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Great writers can cut to the chase. Simplicity is their calling card. So it is no surprise that, at the age of 74, John Updike, who has won almost every literary gong short of the Nobel, should have the confidence to take on the most pressing issue of our times in a novel called, quite baldly, Terrorist (Hamish Hamilton, £17.99).
9/11 is a massive, unresolved theme, and, quite rightly, an unavoidable one for ambitious writers - Ian McEwan, Jonathan Safran Foer, Neil LaBute and Jay McInerney have all in different ways explored the momentous impact of al-Qaeda's strike.
But while these writers have contented themselves with exploring the impact of 9/11 on those who survived, Updike has chosen to take on the vastly more challenging project of inhabiting the mind of a disaffected young American Muslim preparing to take up arms against his "countrymen" in the wake of the World Trade Centre attacks. |
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Updike’s exploration of an angry mind leaves tim auld unmoved |
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He gives us Ahmad, an Islamic high-school graduate, disgusted by the "weak Christians" and "non-observant Jews" who surround him. He seeks succour in the teachings of a radical Imam, and before long finds himself set upon a path to martyrdom and self-immolation.
Updike tries not to be judgmental - the people around Ahmad hardly offer reasons to celebrate the virtues of secular liberalism - but ultimately there's little here to rock the boat, either emotionally or philosophically.
I won't tell you whether Ahmad has the courage of his convictions or is made to "see the light", because Updike at least keeps you guessing about what's going to happen until the final page. But in Terrorist, alas, he has not written the masterpiece of the post 9/11 era. 
FIRST POSTED JULY 27, 2006
 Last week: Paris, The Secret History
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