ATTA
by Jarett Kobek
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Description
A disorienting fictionalized portrayal of 9/11 mastermind Mohamed Atta and the meaning of madness. Ours is a century of fear. Governments and mass media bombard us with words and images: desert radicals, "rogue states," jihadists, WMDs, existential enemies of freedom. We labor beneath myths that neither address nor describe the present situation, monstrous deceptions produced by a sound bite society. There is no reckoning of actuality, no understanding of the individual lives that show more inaugurated this echo chamber. In the summer of 1999, Mohamed Atta defended a master's thesis that critiqued the introduction of Western-style skyscrapers in the Middle East and called for the return of the "Islamic-Oriental city." Using this as a departure point, Jarett Kobek's novel ATTA offers a fictionalized psychedelic biography of Mohamed Atta that circles around a simple question: what if 9/11 was as much a matter of architectural criticism as religious terrorism? Following the development of a socially awkward boy into one of history's great villains, Kobek demonstrates the need for a new understanding of global terrorism. Joined in this volume by a second work, "The Whitman of Tikrit"--a radical reimagining of Saddam Hussein's last day before capture--ATTA is a brutal, relentless, and ultimately fearless corrective to ten years of propaganda and pandering. show lessTags
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bluepiano Another unexpected take on the attacks, and it's also very good
Member Reviews
A novella and short story. ATTA [4/5], Whitman of Tikrit [3/5].
We tend to mythologise our villians aswell as our heros. This very much does the opposite. A fictional biography of one of the 911 highjackers, regardless of how far from the truth it might be it certainly left me feeling like the reality must have been as messy.
It approaches the subject with neither reverence nor sarcasm and shows a sad, complicated, venal, dillusional and above all ordinary group of people, who are also terrorists.
On occasions when you see how other people view our protagonist it reminded me of Taxi Driver or something similar, this guy has zero social skills.
Overall if your hesitant to read because of the subject matter you really don't need to be. Lot show more of different ideas and aspects to this but the one thing it does well above all others is reducing some villians to the very ordinary and messy humans they undoubtably were.
And the book throws in some Saddam Hussein too in the short story. show less
We tend to mythologise our villians aswell as our heros. This very much does the opposite. A fictional biography of one of the 911 highjackers, regardless of how far from the truth it might be it certainly left me feeling like the reality must have been as messy.
It approaches the subject with neither reverence nor sarcasm and shows a sad, complicated, venal, dillusional and above all ordinary group of people, who are also terrorists.
On occasions when you see how other people view our protagonist it reminded me of Taxi Driver or something similar, this guy has zero social skills.
Overall if your hesitant to read because of the subject matter you really don't need to be. Lot show more of different ideas and aspects to this but the one thing it does well above all others is reducing some villians to the very ordinary and messy humans they undoubtably were.
And the book throws in some Saddam Hussein too in the short story. show less
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- Canonical title
- ATTA
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- Popularity
- 476,756
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.75)
- Languages
- English, Spanish
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
