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Lulu in Marrakech
The two-time Pulitzer Prize– and three-time National Book Award–nominated author of the bestseller Le Divorce returns with a mesmerizing novel of double standards and double agents.
Lulu Sawyer, the heroine of Diane Johnson’s captivating new novel, arrives in Marrakech, Morocco, hoping to rekindle her romance with a worldly Englishman, Ian Drumm. It’s the perfect cover for her assignment with the American CIA: tracing the flow of money from well-heeled donors to radical Islamic groups. While spending her days poolside among Europeans, in villas staffed by local maids in abayas, and her nights at lively dinner parties, Lulu observes the fragile coexistence of two cultures which, if not yet clashing, have begun to show signs of fracture. Beneath the surface of this polite expatriate community lies a more sinister world laced not only with double standards, but with double agents.
As she navigates the complex interface of Islam and the West, Lulu stumbles into unforeseen intrigues: A young Muslim girl, Suma, is hiding from a brother intent on an honor killing; and a beautiful Saudi woman, Gazi, who is vying for Ian’s love, leaves her husband in a desperate bid to escape her repressive society. The more Lulu immerses herself in the workings of Marrakech, the more questions emerge; and when bombs explode, the danger is palpable.
Lulu’s mission ultimately has tragic consequences, but along the way readers will fall in love with this endearing young woman as she improvises her way through the souk, her love life, and her profession. As in her previous novels, Diane Johnson weaves a dazzling tale in the great tradition of works about naive Americans abroad and the laws of unintended consequence, with a new, fascinating assortment of characters, as well as witty, trenchant observations on the manners and morals of a complicated moment in history.
Lulu Sawyer, the heroine of Diane Johnson’s captivating new novel, arrives in Marrakech, Morocco, hoping to rekindle her romance with a worldly Englishman, Ian Drumm. It’s the perfect cover for her assignment with the American CIA: tracing the flow of money from well-heeled donors to radical Islamic groups. While spending her days poolside among Europeans, in villas staffed by local maids in abayas, and her nights at lively dinner parties, Lulu observes the fragile coexistence of two cultures which, if not yet clashing, have begun to show signs of fracture. Beneath the surface of this polite expatriate community lies a more sinister world laced not only with double standards, but with double agents.
As she navigates the complex interface of Islam and the West, Lulu stumbles into unforeseen intrigues: A young Muslim girl, Suma, is hiding from a brother intent on an honor killing; and a beautiful Saudi woman, Gazi, who is vying for Ian’s love, leaves her husband in a desperate bid to escape her repressive society. The more Lulu immerses herself in the workings of Marrakech, the more questions emerge; and when bombs explode, the danger is palpable.
Lulu’s mission ultimately has tragic consequences, but along the way readers will fall in love with this endearing young woman as she improvises her way through the souk, her love life, and her profession. As in her previous novels, Diane Johnson weaves a dazzling tale in the great tradition of works about naive Americans abroad and the laws of unintended consequence, with a new, fascinating assortment of characters, as well as witty, trenchant observations on the manners and morals of a complicated moment in history.
307 pages, Hardcover
First published September 3, 2008
28 people are currently reading
571 people want to read
About the author
Diane Johnson
129 books184 followersDiane Johnson is an American novelist and essayist whose satirical novels often feature American heroines living in contemporary France. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Persian Nights in 1988.
In addition to her literary works, she is also known for writing the screenplay of the 1980 film The Shining together with its director and producer Stanley Kubrick.
In addition to her literary works, she is also known for writing the screenplay of the 1980 film The Shining together with its director and producer Stanley Kubrick.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 221 reviews
April 25, 2009
This is by far the worst book I can ever remember reading. On average, I read 2-3 books a week ..... and have since I was a teen... 20 years ago. I'M TELLING YOU, THIS IS THE WORST.
I have a personality defect that makes it impossible for me to not finish a book. In this case, by page 47 I would have burned my copy ... except that it was a library book AND the first choice of our newly formed book club. The only way I could force myself through to the end was to bookmark each page that truly offended me (and I'm a pretty laid back chick.)
Diane Johnson's gross, inaccurate generalizations at the very least are ignorant but on the more serious subjects (see below***), they're downright dangerous. I had an extremely difficult time distinguishing between Lulu's voice and Johnson's, probably because most of the main characters are spewing so much of the same crap as is it's fact. To make the whole experience even more unpleasant, her writing style was very disjointed (I don't think Lulu knew when things were happening, so how the heck am I? Half the book referred to "a few days after the fire") and the ridiculous foreshadowing was more like a brick slamming into my face.
I will continue my own education about Islam and the Muslim culture without being influenced by the hate I felt in this book. And how could anyone complain about Moroccan food being bland? OMG.
***examples of generalizations:
Americans hate bargaining.
The English are obsessed with adultery.
French women are not sisterly.
The whole Palestinian culture is defective.
There is something wrong with Islam.
Motherhood burns your bridges.
Wifehood is a "time-honored refuge and slightly unchallenging calling." "Why dead embers should have fascination I don’t know, but I have heard that people went to see the ruins after 9/11 in the same spirit, hoping somehow to feel the impact of a might event they suspect has not really touched them enough."
I have a personality defect that makes it impossible for me to not finish a book. In this case, by page 47 I would have burned my copy ... except that it was a library book AND the first choice of our newly formed book club. The only way I could force myself through to the end was to bookmark each page that truly offended me (and I'm a pretty laid back chick.)
Diane Johnson's gross, inaccurate generalizations at the very least are ignorant but on the more serious subjects (see below***), they're downright dangerous. I had an extremely difficult time distinguishing between Lulu's voice and Johnson's, probably because most of the main characters are spewing so much of the same crap as is it's fact. To make the whole experience even more unpleasant, her writing style was very disjointed (I don't think Lulu knew when things were happening, so how the heck am I? Half the book referred to "a few days after the fire") and the ridiculous foreshadowing was more like a brick slamming into my face.
I will continue my own education about Islam and the Muslim culture without being influenced by the hate I felt in this book. And how could anyone complain about Moroccan food being bland? OMG.
***examples of generalizations:
Americans hate bargaining.
The English are obsessed with adultery.
French women are not sisterly.
The whole Palestinian culture is defective.
There is something wrong with Islam.
Motherhood burns your bridges.
