Terrorist

This book doesn't work very well if you were hoping for an explanation of what turns some young American Muslims into terrorists. It works even less well as a thriller. But read it as a long personal letter from seventy-something John Updike and it's pretty good. He no longer understands the teens h......more

i’ve been an atheist as long as i can remember and my life, in part, has been a feigned attempt toward belief. i will never believe and know this, so i scramble toward god as a tightrope walker over a net of godlessness. the point, i guess, is to get as close as possible to something i know i’ll nev......more

The term 'radicalization' gets used a lot in the media; John Updike takes us behind the term and shows us the process. 18 year old Ahmad Ashmawy Mulloy becomes an example of both the process and the steps that are often taken by those who become radicalized; insightful and very relevant - a book tha......more

I walked into this expecting not to like it. Updike is an author I feel pretty comfortable referring to pejoratively as an “old white guy,” which comes packed with a matrix of assumptions about his ability to write non-male, non-white, non-old characters with due sensitivity and intelligence and aut......more

John Updike has earned a mantel full of awards, including a Pulitzer and a National Book Award. He knows people and he knows how tough even the most mundane lives can be. And Updike knows how to write. At his best when writing of “normal” people living flawed, empathetic lives, Updike stretches hims......more