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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Personal, and The Political, April 19, 2010
This review is from: American Subversive: A Novel (Hardcover)
A bombing, a beautiful terrorist, a mysterious note: these are the sparks that ignite David Goodwillie's second book and first novel, "American Subversive." It's a glib thriller with unexpected gems buried within its well-turned sentences, a book that's quickly devoured but that lingers on the palate.
The novel deals with domestic terrorism, and the book's plot is lent chilling plausibility by the current political climate. After a bombing in Manhattan, gossip blogger Aidan receives an email with a photo of a beautiful woman with the caption, "This is Paige Roderick. She is the one responsible." His curiosity quickly draws him into Paige's world, and together their narratives make up an engrossing story that explores the world of the radical underground and those who inhabit it. The book is meticulously researched and in part based on the actions of the radical group the Weather Underground, which lends the story an eerie realism.
The voices of Aidan and Paige are distinct and well-written. The split narrative is handled deftly and is never confusing, and the prose is engaging, if a bit distant at times - even the sympathetic, fascinating Paige is at times unreachable. That said, Goodwillie has accomplished the balancing act so well that it's impossible to decide which one of them is the protagonist. The author tells the story of those who care too much and those who don't care at all, but doesn't average the two into a happy and potentially meaningless ending. These characters may be fictions, but they are no caricatured martyrs. This is the beauty of the book: we are shown both extremes, apathy and fanaticism, but we are never told which is right, nor are we thrown into a rhetorical firefight. This is a story about people, not politics.
American Subversive is a novel of harmonious contradictions, a rare creature that, while undeniably the product of its times, serves as warning about a possible political future that may be closer than we realize. Goodwillie is an astute observer, and in Paige and Aidan articulates the ache and apathy so many of us feel but cannot identify - and tells a damn good story at the same time.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing and timely debut novel, April 17, 2010
This review is from: American Subversive: A Novel (Hardcover)
As you might expect from a political thriller, American Subversive is fast paced, gripping and a serious page turner. Now, I'm not a thriller kind of girl but this book is un-freaking-believable. Seriously. The concept is so timely (blogging and terrorism) and I actually found it easy to relate to the main characters (Goodwillie writes from the perspective of a woman - how cool is that?).
The relationship between said characters (two narrators: blogger and terrorist) is complicated but innocent, with intertwining facets you find yourself constantly thinking about long after the final page.
Aidan, failed journalism student turned gossip blogger on a site that eerily resembles Gawker, is both completely unlikeable (but with good intentions) and the kind of protagonist you root for from beginning to end. Paige, a very sad but very determined eco-terrorist is responsible for turning 2010 Manhattan into chaos. It's horribly familiar to those of us who lived through 9/11, which makes it a relevant and necessary read.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"When was the last time you believed in something?", May 6, 2010
This review is from: American Subversive: A Novel (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
American Subversive is a book about belief turned inside-out. It's an intelligent and literary thriller, a thought-provoking peek into America's dark soul, and a veritable page turner. It's also the debut book for David Goodwillie, an author who is up to the task of unearthing the country's seductive roots.
The dual protagonists/narrators are Aidan Cole, a member of the chattering class, who blogs for Roorback, ("a roorback is a defamatory falsehood published for political effect") and Paige Roderick, an attractive idealist who is involved in an act of domestic terrorism at the midtown Manhattan location of Barney's. One late night, at a glitterati party following this act, Aidan checks his email to view an image of a woman crossing Madison Avenue (the site of the bombing) with the words, "This is Paige Roderick. She's the one responsible."
But Goodwillie is too good to settle for a "who-done-it" thriller. He delves deeply into his characters to reveal two alienated and unmoored thirty-somethings who are dealing with a profound disillusionment based on divorce, death, a country that lost its way, and friendships that easily turn into betrayals.
Paige turns to domestic radicalism after the wasteful death of her brother Bobby in Iraq. She says,"Do you really want to know my worldview? Because it's pretty bleak these days. Everything I once saw as a problem with others -- the numbness, the detachment, the disillusionment that came with being American -- everything I once sought to fix...I'm coming now to feel myself." And Aidan? His transformation is less organic. He reflects, "A decade had passed in the back of countless cabs, at fancy dinners and midnight pizzerias; the drug dipping and surprisingly functional alcoholism that consumed our days and destroyed our mornings; nothing stimulating nothing surprising, our thirties spread out before us like our twenties, but with lessons unlearned."
There is a sadness in these characters, a lack of connection that makes them ripe for subversion. Aidan's emptiness and ennui primes him for a connection with Paige, who is intense and filled with purpose -- everything he is not, although interestingly, they are more intriguing characters alone and not together. Neither fall into stock stereotypes; rather, they are two-dimensional with distinct voices and a great deal of vulnerability. Only in the last 50 or so pages does the authorial voice intercede, momentarily reminding the reader that Goodwillie is creating these characters and pulling the strings.
I read this book right after NYC dodged a bullet with a Times Square car bombing, and gasped at how unwittingly prophetic this book really is. It's a spot-on view of not only domestic terrorism, but a jaded Manhattan at the bulls-eye of today's digital age. (4.5)
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