Wifehood is a "time-honored refuge and slightly unchallenging calling." "Why dead embers should have fascination I don’t know, but I have heard that people went to see the ruins after 9/11 in the same spirit, hoping somehow to feel the impact of a might event they suspect has not really touched them enough."
October 29, 2009
This book haunts me. While I found it tedious in places and not quite believable in others, I continued to read out of a sense of horrified fascination, not even sure what it was about. Only at the end did I realize that Lulu is an avatar for the United States and its hopeless relations with Arab nations. She doesn't understand the culture and would rather hold to her biases than learn anything new. She's judgmental and superficial, full of high sounding pronouncements, lacking committment to anything and anyone except herself. Looked at through this lens, the book is a stunning success.
November 17, 2008
DIANE JOHNSON CAN DO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS...
It's likely I will never again read one of Diane Johnson's novels. Despite being one of the most interesting and intelligent American authors around, she insists upon wasting her talent inventing tales featuring tiresome, silly heroines with no morals. In book after book we are confronted with what could be a fascinating story but the main character is so vapid and predictable that we lose interest rapidly. I had to force myself to stay the course until the end of this book. In her ongoing resentment of the double standard in life for men and women, Diane Johnson invents scenarios in which the heroine gets to act like "a man". The character in this book is no different. The preface says that "Readers will fall in love with this endearing young woman." Newly-appointed CIA operative Lulu Sawyer is about as endearing as a retarded tarantula (dumb and dangerous). She drifts along in life, completely open to sleeping around with whoever is handy (would she sleep with someone to get information? Yes!) and somehow we're supposed to find this admirable and interesting because that's how men act (and men aren't judged and men are happy is the silent moral of the story). In this book the heroine even "progresses" to murder and that without much of a conscience, either. A female James Bond. How liberating! Lulu's lazy promiscuity and immorality (only hinted at in this book, true) is just as damaging and soul-destroying as the moral and physical imprisonment forced upon the women of Islam. I had hoped for and expected so much more from this latest work. If you like Diane Johnson, read "Natural Opium: Some Travelers' Tales" or "Into a Paris Quartier". That gives you an idea of the superb level of writing that she is capable of doing.
It's likely I will never again read one of Diane Johnson's novels. Despite being one of the most interesting and intelligent American authors around, she insists upon wasting her talent inventing tales featuring tiresome, silly heroines with no morals. In book after book we are confronted with what could be a fascinating story but the main character is so vapid and predictable that we lose interest rapidly. I had to force myself to stay the course until the end of this book. In her ongoing resentment of the double standard in life for men and women, Diane Johnson invents scenarios in which the heroine gets to act like "a man". The character in this book is no different. The preface says that "Readers will fall in love with this endearing young woman." Newly-appointed CIA operative Lulu Sawyer is about as endearing as a retarded tarantula (dumb and dangerous). She drifts along in life, completely open to sleeping around with whoever is handy (would she sleep with someone to get information? Yes!) and somehow we're supposed to find this admirable and interesting because that's how men act (and men aren't judged and men are happy is the silent moral of the story). In this book the heroine even "progresses" to murder and that without much of a conscience, either. A female James Bond. How liberating! Lulu's lazy promiscuity and immorality (only hinted at in this book, true) is just as damaging and soul-destroying as the moral and physical imprisonment forced upon the women of Islam. I had hoped for and expected so much more from this latest work. If you like Diane Johnson, read "Natural Opium: Some Travelers' Tales" or "Into a Paris Quartier". That gives you an idea of the superb level of writing that she is capable of doing.
November 11, 2008
How could a book called Lulu in Marrakech fail to please?! I was seduced by the saucy title, the potential of an arm-chair adventure in an exotic city, and the reputation of the author as a finalist for the National Book Award. But, you certainly can't judge a book by its cover.
It could just as well have been Lulu in Minneapolis for all the local colour provided about Morocco and the protagonist was such a cardboard cut-out of a woman that I marvel the author was stimulated enough by her own writing to finish the book.
In many ways this book was no worse than most formulaic contemporary novels, but somehow I expected more----more wit, more wisdom and more adventure for Lulu.
It could just as well have been Lulu in Minneapolis for all the local colour provided about Morocco and the protagonist was such a cardboard cut-out of a woman that I marvel the author was stimulated enough by her own writing to finish the book.
In many ways this book was no worse than most formulaic contemporary novels, but somehow I expected more----more wit, more wisdom and more adventure for Lulu.
November 8, 2008
Whoa! Terribly bad reviews in the NYT! ( bought the book prior to seeing them) I feel for Diane Johnson; she even reviews for that publication. Perhaps those reviewers should stay away from the Left Bank in Paris, where she lives part of the year. ( By the way DJ's book about the Latin Quarter was a wonderful handbook when I stayed there over a year ago- I'll add it to shelves) , I have always liked D.J's light social comedies which focus on Americans abroad. Perhaps they resonate with me as a foreigner (even as a young student in Iceland working at reception in summer hotels (for eight summers), I loved studying the foreigners that I'd see; amazing how true to their national origins they were; both instantly and in further interactions.) So far I'm fine with the book- although perhaps I'm on the defensive....
I've read the book, and just now I'm pondering the role of major newspaper critics. Why would Michiko Kakutani refer to DJ's "ridiculous new novel" and call the novel shallow and unconvincing, gauzy and disposable etc etc. (I had to read up on MK and discovered that this is her modus operandi, apparently) To boot the Sunday Book review also gave Lulu in Marrakech a hatchet job; the reviewer, Erika Wagner, found Lulu too stupid and culturally insensitive to allow us, the readers, even a glimpse of Marrakech. The problem, I think, is that DJ has her heroine in first person singular while she is bumbling her CIA job and therefore the reader's sympathy is naturally, yet uneasily, with her. But is this not the problem in general with some USA actions abroad. Americans are nice enough, they want to do good, they see other's problems, so they do not recognize themselves as bumblers who cause horrible misfortune for others.
I like the company of Diane Johnson, the writer as she feels to me in her books. In life we find friendships and pleasure in the company of people others might not care for-and might be momentarily stunned if these people are panned, because perhaps the criticism is true in some aspect. Yet there are other qualities that we treasure, and in Diane Johnson there is plenty of intelligence woven throughout, plenty of quiet lovely glimpses of a place I am not likely to visit, deft touches of humor and character observations I enjoy.
