The Submission

Ten years after Sept. 11, 2001, the new novel “The Submission” is a powerful reminder of the charged atmosphere that emerged in the wake of the terrorist attacks. It’s a clever premise that revolves around a ground zero-like memorial competition in 2003 that gets mired in turmoil when the jury selects a design it later discovers is by Mohammad Khan, a Muslim-American. As the jury waivers in what to do, the winner’s design becomes leaked to the media and soon a huge uproar erupts over the choice. The victims’ memorial design stalls as a battle ensues over anti-Islamic sentiments vs. the rights of Muslim-Americans. (Can anyone forget the real-life furor that arose over the “ground zero mosque”?)

The novel convincingly captures the intensity of the aftermath in New York through various characters: namely, through the talented architect who’s never been much of a practicing Muslim and believes his winning design should move forward and through victims’ family members whose emotions run the gamut but whose majority are against a Muslim’s design. There’s also a tabloid journalist who apparently will stop at next to nothing to get a scoop even as it fans the fire and crushes lives.

“The Submission” is heady stuff but immensely readable and reminded me a bit of “The Bonfire of the Vanities” (1987) but with more feeling and less satire. It’s so thorough one feels the heavy weight of the decision of the memorial design from both sides and the affecting culmination at the book’s end. It’s not surprising the author reported on 9/11 back then for the New York Times, but to come up with a debut novel of this scope and depth is quite remarkable. Even the insights into architecture and the atmosphere of the Bangladeshi neighborhood in Brooklyn were impressive.

There have been so few good novels about 9/11 or its aftermath that it’s quite refreshing that this one has defied the odds and proved it could be done.