UNDER ORDERS OF SILENCE

In Taylor-Garcia’s literary retooling of the biblical story of Job, a school administrator is beset by professional and familial tragedy that challenges his faith.

Principal Malik Rosario has been so successful at rehabilitating a failing school in Atlanta’s Edgewood neighborhood that he’s earned the nickname “The Quiet Lion.” However, a catastrophe transforms his life: A local, poorly constructed bridge collapses, claiming the lives of many people, including two of his three sons. The official story is that the disaster was just an isolated incident, instead of yet another tragic event in this neglected community’s history—a false narrative that Malik is prepared to challenge. However, in anticipation of this response, the school authorities relieve him of his duties on the pretense that they suspect him of financial improprieties. In Taylor-Garcia’s “modern reimagining of the Book of Job,” an enigmatic figure known as “The Watcher” stands in for Satan; he coordinates the assault on Malik’s reputation, using “mass surveillance, media warfare, and political erasure.” Malik demands to confer with God about his troubles—not to hurl accusations, but rather to petition for understanding. As a whole, the story reads less like a novel than it does a didactic parable or lengthy sermon. Whatever one thinks of the author’s revision of the biblical story—a reinterpretation so stark that it bears little theological resemblance to the original—it lacks the fundamental features of a well-constructed novel: a skillfully developed plot, fully realized characters, and believable dialogue. The story’s denouement is triumphantly pious, and Malik delivers plenty of defiant oratory. However, the prose style more often feels distractingly ponderous: “He felt the weight of solitude, but more than that he felt the weight of the world’s betrayal, of God’s betrayal, of grief so dense that it held the air and the light hostage. The weight of a bridge.” The story’s thoughtful focus on technologically driven character assassination is engaging. However, it’s not enough to counter the novel’s other flaws.

A contemplative but ultimately underwhelming tale.