Glad I was not deterred by the critics- they can say what they want- we've got to judge for ourselves.
I've read the book, and just now I'm pondering the role of major newspaper critics. Why would Michiko Kakutani refer to DJ's "ridiculous new novel" and call the novel shallow and unconvincing, gauzy and disposable etc etc. (I had to read up on MK and discovered that this is her modus operandi, apparently) To boot the Sunday Book review also gave Lulu in Marrakech a hatchet job; the reviewer, Erika Wagner, found Lulu too stupid and culturally insensitive to allow us, the readers, even a glimpse of Marrakech. The problem, I think, is that DJ has her heroine in first person singular while she is bumbling her CIA job and therefore the reader's sympathy is naturally, yet uneasily, with her. But is this not the problem in general with some USA actions abroad. Americans are nice enough, they want to do good, they see other's problems, so they do not recognize themselves as bumblers who cause horrible misfortune for others.
I like the company of Diane Johnson, the writer as she feels to me in her books. In life we find friendships and pleasure in the company of people others might not care for-and might be momentarily stunned if these people are panned, because perhaps the criticism is true in some aspect. Yet there are other qualities that we treasure, and in Diane Johnson there is plenty of intelligence woven throughout, plenty of quiet lovely glimpses of a place I am not likely to visit, deft touches of humor and character observations I enjoy.
Glad I was not deterred by the critics- they can say what they want- we've got to judge for ourselves.
May 19, 2013
Excellent. I was intrigued by the way the private and public kept intersecting. The narrator frequently complained that her romantic feelings interfered with her ability to concentrate on her work and that the solution might be simply to not have any private life at all or to get married and simply enjoy the sensual side of life. The narrator was a somewhat bumbling low achiever, who seemed to have limited self-awareness but tried to do the right thing without knowing what that was exactly. Satirical treatment of overlapping antiterrorist networks none of which knew what they were doing. The sense of paranoia and foreboding brought on by constant uncertainty about what game each character was playing made this a great read.
December 7, 2008
Lulu in Marrakech had a very interesting premise, but I was disappointed in the book. It never really captivated my attention in the way I expected. Lulu Sawyer is an American agent who is sent to Marrakech to provide intelligence information on who is funding a group of terrorists. A man she has recently been involved with, Ian, has a home there, providing her with a good cover. As Lulu becomes involved with a group of other foreigners to Marrakech, both her assignment and her personal life in this city culminate in disappointment. For me, this novel which sounded so intruiging, fell far short of its promise.
November 7, 2008
I was excited for a fun, suspenseful, international flavored book. It wasn't really fun or suspenseful, and I didn't even feel like I really learned much at all about another culture. There wasn't even a good message. I wouldn't recommend it.
April 28, 2009
After reading this book, I fail to understand how the author has been nominated multiple times for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Maybe, as others have noted, it's just this book that is bad; unfortunately, I was not inspired enough by the book to want to read any more of the author's works. But who knows, maybe I will sometime.
In Lulu in Marrakech, the title character heads to Morocco on a covert CIA assignment under the pretense of reconnecting with a former lover, Ian. She stays in Ian's house and gets to know his neighbors and friends, which includes a girl named Suma who fled France to avoid an honor killing, a married Saudi woman named Gazi who may be having an affair, and a pregnant woman named Posy who becomes one of Lulu's friends. There is also Lulu's handler, who she communicates with by email, her spy contact in Marrakech, and various others who round out the story. Lulu's not exactly sure what she's supposed to be looking for in Marrakech (which means I'm not exactly sure what she's doing there...), but she dutifully reports everything to her handler and waits to be told what to do next.
The writing itself it fitting for the story. Instead of being a fast-paced spy novel, as I expected, the writing is almost dreamy, as if you're seeing the action unfold behind some gauzy fabric. It was off-putting at first, but I ultimately enjoyed this style because the way of life in Marrakech seemed much the same. I enjoyed the story too, trying to figure out what was going to happen and who was going to turn out to be someone else.
However (and this is a HUGE however - the basis for the book only receiving 2 stars), the book went nowhere. There are so many loose ends at the end of the book that virtually nothing is tied up or explained. I wondered what the point of me sloshing through all 300 pages was for absolutely no climax! The book just sort of... ended. And there were so many things that I wanted answers for! Very frustrating.
It seemed like the author was trying to do too much with the story - a spy novel, a thriller, chick lit, a mystery, a discourse on social mores, etc. - and ultimately did none of these things well. There was a lot of discussion about the roles of women in different cultures and lots of talk about religion, which was interesting, but it came at the expense of a real plot and real conclusion.
Would I recommend this book to others? No.
In Lulu in Marrakech, the title character heads to Morocco on a covert CIA assignment under the pretense of reconnecting with a former lover, Ian. She stays in Ian's house and gets to know his neighbors and friends, which includes a girl named Suma who fled France to avoid an honor killing, a married Saudi woman named Gazi who may be having an affair, and a pregnant woman named Posy who becomes one of Lulu's friends. There is also Lulu's handler, who she communicates with by email, her spy contact in Marrakech, and various others who round out the story. Lulu's not exactly sure what she's supposed to be looking for in Marrakech (which means I'm not exactly sure what she's doing there...), but she dutifully reports everything to her handler and waits to be told what to do next.
The writing itself it fitting for the story. Instead of being a fast-paced spy novel, as I expected, the writing is almost dreamy, as if you're seeing the action unfold behind some gauzy fabric. It was off-putting at first, but I ultimately enjoyed this style because the way of life in Marrakech seemed much the same. I enjoyed the story too, trying to figure out what was going to happen and who was going to turn out to be someone else.
However (and this is a HUGE however - the basis for the book only receiving 2 stars), the book went nowhere. There are so many loose ends at the end of the book that virtually nothing is tied up or explained. I wondered what the point of me sloshing through all 300 pages was for absolutely no climax! The book just sort of... ended. And there were so many things that I wanted answers for! Very frustrating.
It seemed like the author was trying to do too much with the story - a spy novel, a thriller, chick lit, a mystery, a discourse on social mores, etc. - and ultimately did none of these things well. There was a lot of discussion about the roles of women in different cultures and lots of talk about religion, which was interesting, but it came at the expense of a real plot and real conclusion.
Would I recommend this book to others? No.
