American Taliban

Available in stores April 2010, or for pre-purchase by clicking here.

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» Essay: The Making of American Taliban
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Critically acclaimed author Pearl Abraham follows a young surfer/skater on a distinctly American spiritual journey that begins with Transcendentalism and countercultural impulses, enters into world mysticism, and finds its destination in Islam.

An avid, near six-foot-tall surfer, John Jude Parish cuts a striking figure on the beaches of the Outer Banks in North Carolina. When he isn’t on water, John lives on wheels, a self-described skate rat-grinding and kickflipping with his friends, and encouraged by his progressive parents. His hero is the great explorer, Richard Burton, his personal prophet is Bob Dylan, and his world is wide open — to new ideas, philosophies, and religions.

Through online forums and chat rooms, John meets a young woman from Brooklyn who spurs his interest in Islam and Arab literature. Deferring Brown University for a year, he moves to New York’s idyllic borough to study Arabic. Like Burton, John embraces the experience heart, body, and soul — to submit to Islam, practice the salaat, fast and meditate, dance with dervishes, and encounter the extraordinary. Burton lived the life of a 19th century adventurer, but he also penetrated the ancient wisdom of secret worlds. John will too — with unforeseen consequences.

Perched on the eve of September 11th, in the first year of the 21st century, American Taliban gives voice to the historical echoes that reveal the unknowable other as entirely familiar, even homegrown.

One of our most daring novelists, Pearl Abraham uses her gifts of psychological acuity and uncommon empathy to depict a typical upper-middle-class family snared by the forces of history, politics, and faith. Provocative, unsettling, and written in a brilliantly inventive refreshingly original voice, American Taliban is poised to become one of the most talked about novels of the year.

“A riveting and revealing novel. Pearl Abraham’s bottomless imagination has created an intellectual page-turner for our brave new world.”
— Gary Shteyngart

“As her unlikely hero John Jude Parish surfs, grinds and prays his way to ecstatic becoming, Pearl Abraham transforms the imperiled American novel into something intellectually bold and morally urgent. A virtuoso performance.”
— Stephanie Grant

“It is a rare delight to be given a novel that actually makes you think. Rarer still to have a book utterly rip open your heart. AMERICAN TALIBAN is that rarest of accomplishments, one that does both at the same time.”
— Charles Bock, author of BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN

“In her new novel Pearl Abraham offers a wonderfully intimate portrait of how a more or less ordinary American boy might be seduced by the idea of submitting to Islam. The stages of John’s journey, and the many Muslims he meets along the way, are evoked in such vivid and persuasive detail that I felt I too was learning about the ancient wisdom of this complex culture.”
— Margot Livesey