It is now more than a decade since I sat in my study in London, writing the last chapter of this book. In that conclusion, I evaluated the call by the Shiite cleric Ali Allawi for Westerners to disassociate Islam from the "background noise" of prejudice and dire social practice in so many Islamic regimes.On September 11, 2001, that background noise became a roar. That morning, I woke to the news in a hotel room in Portland, Oregon, about as far as one could be from the dust and flame of the Pentagon and the World Trade Center and still be in the continental United States. I was on a speaking tour for my first novel, Year of Wonders. After years of toiling through the hardwood forests of contemporary fact, I had turned to historical fiction as an alternative way to explore questions of faith and idealism, and how human beings cope with catastrophe.
-- Geraldine Brooks, Afterword to Nine Parts of Desire --
I'm sure we all remember today, where we were that morning.
Wishing you a great Friday!
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1 comment:
I came over here from Pages Turned, and just have to say how much I loved The Year of the Flood. I reviewed it a few months back at Necromancy Never Pays (an ARC) and am now buying a copy. It's a companion book to Oryx and Crake, not a sequel--so I don't know if you have to refresh your memory of O&C--might be fun not to, and reread it afterwards!
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