October 21, 2012
A young-ish CIA agent (Lulu) is stationed in Marrakech because her lover provides the perfect cover as well as an entree into the local expatriot scene. She is to collect information about the flow of money through non-profit organizations to terrorists. The mission is passive and nebulous and gives Lulu plenty of time to obsess about her lover and their relationship. Johnson uses this set-up to consider the cultural conflicts both between Western societies as well as those between Westerners and Muslims and men and women. Observant, wry, and not a little pessimistic, this novel provides good food for thought about how we do and don't get along.
September 15, 2009
A satire about an "ordinary" woman who is an intelligence agent precisely because she seems like such a lightweight character who would not arouuse suspicions. But the world of terrorism exists as "poisonous vapors coming up from a chink in a terrible netherworld, and she temporarily succumbs to those "vapors" and reacts, causing some unintended deaths. At the end, she simply is reassigned, and seems to forget what her job has cost in terms of human lives. Lulu in Marrakech
November 30, 2008
I gave this one the 'old 50 page test' and it didn't pass. I gave up after realizing that it was Johnson's trademark society/culture clashing comedy mixed with North African terrorism, Muslim Women's Issues and the CIA. The combination just didn't work very well. The worst part were the epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter; passages from the Koran and quotations from Shakespeare just didn't make a lot of sense in terms of the overall plot...they seemed pretty forced to me.
August 2, 2010
To put a mix of different culture into a popular plot, woooww it needs an serious research moreover if the background were settled on "perennial eye infection of colonialism" for example: a gender relation.
If you did this well, it's easy to get a literature noble (at least an nominated) but if you failed... he...he..he you'll need a stronghold for your ears and eyes from the stakeholder...
A lot of Johnson's readers seem to have expected Lulu in Marrakech to be just like La Divorce. How can it be, when French and English speakers' misunderstandings are so tempered by our cultural similarities and long joint history of Western thought?
Johnson (like Lulu) clearly does not understand Morocco as well as she does Paris. How can she when the cultural setting doesn't allow her to meet any Moroccan women except as objects of charitable efforts? How can average Moroccan women understand us, if they are forbidden to either read or attend social functions with Westerners?
And how can Islamic conservatives join a dialogue with us when, as Lulu notes, they clearly cannot say out loud what they think: that our women look and act like whores (by their standards), that we can't meet in groups without the aid of alcohol, and that Westerners who travel to the Middle East don't even seem to honor their own religion, never mind respecting people whose religious principles direct every part of their life?
Johnson plays Lulu's inability to access Moroccan culture against a myriad of perspectives presented both by the other characters and by her chapterhead quotes from seemingly everyone on earth: from the Koran through Edith Wharton, Joseph Conrad and William E. Colby to someone named Orhan Pamuk, whom Johnson quotes saying,
"And now you've aired all your smug Western views, probably even having a few laughs deep down at our expense . . . but by inflicting your own naive ideas on us, by rhapsodizing about the Western pursuit of happiness and justice, you've clouded our thinking."
We've clouded our own thinking as well -- just think of America's recent accomplishments in the areas of happiness and justice. And this is the magic of Lulu in Marrakech: every time the reader draws a conclusion about the collision of West and Middle East, the next chapter forces the reader to reexamine the issue from yet another perspective.
Any plot weaknesses in this book are more than made up for by the force of the intellectual and emotional challenge it raises: what can we do to even begin to understand a culture that is so terribly foreign to us that we don't even know what questions to ask it?
This is not France: France was easy.
If you did this well, it's easy to get a literature noble (at least an nominated) but if you failed... he...he..he you'll need a stronghold for your ears and eyes from the stakeholder...
A lot of Johnson's readers seem to have expected Lulu in Marrakech to be just like La Divorce. How can it be, when French and English speakers' misunderstandings are so tempered by our cultural similarities and long joint history of Western thought?
Johnson (like Lulu) clearly does not understand Morocco as well as she does Paris. How can she when the cultural setting doesn't allow her to meet any Moroccan women except as objects of charitable efforts? How can average Moroccan women understand us, if they are forbidden to either read or attend social functions with Westerners?
And how can Islamic conservatives join a dialogue with us when, as Lulu notes, they clearly cannot say out loud what they think: that our women look and act like whores (by their standards), that we can't meet in groups without the aid of alcohol, and that Westerners who travel to the Middle East don't even seem to honor their own religion, never mind respecting people whose religious principles direct every part of their life?
Johnson plays Lulu's inability to access Moroccan culture against a myriad of perspectives presented both by the other characters and by her chapterhead quotes from seemingly everyone on earth: from the Koran through Edith Wharton, Joseph Conrad and William E. Colby to someone named Orhan Pamuk, whom Johnson quotes saying,
"And now you've aired all your smug Western views, probably even having a few laughs deep down at our expense . . . but by inflicting your own naive ideas on us, by rhapsodizing about the Western pursuit of happiness and justice, you've clouded our thinking."
We've clouded our own thinking as well -- just think of America's recent accomplishments in the areas of happiness and justice. And this is the magic of Lulu in Marrakech: every time the reader draws a conclusion about the collision of West and Middle East, the next chapter forces the reader to reexamine the issue from yet another perspective.
Any plot weaknesses in this book are more than made up for by the force of the intellectual and emotional challenge it raises: what can we do to even begin to understand a culture that is so terribly foreign to us that we don't even know what questions to ask it?
This is not France: France was easy.
October 14, 2008
Lulu (not her real name) is flying to Marrakech to work on literacy programs (not her real mission), where she will be staying with the English lover she met on a previous assignment (yes, yes, this part is true, although the Brit doesn’t know he’s Lulu’s cover). This is all very secretive, very hush-hush. And that is because Lulu is in the intelligence business. She travels under false pretenses, mingles, listens and observes. In this post-9/11 world, she’s been sent to Northern Africa to dig up information on terrorist groups and the money that funds their attacks. But she feels inadequate, and isn’t even sure what she is looking for. At the same time, she over-analyzes her relationship with the Englishman.
I enjoyed the book. It wasn’t Lulu’s spying skills, as I don’t believe those are good if even present at all. And it wasn’t the love affair with Ian, because the passion there was limited. But I enjoyed reading about Lulu’s first impressions of Marrakech, and then her second and third… I enjoyed the description of life there, as well as the landscapes, the towns, the souks, the people (both Moroccan and expatriates from France, England, America, etc…). Lulu and her entourage spend a lot of time discussion Islam and women in Islam. Some comments aren’t PC, but I don’t believe them to be offensive either. Overall, a good book. Not great, but good.
I enjoyed the book. It wasn’t Lulu’s spying skills, as I don’t believe those are good if even present at all. And it wasn’t the love affair with Ian, because the passion there was limited. But I enjoyed reading about Lulu’s first impressions of Marrakech, and then her second and third… I enjoyed the description of life there, as well as the landscapes, the towns, the souks, the people (both Moroccan and expatriates from France, England, America, etc…). Lulu and her entourage spend a lot of time discussion Islam and women in Islam. Some comments aren’t PC, but I don’t believe them to be offensive either. Overall, a good book. Not great, but good.
March 9, 2009
I don't think I can find enough adjectives to describe how much I disliked this book.
My issues are as follows:
-Even though there was a plot to the story, there was no climax.
-In hindsight, many of the characters and moments in the story were completely pointless. Really, in what way did Peggy Whitworth further the story along???
-Lulu, the main character, was pretty dense most of the time and not a very good CIA agent.
-There was no resolution for any character or for the storyline! What happens to Lulu, Desi, Suma, Ian, Posy … ANYBODY???
Ultimately this novel left me very frustrated.
My issues are as follows:
-Even though there was a plot to the story, there was no climax.
-In hindsight, many of the characters and moments in the story were completely pointless. Really, in what way did Peggy Whitworth further the story along???
-Lulu, the main character, was pretty dense most of the time and not a very good CIA agent.
-There was no resolution for any character or for the storyline! What happens to Lulu, Desi, Suma, Ian, Posy … ANYBODY???
Ultimately this novel left me very frustrated.
January 8, 2009
Though bearing the admirable fascination for culture clash that Johnson has made her signature over the years, Lulu in Marrakech is nonetheless problematic in its unbelievable protagonist, plot, and treatment of international issues. Lulu Googles refugee camps in the western Sahara and analyzes cocktail party gossip
September 10, 2009
I tried to like this book but just couldn't... I found Lulu to be both unbelievable (how did she get to be a CIA operative when she is so unobservant?) and boring. She spent the entire book professing her love for Ian and then left him, saying she had to before she was arrested (for a botched CIA operation she was involved in), when she could have convinced him to move with her instead.
March 30, 2012
To quote a review on Amazon.com: "Newly-appointed CIA operative Lulu Sawyer is about as endearing as a retarded tarantula (dumb and dangerous)." Amen.
January 4, 2009
Just. Could. Not. Finish. It.
February 6, 2021
The worst book about Morocco I have read so far! I thought that Diane Johnson could do better than this!
July 10, 2009
I really wanted to like this book, but it came up short for me. I like Diane Johnson, so I thought it would work. The problem is the main character. Lulu is an employee of the CIA, an intelligence operative, and this is one of her early assignments. So she's fairly green. She is staying in Marrakech with Ian, with whom she has had a fling in the not-so-distant past. The reader is kept a bit off kilter about whether Ian can be trusted. But Lulu is really just using him, or so she tells herself, until she realizes that she might be a bit in love.
But then some things happen, and Lulu is even more off kilter. But she keeps on going with her assignment. There is danger in the assignment, and that does come through quite well.
One quibble I have is actually her name. Maybe this is my stereotype, but to me, a "Lulu" is a frivolous gadfly, someone one lighthearted or a bit zany. But this Lulu is a pretty serious person. You'd need to be serious to be in this line of work, although she is also fairly naive or certainly culturally ignorant. In any event, I felt a disconnect between her name and her character. One must assume that the name choice is deliberate, so is Johnson signalling that we might expect problems?
One never likes to have the author's opinions speaking too loudly in a book, but here's a passage that seems like it could be Johnson speaking through Lulu:
Sometimes, fed up with company, I'd go to my room after dinner, leaving Ian to his guests. I would write my e-mails to "Shiela" and I'd read. To tell the truth, I'd never been much of a reader. One reason I never liked to read is that I early discovered that in stories the female character you were supposed to love and admire was expected to make choices of the heart instead of rational choices. She was suposed to be buffeted by her emotions, and that was what made her lovable and womanly. True, in Little Women you liked Jo, the most intelligent one, though my secret was that I didn't like the little women at all; Jo was only the best among them, but even she, swayed by her emotions, sold out for the ugly, bearded, older professor, a repellent choice for lots of reasons.
In many ways, Lulu is too rational for my taste, make unrealistic and dangerous choices as a result.
But then some things happen, and Lulu is even more off kilter. But she keeps on going with her assignment. There is danger in the assignment, and that does come through quite well.
One quibble I have is actually her name. Maybe this is my stereotype, but to me, a "Lulu" is a frivolous gadfly, someone one lighthearted or a bit zany. But this Lulu is a pretty serious person. You'd need to be serious to be in this line of work, although she is also fairly naive or certainly culturally ignorant. In any event, I felt a disconnect between her name and her character. One must assume that the name choice is deliberate, so is Johnson signalling that we might expect problems?
One never likes to have the author's opinions speaking too loudly in a book, but here's a passage that seems like it could be Johnson speaking through Lulu:
Sometimes, fed up with company, I'd go to my room after dinner, leaving Ian to his guests. I would write my e-mails to "Shiela" and I'd read. To tell the truth, I'd never been much of a reader. One reason I never liked to read is that I early discovered that in stories the female character you were supposed to love and admire was expected to make choices of the heart instead of rational choices. She was suposed to be buffeted by her emotions, and that was what made her lovable and womanly. True, in Little Women you liked Jo, the most intelligent one, though my secret was that I didn't like the little women at all; Jo was only the best among them, but even she, swayed by her emotions, sold out for the ugly, bearded, older professor, a repellent choice for lots of reasons.
In many ways, Lulu is too rational for my taste, make unrealistic and dangerous choices as a result.
March 29, 2013
Basic Synopsis: Lulu is some kind of CIA agent. What her job description, training or real use fullness is, we are never told. She is assigned to Marrakech to try and find what part of the ex-pat community there is secretly funding terrorist cells. Fortunately, she can just stay with a guy she was hooking up with in Kosovo when she was there on assignment, being an aide worker as a cover.
