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The Other Americans
From the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Moor's Account, here is a timely and powerful novel about the suspicious death of a Moroccan immigrant--at once a family saga, a murder mystery, and a love story, informed by the treacherous fault lines of American culture.
Late one spring night, Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant living in California, is walking across a darkened intersection when he is killed by a speeding car. The repercussions of his death bring together a diverse cast of characters: Guerraoui's daughter Nora, a jazz composer who returns to the small town in the Mojave she thought she'd left for good; his widow, Maryam, who still pines after her life in the old country; Efraín, an undocumented witness whose fear of deportation prevents him from coming forward; Jeremy, an old friend of Nora's and an Iraq War veteran; Coleman, a detective who is slowly discovering her son's secrets; Anderson, a neighbor trying to reconnect with his family; and the murdered man himself.
As the characters--deeply divided by race, religion, and class--tell their stories, connections among them emerge, even as Driss's family confronts its secrets, a town faces its hypocrisies, and love, messy and unpredictable, is born.
Late one spring night, Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant living in California, is walking across a darkened intersection when he is killed by a speeding car. The repercussions of his death bring together a diverse cast of characters: Guerraoui's daughter Nora, a jazz composer who returns to the small town in the Mojave she thought she'd left for good; his widow, Maryam, who still pines after her life in the old country; Efraín, an undocumented witness whose fear of deportation prevents him from coming forward; Jeremy, an old friend of Nora's and an Iraq War veteran; Coleman, a detective who is slowly discovering her son's secrets; Anderson, a neighbor trying to reconnect with his family; and the murdered man himself.
As the characters--deeply divided by race, religion, and class--tell their stories, connections among them emerge, even as Driss's family confronts its secrets, a town faces its hypocrisies, and love, messy and unpredictable, is born.
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 26, 2019
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42423 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,355 reviews
November 23, 2020
Remarkable, timely novel. