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must
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Fact today, fiction tomorrow:
The best of the 9/11 novels
Come September, the tragedy of the 9/11 attack is recalled
world over, but fiction novels grappling with the subject have
kept readers hooked and the conspiracy theories alive. Instep
reviews two of the best fictional novels dealing with the subject
and the aftermath of 9/11.
By Aysha Raja
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are countless genres of fiction. More than you can shake a fist at,
and trust me you'll want to shake a fist at them because the prospect
of reading all of them can be quite daunting. As a bookseller it is
my job to have a varied knowledge of what's out there. The latest
genre writers and critics around the world are currently grappling
with is the 9/11 novel. |
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Although
the events that took place on that day were limited to the United
States, writers all over the world have poured over the incident,
its aftermath and the lives it affected. When you consider that The
Kite Runner and The Reluctant Fundamentalist are some of the highest
selling novels of this century (keeping in mind we are early enough
in the century for me to make that statement confidently) there is
no denying the international appeal of this genre.
In the last year or so the 9/11 genre itself has undergone something
of a transformation. In addition to the clichéd preoccupation
with the terrorist mind (see John Updike's Terrorist, Martin Amis'
The Second Plane, Don DeLillo's Falling Man and Ian Mc Ewan's Saturday),
we now have more introspective works about how the western world may
have squandered the windfall moral capital they gained that fateful
day, and how this lead to a crisis of confidence in our political
leaders.
Here are my recommendations for the best amongst the genre.
The Ghost by
Robert Harris
You'll find The Ghost everywhere. It's what's commonly referred
to as an 'airport novel', a pejorative term used to describe a fast-paced,
plot driven novel with twists and turns designed to keep the traveler
distracted. On that account alone it enjoys a lesser status to your
average Booker nominee. Imagine my shock when after reading it I
found myself in the unenviable position of having to eat my pseudo
literary opinion by admitting it was a perfect vehicle for exploring
the discontentment felt by people who feel cheated, lied to and
deceived by their political leaders.
Robert Harris has sold over 10 million books worldwide. He is particularly
known for his bestselling novels Fatherland, Enigma and most recently
Imperium, none of which I have read due to my literary snobbery.
Before reading The Ghost, I'm ashamed to say I was far more swayed
by the glowing reviews delivered by The Literary Review and Times
Literary Supplement than the fact that hundreds of thousands of
other readers had thought fit to pick it up |
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The
Ghost tells the intriguing tale of a ghost writer who has been hastily
appointed to complete the much sought after multi-million dollar memoirs
of the ex- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Mr. Adam Lang after
the original writer was found dead in mysterious circumstances. From
the outset it is clear that Robert Harris has based the character
of Adam Lang on the charismatic real-life former Prime Minister Tony
Blair. Like Blair, Harris' Lang is a disgraced prime minister forced
from office due to the now unpopular War on Terror. Harris delivers
on the details as well: Both Blair and Land are married to formidable
women whom "the camera hated...almost as much as it loved her
husband."
On the other hand, the ghost writer himself remains nameless throughout
the novel. A useful plot device, this anonymity a de rigueur prerequisite
for the trade allows the character some room for profound comments
on society and politics, comments that one would expect, incidentally,
from a ghost-written political memoir.
There's a scathing indictment of society's obsession with the cult
of celebrity as a character, the editor of a large publishing house,
bemoan the Elevation of the Moron. The editor reveals the best-selling
novelists of the year were "the actress with the tits and the
ex-army psycho, neither of whom had written a word of fiction."
Thankfully, vindicating my opinion that best sellers are crap!
We follow the ghost writer he crosses the Atlantic to his subject
matter Adam Lang. Through him we learn of the disillusionment of an
English speaking world that has been beaten into a constant state
of paranoia, with a kaleidoscope of terror alerts, humiliating airport
security procedures and unrelenting rhetoric on the threat to the
free world.
With
Lang and the ghost writer holed up in a retreat on Martha's Vineyard,
news breaks that Adam Lang, during his term as PM, had violated international
law by authorizing the SAS to kidnap four British citizens of Pakistani
origin from Peshawar, and hand them over to the CIA for interrogation
(translation "rendition" and "torture"). The press
begins speculating whether Lang should be hauled up before an international
court on suspicion of war crimes. But Lang, it appears, is more concerned
with preventing an even greater conspiracy, perhaps the greatest ever,
from seeing the light of day. |
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The Ghost is, above all, a taut political thriller
with scandal, sex, murder and mayhem. What is most commendable is
Harris' use of the novel to enlighten readers who would not ordinarily
be concerned, on the legal limits crossed and moral obligations
flouted in the name of the 'War against Terror'.
Netherland by Joseph O'Neill
Every year there's a book that causes a buzz in literary circles.
It's usually the one tipped to win the Man Booker Prize (unless
the judges like in 2006 go with a lesser book - Kiran Desai's The
Inheritance of Loss, as a compromise for a split vote). According
to the predictions of the literati, all things being equal, and
if the wind is blowing favorably, Netherland is going to scoop the
prize this year.
To simply describe Netherland as a story of cricket in a post 9/11
New York would be a travesty. Yet I've done it to make my life easier
because, like everyone else who has reviewed this multi-layered
novel, I was initially at a loss when trying to convey its premise.
Hans van den Broek, the protagonist of the novel, is a Dutchman
living in New York with his British wife Rachel. They are a well
to do professional couple recently with child, who are suddenly
forced to relocate to the Chelsea Hotel in lower Manhattan after
the events of 9/11 make their downtown apartment uninhabitable.
Rachel, unable to come to terms with the insecurity pervading New
York in the aftermath of the tragedy, and feeling increasingly isolated
from her husband, takes their young son and returns to London.
Abandoned, alone and with time on his hands, Hans begins to frequent
an amateur cricket club operating out of Staten Island, New York.
After years of socializing with fellow stock analyst, lawyers and
other moneyed professionals, Hans finds himself among the Pakistani
cabdrivers, Indian restaurant workers, Trinidadian dock workers
and Sri Lankan shop keepers that run New York. Hans, the lone white
on the team, is literally embraced by his people's colonial past.
Netherland is an honest novel; there are no noble anecdotes about
friendship crossing the bounds of color, class or identity. It's
about a man seeking security and friendship among an unlikely set
of people at a time of deep despair in his life. Rachel accurately
notes Han's lack of emotional investment in their lives when he
fails to question what they do away from the field. He's like an
uncoordinated white man taken in by the sights and sounds of a desi
wedding, yet does not take the participants seriously.
Politically Netherland is made of subtler stuff then the Ghost.
Although Hans is too self-absorbed to notice the world unraveling
around him, Rachel is radicalized and becomes an out spoken critic
of the Bush administration, attending the historic 2003 anti-war
rally held in London carrying a placard with the words "Not
in My Name". It's a relief to read a book where a survivor
of 9/11 does not slip into a violent seizure at the sight of a Keffiyah
(The Arab scarf worn by Yasser Arafat).
Just as I was about to dismiss the 9/11 novel as tired and formulaic,
two books have come along to breathe new life into a theme that
is common and important to all of us. I hope Robert Harris sells
millions more of The Ghost; and Netherland makes it as the Runner
up to the Man Booker Winner of 2008 - sorry Joseph, but my money's
on Mohammad Hanif.
Aysha Raja is a bookseller and avid consumer of
her own wares. She is the proprietor of a new book service The Last
Word (www.thelastword. com.pk)
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