My honest opinion; Very anti-climatic. The promise of a CIA thriller falls through cause she hardly does ANYTHING even remotely spy-like. And while I may understand that a lot of secret services are more of a paperwork, watch and observe kind of outfit, that hardly makes for thrilling reason. Any steamy scenes are glossed over and not that noteworthy. There is a myriad of characters who all just invoke the question of "why are they here", and all the while, you hope and think that maybe they will be important by the end . . . only to find out that they might, or might not be important. Just so many questions that never really get satisfactorily answered. I don't know if she actually really loves the love interest.
Things I liked; Description! She describes perfectly - not that she provides an ACCURATE description on Morroco (which I read in other reviews, she does not) but that she finds the perfect balance between detailed descriptions and not going overboard. You can easily see her story playing out in your head. I also enjoyed her quirky personna dramatis of secondary characters.
Things I disliked; The absolute uselessness of most of the secondary characters. She created an intriguing cast without really having any purpose for them. I also, honestly, hated how ambivelent I was about Lulu. I didn't hate her, but I didn't like her either. I didn't empathize, I didn't find myself identifying with her. It got to the point where I was wondering why I was even reading her story.
Final Thoughts; I bought it at discount so I won't call it a complete waste. It kept my attention, although I did come close to giving up, but was a pleasant enough way to waste a five hour flight.
My honest opinion; Very anti-climatic. The promise of a CIA thriller falls through cause she hardly does ANYTHING even remotely spy-like. And while I may understand that a lot of secret services are more of a paperwork, watch and observe kind of outfit, that hardly makes for thrilling reason. Any steamy scenes are glossed over and not that noteworthy. There is a myriad of characters who all just invoke the question of "why are they here", and all the while, you hope and think that maybe they will be important by the end . . . only to find out that they might, or might not be important. Just so many questions that never really get satisfactorily answered. I don't know if she actually really loves the love interest.
Things I liked; Description! She describes perfectly - not that she provides an ACCURATE description on Morroco (which I read in other reviews, she does not) but that she finds the perfect balance between detailed descriptions and not going overboard. You can easily see her story playing out in your head. I also enjoyed her quirky personna dramatis of secondary characters.
Things I disliked; The absolute uselessness of most of the secondary characters. She created an intriguing cast without really having any purpose for them. I also, honestly, hated how ambivelent I was about Lulu. I didn't hate her, but I didn't like her either. I didn't empathize, I didn't find myself identifying with her. It got to the point where I was wondering why I was even reading her story.
Final Thoughts; I bought it at discount so I won't call it a complete waste. It kept my attention, although I did come close to giving up, but was a pleasant enough way to waste a five hour flight.
November 2, 2010
I have been a fan of Diane Johnson since reading her novels Le Divorce, Le Mariage, and L'Affaiare, which are all about Americans living in France and struggling with cultural differences and snafus. Lulu in Marrakech lacks some of the more vibrant plot points I was used to in Johnson, but the plot is less important than the small taste of Moroccan culture and the glance into the lives of Muslim women that Johnson provides. Lulu herself is a somewhat annoying heroine. As a CIA agent, she is sent to Marrakech ostensibly to seek out connections of Western money donors to Muslim terrorists. Conveniently, Lulu has an old boyfrined, Englishman Ian Drumm, who lives in Marrakech and is willing to let her move into his villa and rekindle their romance while remaining ignorant of her CIA connection. Unfortunately, the storyline is flat and confusing. The romance between Lulu and Ian is dull, the other British and American characters are bland, and even the Muslim characters are a little too stereotypical. Lulu's work as a spy seems incredibly sporatic and dull. James Bond, she is not! Even a seemingly serious assignment deteriorates into disastrous incompetence and pointless tragedy. Lots of loose ends are not tied up, but left dangling, much to the reader's frustration. Nevertheless, Johnson makes some points about the repression of Muslim women and such horrific practices as "honor killings" and obsession with female virginity that should be brought out to an American reading public. I am not an expert on Morocco, but I have visited briefly Marrakech and other Moroccan cities and found that Johnson's descriptions brought back some pleasant memories about the culture, decor, and cuisine. In typical Johnson fashion, there are also some speculations about cultural differences between Americans, Moroccans, and French, as well as between Christians and Muslims that plague this admirable, but troubled, culture.
April 12, 2009
Johnson has also written "Le Divorce" and "Le Mariage," which are cute and set in Paris and I do remember enjoying when I read in, like, high school. So obviously I love Marrakech, love Morocco, and was interested in reading this, which is about a lady spy.
Dry, dry, dry. It almost didn't seem believable that Lulu would be an American, because her first-person narration is SO incredibly dry and emotionless. Are we sure she's not supposed to be the paragon of British restraint? No, she's American. Damn. In addition, she really doesn't believe in herself, at all. She makes a lot of comments about how she can't do most things, doesn't know most things, isn't really that smart, and isn't especially observant (Dude? You're a SPY). It reminded me about how female characters in romantic comedies seem to have to be really down on themselves, like that somehow makes them more believable - except, in the movies at least, I assume they're generally written by men. Sigh.
Then I went back upstairs to get the gun and a bag of necessaries I'd packed--just like Posy. The difference in our aims didn't escape me.
And that's about as analytical and revealing as Lulu gets. And have a mentioned the hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-brick, painfully obvious foreshadowing?
I saw no harm in this, because Ian was plainly not involved in anything, or so I came down on the side of thinking.
And on a purely nitpicky level - the houseman's name was Rashid. This annoyed the crap out of me, because the book is set in Marrakech. It should either be Rachid in Marrakech (and transliterated into French), or Rashid in Marrakesh (and transliterated into English). But maybe that's just me.
Dry, dry, dry. It almost didn't seem believable that Lulu would be an American, because her first-person narration is SO incredibly dry and emotionless. Are we sure she's not supposed to be the paragon of British restraint? No, she's American. Damn. In addition, she really doesn't believe in herself, at all. She makes a lot of comments about how she can't do most things, doesn't know most things, isn't really that smart, and isn't especially observant (Dude? You're a SPY). It reminded me about how female characters in romantic comedies seem to have to be really down on themselves, like that somehow makes them more believable - except, in the movies at least, I assume they're generally written by men. Sigh.
Then I went back upstairs to get the gun and a bag of necessaries I'd packed--just like Posy. The difference in our aims didn't escape me.
