John Updike: Terrorist

Incredibly, Terroristis the first Updike novel I've read (I know, I know...) and, on the heels of De Lillo's disappointing Falling Man, with which it has several points in common, I found it a far better book. It takes on one element of post 9/11 America - what makes a terrorist? - and, unlike De Lillo, produces a portrait that hits home because of the unexpected sympathy it evokes. Updike's terrorist, the son of an artistic life-loving Irish nurse and an Egyptian exchange student who disappeared when Ahmad was three, is a refined, fastidious young man, respectful and self-respecting, utterly three-dimensional, in many ways a son of whom anyone would feel proud. Under the thrall of his local imam, yet also aware of his imam's failings, Ahmad is slowly drawn into a web of fundamentalist extremism, with the inevitable consequences (sort of). What makes the book so engaging and effective is Updike's refusal to demonise Ahmad himself. On the contrary, he's wormed his creative way into the boy's predicament with enormous skill, ending up as close to him as Ahmad's neck-vein is to God. Indeed, the person who might be considered to suffer most from the novelist's pitiless gaze is the obese wife of Ahmad's school counsellor, Jack Levy. Levy, in many ways the counterpoint to Ahmad, at least partially corroborates the views of the boy as he gazes on the world around him. There's a sense in which Updike's own distaste seems to inform the characters, maybe to the novel's detriment, but it's refreshingly ecumenical, extending well beyond the conniving imam to the vacuous self-aggrandising secretary of state.

The fact that Updike has chosen to work with a small group of characters and to use a tightly constructed, almost thriller-like, plot leads to one or two moments in which disbelief must usefully be suspended, but this shouldn't detract from the overall impact of the book, nor the excitement of the final chapter.

Ducks

Something restful to look at after a hard few days' work, although these ducks, bucolic as they may seem, are actually protected by foxes from an electric fence and have seen their numbers rise and fall in the most precarious and bloody way. They're only a few miles from the sea and a splendid estuary, but clearly prefer their pond and its mediated dangers.

Off picture, to the left, is a cunning structure of chicken wire and struts, which protects the ducks and their eggs from marauders, although I can't remember what these are. Presumably, they arrive from above. Crows? Magpies? The structure also makes it possible for their owners to steal their eggs whenever they choose, which, post 9/11, comes under the heading of 'the price we pay for freedom'.

The female ducks have curly tails, the male ducks don't. Or is it the other way round?

The third tower

I've steered clear of 9/11 conspiracy theory until now, but an article by Robert Fisk in today's Independent admits that the 'facts' we have don't add up. With admirable reluctance, he says:

But – here we go. I am increasingly troubled at the inconsistencies in the official narrative of 9/11. It's not just the obvious non sequiturs: where are the aircraft parts (engines, etc) from the attack on the Pentagon? Why have the officials involved in the United 93 flight (which crashed in Pennsylvania) been muzzled? Why did flight 93's debris spread over miles when it was supposed to have crashed in one piece in a field? Again, I'm not talking about the crazed "research" of David Icke's Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster – which should send any sane man back to reading the telephone directory.

I am talking about scientific issues.

One of the things I've noticed most often when I've mentioned my own doubts about the official version, in passing, to friends (because I try not to let my natural scepticism towards government slip over into a farcical over-estimation of its ability - there lies crankdom) is how few people know about the collapse of the third tower, some nine hours later than the other two and without apparent external assistance.