After graduation, Ahmad, ends up working as a delivery driver for a furniture store owned by a Lebanese family, a job arranged by the imam. This job ultimately leads to Ahmad's enrollment in a terrorist plot. To make sure all the bases are covered, Levy's sister-in-law just happens to be the personal assistant to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and in frequent contact with Levy's wife.
This tale combines the best and the worst of Updike. Updike always strives for extraordinary description and attention to detail. At the same time, though, his exposition can run to extremes. For example, the third chapter opens with, "The phone rings." It is another eight pages (consisting of roughly eight lengthy paragraphs) before Levy's wife, alone in the house, actually picks up the phone. Likewise, at times the attention to detail oozes foreshadowing. For example, as Ahmad studies for his commercial driver's license, we learn a great deal about the dangers of transporting hazardous materials. You can see the sexual relationship between Jack Levy and Teresa Mulloy coming just a couple pages into their first meeting. That development, of course, allows Updike to include his seemingly obligatory sex scenes, regardless of the extent to which they further the plot.
Yet most damning is the lack of believability. Despite Updike's attention to detail, Ahmad never really comes off as real. Although he is a somewhat likeable character, he neither speaks nor acts like a teenager born and raised in New Jersey. Instead, he comes off as caricature of a jihadist plunked down in a modern American urban area, spouting phrases like "Western culture is Godless," "the American way is the way of infidels," and movies are "sinful" and "foretastes of hell." Yet other than a general feeling an impressionable youth being affected by an imam, we get virtually no insight into or understanding of how or why a teenager living with an Irish-American mother became so enthralled with Islam that God is now, as Ahmad puts it, "closer than the vein in my neck."
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!
2 - -E
Congrats! This article has been selected as one of this week’s Editors’ Picks.
3 - Amilina
About the book "Terrorist" by John Updike:
We've read the book in our class and it was the stupiest book I've had ever read. This book stole my whole happiness and if I mustn't read the book to the end, I would have stopped after the first page. It was so horrible. Maybe your other books are better than that, and I really hope so. Don't ever let me read this book again. Please!
Thanks for listening.
Greetings
Amilina *kiss*
4 - Filipe
Dear Mr. Updike,
We read your book in our English lesson. At first, our teacher forced us to read it, but every one of us learned to love it. It was not easy to understand, because the inner monolog is very complex. My class and me are no native speakers, so we learned a lot of vocabulary.
We strongly recommend your book for every student, who tries to learn something about the possible action in Islamic circles.
Your Filipe
5 - J&N
Hello, we have read the book "Terrorist" written by John Updike.Now we want to tell you our impressions about the story.
We cannot recommend the book, because it`s boring and it`s difficult to understand it for german people because there are a lot of religious words which are difficult to understand.
In our opinion the book is not good!!!
Nice Greets
byebyeee Nadine&Julia
6 - Amad Khairzada
Hi my fellow "terrorist"- readers,
I just finished the novel, and i must admit that it is highly recommendable for everyone, although it is NOT representitive for any muslim community, neither in the US nor in Europe.
I consider it as very important to become more aware for issues going on in our western- society, but we also must be aware of the fact, that among a billion peace- loving muslims there might be only one black sheep, a potential "terrorist".
Once again, my congratulations to mr Updike for this brilliant work.
best wishes from my wonderful adopted country,
Germany