February 17, 2006
ORDINARY PEOPLE:
There's Been a Big Change in Islamic States of America: a review of Prayers for the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno (JANET MASLIN, 2/16/06, NY Times)
Robert Ferrigno's "Prayers for the Assassin" is a futuristic fantasy that puts an Orwellian nation, the Islamic Republic, where the United States of America used to be. The author does not treat this as a pleasant prospect. He imagines a 2040 in which New York and Washington are gone, Mecca is radioactive, Mount Rushmore has been eradicated and the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan has been renamed for Osama bin Laden. Super Bowl cheerleaders are men. Barbie's got a burka. At least Starbucks prices aren't much higher than they used to be.The book is a thriller, and in some ways a surprisingly commonplace one. But Mr. Ferrigno has given serious thought to his hypothetical scenario. He tries to envision the complexities of daily life in a world where all the rules have changed — except in the Bible Belt, which has become a Christian refuge. In the Muslim nation, the black robes enforce religious laws and goats' heads are delicacies at butcher shops. Amusement-park attractions include AK-47's and suicide belts for children. Popular songs deliver constructive moral lessons. Needless to say, nobody draws political cartoons.
These aspects of the book are by far its most involving. Mr. Ferrigno has done his best to take an outline of Islam and morph it with American tradition, catalyzing these changes with a whiff of nuclear war. And since he is not on a suicide mission, he takes care to note that many Muslims in the new regime are good citizens, reasonable people both modern and moderate. They are wary of fundamentalism, and they tolerate anything-goes zones where strict religious rules of behavior are suspended. Las Vegas remains ground zero for forbidden games.
While the book's background exerts a grim sci-fi fascination, its central story manages to be surprisingly ordinary. Even in this radically altered future, heroes and villains and romantics behave pretty much as expected.
Funny that a radically different future doesn't alter human nature and that there are decent Muslims, huh?
MORE:
-INTERVIEW: with Robert Ferrigno: What would America look like in 40 years if it was an Islamic republic? (Hugh Hewitt Show, 2/16/06)
Prayers For The Assassin author Robert Ferrigno joins Hugh HewittHH: As promised, in studio with me now, Robert Ferrigno...Welcome to the Hugh Hewitt Show. It's great to have you here.
RF: Good to be here. Thanks.
HH: I want to do a little background, and then get to Redbeard and the old man, and Rakim, and all the characters of this amazing novel that Mark Steyn was just mentioning.
Orrin's too modest to mention it, but there's a nice plug for the Brothers Judd by Ferrigno and Hewitt about halfway or so through the interview.
Posted by: Ed Driscoll at February 17, 2006 2:28 PMCongratulations Orrin. You really do have the best blog and it's not surprising that others are noticing it.
As commenters here, we should be extra careful with our grammar and spelling so we don't embarrass our host with poorly written comments. Noam are you listening?
Pshaw...I reviewed both their books favorably, were they going to say I don't know what I'm talking about?
Posted by: oj at February 17, 2006 4:16 PMhow is your book doing ?
Posted by: toe at February 17, 2006 4:17 PMIt's at the printer now.
Enter Stage Right review next week & InstaPundit just asked for a copy.
Posted by: oj at February 17, 2006 4:23 PMwere they going to say I don't know what I'm talking about?
Well, they will have to deal with us if they do. That's our perogative.
HH: I'm curious. Have you been approached by any of the bloggers yet to do a Q&A for their blog?
RF: Yes, the Brothers Judd...
HH: Superior guys, yeah. Real smart guys.
RF: They gave me a great review, and now they want to do a Q&A, and I'll work on that as soon as I get back home.
==============================
Who are the really smart guys?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at February 17, 2006 10:25 PMI don't remember the exact point in time things changed, but growing up, we knew many Moslem families. Most of them were immigrants who shared the same language as my Eastern Orthodox parents even if they didn't share the same religion. They socialized with each other until most of the old timers died. There was one very elderly, excruciatingly polite man who came to have tea with them very often before he died. There was a long ritual of compliments and niceties before a sip of tea could be taken. It was a charming custom I'm sure we'll never see again.
We kids lost touch, but at the time, they didn't seem at all different from other friends and neighbors. So moderate Moslems did exist at one time and probably still exist although now it probably isn't very politic to be moderate given the propensity of the militants to kill those who don't follow the new guidelines.
Did things start changing because of our support of Israel? Now that I think on it, that's probably when it started and of course it just kept going down hill since then.
Nearly all Muslims are moderate and decent. The entire meme is no different than anti-Semitism or racism.
Posted by: oj at February 18, 2006 2:18 PMoj-
Most PEOPLE are moderate and decent. When people are immoderate and indecent it makes sense to understand their motivations.
Posted by: Tom C.,Stamford,Ct. at February 18, 2006 5:50 PMTruisms are never wrong.
Posted by: oj at February 18, 2006 6:01 PMThen try to understand.
Posted by: Tom C.,Stamford,Ct. at February 18, 2006 9:49 PMOrin,
that was a straight up comment to Hugh... although a reviewer never stands taller in a writer's eyes than when he loves the book. Actually you and Sgt. Stryker wrote two of my favorite review of Prayers for the Assassin. Poor Janet Maslin, I think the book was a little too blue state for her.
Robert