And that's about as analytical and revealing as Lulu gets. And have a mentioned the hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-brick, painfully obvious foreshadowing?
I saw no harm in this, because Ian was plainly not involved in anything, or so I came down on the side of thinking.
And on a purely nitpicky level - the houseman's name was Rashid. This annoyed the crap out of me, because the book is set in Marrakech. It should either be Rachid in Marrakech (and transliterated into French), or Rashid in Marrakesh (and transliterated into English). But maybe that's just me.
January 23, 2013
The most masterfully written part of this book is the jacket cover. The promotional quotes offered by the likes of "Vogue" "O. The Oprah Magazine" and "The Washington Post Book Review" leave me hugely suspect as to whether anyone from those outfits actually read this book. And I'm equally mystified that this wasn't this author's first attempt at writing novel.
I was dissatisfied because most of the book read like a series of character analyses - as if the author herself was trying to map out who and what the characters are all about. There seemed to be very little actual plot, it's not suspenseful and if Lulu's banal activities are supposed to immerse her in a "sinister world laced with double standards as well as double agents" then I must have missed some secret code. An event that happens in the start of the book was one that I thought would become a focal point and somehow be incorporated into the undercover operation -- and yet not only did it not pan out that way, the author forgets about it half way through and there is no explanation given for the event and that just leaves me wondering why it was even included in the book at all. The actual undercover operation ends up being so underwhelming and as disappointing as the neat tidy bow the author wraps onto the end of the story -- essentially getting Lulu out of a jam in as inventive a fashion as saying "and then she woke up and realized it was all a dream."
Doubtful I will read any other book by this bestselling author.
I was dissatisfied because most of the book read like a series of character analyses - as if the author herself was trying to map out who and what the characters are all about. There seemed to be very little actual plot, it's not suspenseful and if Lulu's banal activities are supposed to immerse her in a "sinister world laced with double standards as well as double agents" then I must have missed some secret code. An event that happens in the start of the book was one that I thought would become a focal point and somehow be incorporated into the undercover operation -- and yet not only did it not pan out that way, the author forgets about it half way through and there is no explanation given for the event and that just leaves me wondering why it was even included in the book at all. The actual undercover operation ends up being so underwhelming and as disappointing as the neat tidy bow the author wraps onto the end of the story -- essentially getting Lulu out of a jam in as inventive a fashion as saying "and then she woke up and realized it was all a dream."
Doubtful I will read any other book by this bestselling author.
April 25, 2014
A title like Lulu in Marrakech suggests something exotic and colourful - but I found this book colourless. It felt as though the author had created a good plot, written an outline, then only half-developed it and her characters.
The narrator talked about being in love, or being upset to see her lover with someone else - but I had trouble believing her, because her tone was so dispassionate. The words were on the page, but they felt curiously bloodless, and I couldn't get involved. There were two dramatic events which had very little sense of drama attached to them.
It probably didn't help that I kept having to time-shift. The description of the English upper classes in Marrakesh was straight out of Hercule Poirot - I have lived in expat communities so I know they can be stuck in a time warp, but surely not quite that much. I got such a clear impression of a 1930's house party that I was really jolted when she sent an email!
I note others have said the novel is meant to be a satire and a commentary on American foreign policy. I'm not sure that excuses cardboard/caricature characters.
The conclusion was also not satisfying, as it wasn't really a conclusion. I understand that she couldn't explain everything that had happened, or tie up the ends neatly, because the heroine is working in espionage and there's always doubt about who's working for whom and why. But on top of a story that never involved me, the lack of a good denouement was frustrating.
The narrator talked about being in love, or being upset to see her lover with someone else - but I had trouble believing her, because her tone was so dispassionate. The words were on the page, but they felt curiously bloodless, and I couldn't get involved. There were two dramatic events which had very little sense of drama attached to them.
It probably didn't help that I kept having to time-shift. The description of the English upper classes in Marrakesh was straight out of Hercule Poirot - I have lived in expat communities so I know they can be stuck in a time warp, but surely not quite that much. I got such a clear impression of a 1930's house party that I was really jolted when she sent an email!
I note others have said the novel is meant to be a satire and a commentary on American foreign policy. I'm not sure that excuses cardboard/caricature characters.
The conclusion was also not satisfying, as it wasn't really a conclusion. I understand that she couldn't explain everything that had happened, or tie up the ends neatly, because the heroine is working in espionage and there's always doubt about who's working for whom and why. But on top of a story that never involved me, the lack of a good denouement was frustrating.
January 23, 2015
I found Le Divorce completely insufferable and wasn't surprised to dislike this book, but I was kind of shocked that she decided to place one of her comedy of manners involving Euro-American cultural differences in the middle of the war on terror. I guess I just don't find extraordinary rendition all that funny.
Unlike some reviewers, I am not so confident of the CIA's competence to assume they would not hire someone as dimwitted as Lulu. She's no Jack Bauer.
As for the romance, the character of Ian is so one-dimensional (sum total of character traits: rich, nice to kittens, has sexy British accent) that it's hard to understand Luuu's infatuation. She assures us several times that she is falling in love with him. I felt like the author has Lulu tell us about her feelings over and over again because she (the author) is so bad at actually displaying them.
The thing is, the Marrakech expat community is a great place to set a novel exploring cultural differences. The sad thing is that this one barely explores the cultural differences at all. For all the time we spend talking about the plight of women in Morocco/Islam, the representatives for women in Islam are a French-Algerian girl and a Saudi housewife. We meet hardly any actual Moroccans. If this had been intentional commentary on how insular such communities could be, I'd get behind it. But it just feels like a glaring oversight.
Silver lining is that some of the descriptions of Marrakech are pretty good, albeit occasionally inaccurate (call to prayer doesn't happen at 4:30 am in December).
Unlike some reviewers, I am not so confident of the CIA's competence to assume they would not hire someone as dimwitted as Lulu. She's no Jack Bauer.
As for the romance, the character of Ian is so one-dimensional (sum total of character traits: rich, nice to kittens, has sexy British accent) that it's hard to understand Luuu's infatuation. She assures us several times that she is falling in love with him. I felt like the author has Lulu tell us about her feelings over and over again because she (the author) is so bad at actually displaying them.
