Terrorist: A Novel
by John Updike
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Book Summary Information
Author: John UpdikeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-29
ISBN: 0345493915
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Book Reviews of Terrorist: A Novel
Book Review: Compelling
Summary: 5 Stars
John Updike is back, and is again surprising his loyal readers. This time he engages with a powerful fiction that deals with themes of terrorism, religious fundamentalism, and the search for meaning.
Terrorist is the story of Ahmad Ashmawy Malloy, a seventeen-year-old child of an Irish-American mother and an Egyptian father who abandoned the family before Ahmad could form memories of him. When Ahmad turned eleven, he began pursuing his paternal heritage and converted to Islam. For Ahmad, Central High is as sea of temptation--gangs, drugs, and sexual openness; devils which attempt to lure him off the Straight Path.
Terrorist is also the story of Jack Levy, a depressed, nearly retired guidance counselor at Central High. Jack is a secular Jew, raised by a father who favored the promises of capitalism over the ancient covenant between God and his people. And now at the twilight of his career, Jack is overwhelmed by the purposelessness of his life. Instead of becoming a comic writer for Jackie Gleeson, Jack is trapped as a guidance counselor in a dilapidated school, serving teens who aren't interested in his advice.
Jack's responsibilities as guidance counselor entangles is purposeless life with the religious fervor of the soon-to-graduate Ahmad. Conflict mounts as Ahmad falls in with a newly immigrated Lebanese family and their jihad; while Jack grasps for significance in an extra-marital affair.
Terrorist is a tightly written thriller. Updike is known for his literary craftsmanship and he doesn't disappoint in his latest offering. I found myself pausing and rereading many of his descriptive passages out of utter enjoyment. Updike plunges the reader into the mind of a youthful, naïve zealot and an aging cynic, all the while driving the plot forward with determined suspense. Updike keeps the reader in a state of fright right through the closing moments of the book.
Terrorist is about the search for meaning; Updike's rich characters pursue significance through religion, sex, materialism, and intellectual conceit. And every character is confronted with the realization that their bait is not catching fulfillment.
If there's a flaw to be found with Terrorist, it's that Updike traffics in stereotypes, only some of which are fair. Ahmed's propensity toward extremism is born out of growing up fatherless in blighted New Prospect. Jack is a humanist who bears the weight of knowing there is no God. Through his wife, Beth, Baptists are painted as fundamentalist cousins, separated only by degrees of violence.
Yet Updike brings these typecasts to life like a master marionette operator and the reader forgets the woodenness of the stereotype. He does with unflinching relational realism; and so a caution: strong language and a few bedroom scenes populate the book.
I strongly recommend Terrorist. It's relevant to today's headlines and I expect that its craftsmanship will keep this novel poignant for decades to come. The discerning reader will not only be entertained by the life and death drama, but challenged by the questions of meaning and belief.
Summary of Terrorist: A Novel
John Updike has written a brilliant novel that ranks among the most provocative of his distinguished career. Terrorist is the story of Ahmad Ashmawy Mulloy, an alienated American-born teenager who spurns the materialistic, hedonistic life he witnesses in the slumping New Jersey factory town he calls home. Turning to the words of the Holy Qur?an as expounded to him by the pedantic imam of a local mosque, Ahmad devotes himself fervently to God. Neither the world-weary guidance counselor at his high school nor Ahmad?s mischievously seductive classmate Joryleen succeeds in deflecting him from his course, as the threads of an insidious plot gather around him.?One compelling and surprising ride.??USA Today
?The startlingly contemporary story of a high school student . . . whose zealous Islamic faith and disaffection with modern life make him a pawn in the larger conflict between Muslim and Christian, East and West. They also make him a powerful voice for Updike?s ongoing critique of American civilization.?
?Time
?A chilling tale that is perhaps the most essential novel to emerge from Sept. 11.?
?People (Critic?s Choice)
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