Incendiary

What a book to read for someone who makes their living in the homeland security industry. “Incendiary” follows a widow following her husband's and son's death from a terrorist attack on London. Not only is it an insightful statement on an individual's grief for her family and nation, but it is also a poignant statement on that nation's grief. In many ways, we can look at the narrator's descent into madness as understandable, given her extreme losses. England, however, is made out like a just-chastised dog, tail between the legs and sulking in the corner. How does the country react? By growing mean and incapable of trusting others.

But enough about that...“Incendiary” forces the reader to face questions that all of us should face in a post-9/11 world (though many of us can't bear the thought of doing so). Where is the line between civil liberties and security? Where is the appropriate threshold whereupon secrecy becomes necessary? Does force or resilience most-effectively deter terrorists?

Perhaps the book's greatest success is how it explores what happens to “regular” folks in the aftermath of national tragedies. Too often we read about how our politicians are affected, how the families of the NYC firefighters were affected. The New York Times lists Guliani's and Bush's accounts as “best sellers”. As mentioned, homeland security is a daily reality for me and I am afforded the opportunity to talk with a number of people about their emotions and their ideas about how to fight terrorism. One would be surprised at how many people teeter on madness when they really let themselves feel terrorism.

The book explores a number of relevant social issues without being “preachy”. It dissects how class stratification has manifested itself in modern, western civilizations. It touches on ethics in law enforcement and intelligence gathering. It ends with a scathing statement as to how our media can steal what little sanity many have left. Chris Cleave's genius lies in not naming the narrator; she is us.

This will be a short review as I am still processing this book. I enjoyed the overall story but was not expecting the way the narrator told it. It is written as one long letter to Osama Bin Laden after a massive suicide bombing at a football match in London. The narrator is a wife and mother, but we are never told her name. She doesn't use basic grammar and punctuation during the majority of her writing, and yet the story flows. She writes this letter as a way to tell Osama just how much he has changed her life and all of the various things she does in the days and months after the bombined. She is a wreck. She is lost. Ultimately, I think her grief is so overwhelming and consumes her so thoroughly that she almost commits her own act of violence. I have to say, the way the story is written/told, I almost put the book down after about 30 pages and walked away. I couldn't quite grasp the narrator's voice, but as I made my way through it, I finally “heard” her telling this story. I don't know if I would really recommend this book to others though, I think the way it's written could be a turnoff for many readers. I am currently reading Little Bee, by this same author, and that is what led to me reading this book. In the end, I am glad I read it, the emotion was very raw and real in my opinion.

I enjoyed this book, but cannot recommend it because I don't know who it would appeal to. There are parts that are jarring, others that are interesting, and quite few that are unbelievable. Although I would never say that a man can't write in a woman's voice (and vice versa), I don't think that he got it right here. There were so many times that I was just thinking, “a woman would never do that.” Quick read though and easy to get through.