The thing is, the Marrakech expat community is a great place to set a novel exploring cultural differences. The sad thing is that this one barely explores the cultural differences at all. For all the time we spend talking about the plight of women in Morocco/Islam, the representatives for women in Islam are a French-Algerian girl and a Saudi housewife. We meet hardly any actual Moroccans. If this had been intentional commentary on how insular such communities could be, I'd get behind it. But it just feels like a glaring oversight.
Silver lining is that some of the descriptions of Marrakech are pretty good, albeit occasionally inaccurate (call to prayer doesn't happen at 4:30 am in December).
May 9, 2013
This book only cost fifty cents. It was worth that. But I'm glad I didn't pay more.
The premise, CIA agent girl in love with a rich British guy in the romantic city of Marrakech, had so much promise. At least on the dust jacket. Maybe even the first fifty pages.
Then the story gets cluttered.
It's only just have 300 pages so that's fairly short. Lulu, Ian, Robin, Posy, Gazi, Khaled, Suma, Pierre, Taft, Walt, Tom, Habiba, Barka, Pring, Nancy, Mrs. Cotter, Mr. Cotter, Madame Frank, Amid, Lord Drumm, Desi, Miryam... that's far, far too many characters for such a short book.
Lulu, as evidenced by the title, is the main character. She's in love with Ian... but Ian hardly gets developed at all. In fact, he's built up as the possible British agent to match Lulu/only her lover/a flat out terrorist but he only sort of becomes all those things.
Lulu is also a terrible CIA agent. If she's any sort of representative of how CIA agents really operate, it's not really surprising that the intelligence community misses so much.
The close of the book read almost like an editor said the book was getting too long and it needed to be wrapped up post haste so the author figured out the easiest, quickest way to tie everything up in neat little boxes. And the boxes are neat... if only because the story is too neat as a whole. Everything goes just as it should.
In the end, I mostly just wished I was reading a book about Posy instead of Lulu.
The premise, CIA agent girl in love with a rich British guy in the romantic city of Marrakech, had so much promise. At least on the dust jacket. Maybe even the first fifty pages.
Then the story gets cluttered.
It's only just have 300 pages so that's fairly short. Lulu, Ian, Robin, Posy, Gazi, Khaled, Suma, Pierre, Taft, Walt, Tom, Habiba, Barka, Pring, Nancy, Mrs. Cotter, Mr. Cotter, Madame Frank, Amid, Lord Drumm, Desi, Miryam... that's far, far too many characters for such a short book.
Lulu, as evidenced by the title, is the main character. She's in love with Ian... but Ian hardly gets developed at all. In fact, he's built up as the possible British agent to match Lulu/only her lover/a flat out terrorist but he only sort of becomes all those things.
Lulu is also a terrible CIA agent. If she's any sort of representative of how CIA agents really operate, it's not really surprising that the intelligence community misses so much.
The close of the book read almost like an editor said the book was getting too long and it needed to be wrapped up post haste so the author figured out the easiest, quickest way to tie everything up in neat little boxes. And the boxes are neat... if only because the story is too neat as a whole. Everything goes just as it should.
In the end, I mostly just wished I was reading a book about Posy instead of Lulu.
July 18, 2016
Morocco is utterly gorgeous and culturally fascinating, and I have been there, so it takes nothing for me to pick up a book set there. In this case, that's highly unfortunate.
The spy plot was competent enough, apart from the fact that it didn't have a proper conclusion. And apart from the fact that Lulu is incompetent. Seriously, I did more research for a 14 day guided tour than she did before going on an undercover operation for the CIA. She displays virtually no tradecraft and is utterly oblivious and closed-minded when it comes to the culture she is immersed in and the people she is supposed to be watching.
Which is the number one issue - this is the most pervasively colonial book I have read since... probably Passage to India, which is a fair comparison since EM Forster is used as an epigraph for several chapters. Like, Victorian era levels of 'we are better' white man's burden rubbish. And god, their ranting about women's liberation as if the hijab instantly makes a woman oppressed, as if having sex on the regular is inherently right, as if Islam is of itself barbaric.... it's infuriating. Especially when women's literacy and animal cruelty are compared by these so-called enlightened expats - seriously, they are abysmal and I am so, so unimpressed.
And for all it's set in Morocco, it focuses entirely on expats, so there's this untapped gloriousness of a culture and it could be set pretty much anywhere.
The spy plot was competent enough, apart from the fact that it didn't have a proper conclusion. And apart from the fact that Lulu is incompetent. Seriously, I did more research for a 14 day guided tour than she did before going on an undercover operation for the CIA. She displays virtually no tradecraft and is utterly oblivious and closed-minded when it comes to the culture she is immersed in and the people she is supposed to be watching.
Which is the number one issue - this is the most pervasively colonial book I have read since... probably Passage to India, which is a fair comparison since EM Forster is used as an epigraph for several chapters. Like, Victorian era levels of 'we are better' white man's burden rubbish. And god, their ranting about women's liberation as if the hijab instantly makes a woman oppressed, as if having sex on the regular is inherently right, as if Islam is of itself barbaric.... it's infuriating. Especially when women's literacy and animal cruelty are compared by these so-called enlightened expats - seriously, they are abysmal and I am so, so unimpressed.
And for all it's set in Morocco, it focuses entirely on expats, so there's this untapped gloriousness of a culture and it could be set pretty much anywhere.
March 24, 2010
Lulu in Marrakech was for me a victim of preconceived notions. Lulu Sawyer--the alias of a novice CIA field agent--narrates her time in Marrakech with the mission of tracing how money flows to radical Islamist groups. Lulu does not fit the part, or perhaps she internalized her cover story too well -- coming to Marrakech to continue a romance with Englishman Ian Drumm while working on female literacy on the side. Without prior research, she doesn't know what she's getting into and worries when Ian doesn't come pick her up at the airport. Her stay consists mostly of spending time with other expatriates in the Marrakech community, relatively isolated in Ian's villa, contemplating the female Muslim condition in that hesitant, rising pitch intonation that turns everything into an unanswered question. She is kept in the dark by her Company colleagues, and it seems like a sheer coincidence that the intrigue which happens occurs in her small circle. However, if I didn't expect a spy novel in an exotic locale, having known that Diane Johnson is a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize nominated novelist for social and moral comedies featuring American heroines in foreign lands, I might have enjoyed Lulu's experience more. Since the story is well set up for a sequel, I might have the chance to try again.
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