American Taliban

by Pearl Abraham

Book Overview

An avid, near-six-foot-tall surfer, John Jude Parish cuts a striking figure on the beaches of the Outer Banks in North Carolina. When he isn't on water, John lives on wheels, a self-described skate... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400068584
• ISBN13: 9781400068586
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Random House
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 10.1"

Customer Reviews

Incisive, Powerful, Timely

Pearl Abraham's powerful novel "American Taliban" is the story of John Jude Parish, turned 19 years old during the course of the book, a scion of privilege, and sole offspring of well-educated, liberal, east coast parents Bill and Barbara Parish. In a story inspired by the real life drama of John Walker Lindh, John Jude, named after Barbara's favorite Beatle and a Beatle song, embraces Islam and takes that to the limit. He winds up with the Taliban in the wilds of Afghanistan. Abraham deals with major concerns of consciousness, spirituality, and world views in this incisely written tale. John embodies post-modern mentality at the story's beginning, as he loves his Dylan, his Emerson, and his Tao Te Ching, while also talking Muslim spirituality with strangers in a chat room. He loves to surf off the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where he and his pals Katie, Sylvie and Jilly explore the razor's edge of extreme sports with existential aplomb. With his post-modern openness to the truths of all wisdom traditions, he begins to plumb the depths of Islam, and to study classical Arabic, moving to Brooklyn to do so after a broken leg cuts his surfing summer short. His parents support this move, not troubled by the fact that, in his openness, John is beginning to embrace a traditional worldview--a gorgeous, intricate, deeply moving and transcendent sectarian perspective. Sectarian perspective, as in, not open, and propounding the belief that theirs is vastly superior to other faiths. John, with his romantic, 19th century notion of travelling faraway lands in quest of self-transcendance, leaves his dual love interests in America, and heads off for a summer of study in Pakistan. He is taking his spiritual quest more and more seriously, with a seed of fanaticism expressed in the idea that submission leads to freedom. He is onto something profound, the discovery of the highest self through prayer. He is an ardent student of the Qu'ran and Muslim poetry. He begins to explore his newfound bisexuality. A sensitive reader becomes nervous when an esteemed orator addresses John's Pakistani school with praise for the superior intelligence of the Qu'ran, vis a vis the Bible. A tragedy occurs back in the States. John is distraught, and it is suggested that he recuperate by taking some rest and relaxation in a camp away from the school, in the hills. This camp is military in focus, and John's break morphs into boot camp. Abraham does a stellar job of slowly, almost imperceptibly, allowing her character to drift into bad decisions, in the realm of relative, political, truth, while pursuing his absolute ideals. September 11, 2001 occurs while John is on the move with the young men who are the Taliban. Beneath the veil of a largely unknown geopolitical history, and the ugly legacy of Western malfeasance, in the language of religious fanaticism, the Taliban persuade John to take up arms against his own country. John is so caught up in

Bravo

Pearl Abraham has created an intelligent, fast-paced, thoughtful and thought-provoking novel. It is at once vivid, colorful, emotionally gripping and humane; a thoroughly engaging work, always accessible never overwrought. Importantly, she has taken themes that are present in each of her prior works and painted them onto a very topical canvas. By taking on this subject matter in a novelistic rather than journalistic manner, she will assuredly provoke readers to project much of themselves onto the work (emotionally, psychologically, intellectually, politically and artistically). This will produce some energized feelings, one of the many joys of reading.

An intellectual pageturner

It is August 2000, and John Jude Parish, an 18 year old American surfer, skater and lover of philosophy, breaks his leg while skating. A year later we find him in a training camp in Pakistan, ready to join the armed forces of the Taliban in Afghanistan. How can an all American surfer, who is into Bob Dylan, Walt Whitman and Hegel, have radicalized in such a short time? Pearl Abraham crawls inside the head of a teenager who is searching for spirituality, beauty and purity in his life, and who slowly sacrifices his identity to become part of a bigger whole. The writer surprisingly and effectively changes gears and perspective in the final part of the novel, when we see the mother's struggle to understand her son, giving it an emotional resonance. A heartfelt ending to an intellectual pageturner, that not only manages to make John Jude's huge leap plausible, but also makes you think, long after you've put down the novel.

A visionary writer

The young impassioned seeker is one of Pearl Abraham's quintessential subjects, and in John Jude she has created an extraordinary hero uniquely of our time. Previous readers of her work will recognize Abraham's intimate, fiercely intelligent style which carries this tale as a wave carries a surfer, with an intensity that is almost surreal.

A strong story that examines belief

Pearl Abraham has done something interesting with the notion of how a smart, young American could find himself in the thrall of enemy combat camps. She's made her story one of belief and of the strong parallels that lie at the foundation of disparate spiritual views. Her soul surfer John Jude wants to give himself over to something more, something greater. Abraham introduces the reader to this idea early when John Jude finds himself under the waves and in no hurry to surface while he takes in the whole of the experience. He finds ideas that touch upon this in Sufism and pursues his growing interest in Islam with that all-encompassing verve of an 18-year-old, all along idolizing the great English explorer Richard Burton. What he does the farther he goes is believable, frustrating, endearing and frightening, just like a teenager can be. Just like parents hope they won't be. Abraham has written a book that is both a good story and challenging, insightful read.