The Unknown Terrorist

It’s taken me nearly twelve months but I think I’ve found it. And I didn’t even know I was looking for it.

I give you what may be the single most disturbing sentence I’ve read in any media, at any time during the year. And believe me, there has been some disturbing material in what I’ve been reading this year.

Others went back to reading another of the endless supplements that fell like so many dead foetuses out of the Sunday papers.

It’s a shame, really. There should be other, more important things, that I should have taken away from this particular book. But that damned sentence just keeps on getting in the way.

The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan is the story of “the Doll” – Gina Davies — a pole dancer who turns on the television one morning and finds that she’s the most wanted terrorist in Australia. It’s a story of mistaken identity, spiritual poverty and the ability of the media to manipulate public fear and paranoia in the post 9/11 world. It’s a story set in a world where perception is everything and the truth is a mere inconvenience.

It’s a relevant book but it should be an important one. Flanagan is passionate about his message and that was part of the problem for me. I don’t mind passion — I prefer to read something that comes from a position of obvious belief — but he is too earnest in his attempt to convey that passion. As a result, his characters, all of them, seemed to me to be colourless and humourless, even the villains of the piece. I couldn’t take the characters into my heart and I couldn’t find a way to actually care about the outcome. Two thirds of the way through and I started skimming in my hurry to get to the end, when I could finally put it down and leave those characters behind.

And as I read it I couldn’t help comparing it to Underground. Similar themes but oh, so different tones. McGahan is passionate about his message too but his characters not only speak that passion, they seem to breathe it as well. And with more than a dash of humour.

I don’t have the tools to review this book properly and can’t explain exactly why I found The Unknown Terrorist such a disappointing read. If you are at all interested, I’d suggest you read this review, from someone who does have the tools to say what I was thinking.

I don’t regret having read this. The Unknown Terrorist does have something important to say, something that does need to be said out loud and in the clear. It is a measure of Flanagan’s ability as a writer that, despite my problems with the novel itself, the story is sticking with me.

I just wish he hadn’t said anything about foetuses in my Sunday newspapers.