very rare for me to have such visceral reactions while reading books. This book led to moments of deep anger, complete sadness, and some despair (occasionally so deep that I felt the emotions in the pit of my stomach). Waldman's writing is wonderful, and the storyline is compelling (and very realistic).

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1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2012

Virginia rated it:

The idea behind this book is riveting. It has been two years since the World Trade Center calamity. After a blind contest, a design is selected for a memorial. The designer is an American and a Muslim. This story tells what happens thereafter. This would make for an amazing discussion or right or wrong, religion, fairness, honor and dignity, but it does not make an amazing book or, at least, not this one. This novel is told from far too many points of view - the architect, an unscrupulous More...

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