Not for everyone, but readers seeking out a truly innovative creative model for literature will plunge down this rabbit hole...
A Muslim man struggles with culture and identity in the City of Lights in this urbanely complex study by Algerian feminist writer Marouane (The Abductor, 2001, etc.).
The novel opens with a man anxious about renting an apartment in the stylish Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood of Paris, offering up glimpses of his self-seeking personality. “I walked over the wide open door to the balcony, and once again had the impression I was in a film,” he tells us. “Would I be the hero, or just a mere extra?” This man has reinvented himself as Basile Tocquard, a wealthy bank manager with bleached skin and good suits. We soon learn his true identity as Mohamed Ben Mokhtar, an Algerian born in Maghreb who has, as he puts it, “Frenchified” himself. “I was the good Muslim, the kind Islamist—nowadays we would say ‘fundamentalist’ or ‘terrorist’—who was respected and solicited for advice by the entire neighborhood,” he reveals. But this unlikely leading man is on a self-indulgent streak. He is a virgin determined to bed as many women as possible; a son devoted to unshackling himself from his mother’s authoritarian advice; and a budding hedonist enjoying the finer things that Paris has to offer. It’s not long before it’s apparent that something is amiss with Tocquard’s story—all of his descriptions of the women he meets are centered on curves rather than personality, with the sole exception of a 40-something writer, Loubna Minbar, who intimates herself into Mokhtar’s new life by way of third parties. The question emerges whether our narrator’s story is truly his own, or whether it’s being interpreted by the mysterious other who waits in the wings of this sophisticated but intricate text.
Not for everyone, but readers seeking out a truly innovative creative model for literature will plunge down this rabbit hole with abandon.Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-933372-85-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy,...
Britisher Haddon debuts in the adult novel with the bittersweet tale of a 15-year-old autistic who’s also a math genius.
Christopher Boone has had some bad knocks: his mother has died (well, she went to the hospital and never came back), and soon after he found a neighbor’s dog on the front lawn, slain by a garden fork stuck through it. A teacher said that he should write something that he “would like to read himself”—and so he embarks on this book, a murder mystery that will reveal who killed Mrs. Shears’s dog. First off, though, is a night in jail for hitting the policeman who questions him about the dog (the cop made the mistake of grabbing the boy by the arm when he can’t stand to be touched—any more than he can stand the colors yellow or brown, or not knowing what’s going to happen next). Christopher’s father bails him out but forbids his doing any more “detecting” about the dog-murder. When Christopher disobeys (and writes about it in his book), a fight ensues and his father confiscates the book. In time, detective-Christopher finds it, along with certain other clues that reveal a very great deal indeed about his mother’s “death,” his father’s own part in it—and the murder of the dog. Calming himself by doing roots, cubes, prime numbers, and math problems in his head, Christopher runs away, braves a train-ride to London, and finds—his mother. How can this be? Read and see. Neither parent, if truth be told, is the least bit prepossessing or more than a cutout. Christopher, though, with pet rat Toby in his pocket and advanced “maths” in his head, is another matter indeed, and readers will cheer when, way precociously, he takes his A-level maths and does brilliantly.
A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy, moving, and likely to be a smash.Pub Date: June 17, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50945-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2003
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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