Godsend

August 13, 2018
Wray (The Lost Time Accidents) undermines his promising premise—a young American woman joining the Taliban in 2001—with a detached style. Eighteen-year-old Aden Grace Sawyer spitefully leaves her philandering Islamic Studies professor father and nonfunctional mother in Santa Rosa, Calif., to develop her new faith at a madrassa near the Afghanistan border in the summer of 2001. She disguises herself as a young man, assumes the name of Suleyman, and extracts a begrudging promise of secrecy from her travelling companion, Decker. Aden sneaks into the mountain training camp across the border after Taliban commander Ziar Khan recruits only tough-talking Decker. She quickly proves her aptitude for combat but struggles with the leaders’ callous indifference and rapid executions over minor missteps. Despite drawing attention to herself with impertinent questions, Aden oddly escapes punishment, convince the leaders she is a boy, and is deployed with a multinational group of zealous fighters. The attacks of 9/11 open her up to deeper scrutiny as an American, as the narrative tumbles to a rapid, unsettled conclusion. Wray provides only delayed, incomplete descriptions of the story’s traumatic events; his skimming past powerful emotions will keep readers from developing strong connections to his characters. Nevertheless, Wray communicates a disturbing image of disaffected youth and the lures of extremism.