The Submission by Amy Waldman

A great premise -- a blind-juried competition for a memorial for the WTC attacks is won by an American Muslim architect -- grows preachy and long-winded in the execution.  Waldman's didactism is overwhelming -- a dozen characters all start to sound alike as she uses them to educate the reader about the subtleties of the rhetorical conflict between the forces of imagination, religious faith, freedom, patriotism and political power.