Comments on: The Great American 9/11 Novel http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/03/22/the-great-american-911-novel/ All that flavorful brownness in one savory packet Sat, 30 Nov 2013 11:11:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Phillygrrl http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/03/22/the-great-american-911-novel/comment-page-1/#comment-289123 Phillygrrl Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:18:35 +0000 http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/?p=8706#comment-289123 <p>Thanks PG, I put that on my wishlist and will definitely read it ASAP.</p> Thanks PG, I put that on my wishlist and will definitely read it ASAP.

]]> By: Andrew http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/03/22/the-great-american-911-novel/comment-page-1/#comment-289117 Andrew Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:33:55 +0000 http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/?p=8706#comment-289117 <p>For art inspired by 9/11, I don't hate Reign Over Me. And I like Springsteen's The Rising.</p> For art inspired by 9/11, I don’t hate Reign Over Me. And I like Springsteen’s The Rising.

]]> By: PG http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/03/22/the-great-american-911-novel/comment-page-1/#comment-289105 PG Sun, 25 Mar 2012 07:32:45 +0000 http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/?p=8706#comment-289105 <p>The author specifically disclaims it as a "9/11 novel," but <i>Netherland</i> is the closest I've come to reading anything of that type. It resonated with me because the narrator is like the vast majority of New Yorkers -- the most immediate effect of the attack for him is a matter of real estate, and then the attack's success (the terror his wife says she now feels in NYC) pushes the rest of the novel's events along. It's an impressive instance of the cliche "write what you know," so that instead of trying to imagine himself into the shoes of a firefighter's wife or a turban-wearer, O'Neill wrote about an upper-class Dutchman who emigrates to London, then to New York. His narrator becomes involved with some brown folks not because WHITE MAN SAVE THEM FROM THE ISLAMOPHOBIA, but because he starts to play cricket and in America, cricket is not a white man's sport. And as someone who likes NYC and spent several years there but isn't a New Yorker, I really liked the novel's sense of place -- its clarity of geography and of NYC dynamics like the struggle to get time on public playing fields -- without making excessive claims to it.</p> <p>You might like the book; it's really quite unassuming and not presumptuous. Which is normally not the most complimentary thing to say, but after your critique of Waldman it seems apropos. Also it has some nice prose.</p> The author specifically disclaims it as a “9/11 novel,” but Netherland is the closest I’ve come to reading anything of that type. It resonated with me because the narrator is like the vast majority of New Yorkers — the most immediate effect of the attack for him is a matter of real estate, and then the attack’s success (the terror his wife says she now feels in NYC) pushes the rest of the novel’s events along. It’s an impressive instance of the cliche “write what you know,” so that instead of trying to imagine himself into the shoes of a firefighter’s wife or a turban-wearer, O’Neill wrote about an upper-class Dutchman who emigrates to London, then to New York. His narrator becomes involved with some brown folks not because WHITE MAN SAVE THEM FROM THE ISLAMOPHOBIA, but because he starts to play cricket and in America, cricket is not a white man’s sport. And as someone who likes NYC and spent several years there but isn’t a New Yorker, I really liked the novel’s sense of place — its clarity of geography and of NYC dynamics like the struggle to get time on public playing fields — without making excessive claims to it.

You might like the book; it’s really quite unassuming and not presumptuous. Which is normally not the most complimentary thing to say, but after your critique of Waldman it seems apropos. Also it has some nice prose.

]]> By: Wanderer http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/03/22/the-great-american-911-novel/comment-page-1/#comment-289086 Wanderer Sat, 24 Mar 2012 01:13:47 +0000 http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/?p=8706#comment-289086 <p>Turbans just makes me think how many non muslims have also become victims of America's ignornance of the world</p> Turbans just makes me think how many non muslims have also become victims of America’s ignornance of the world

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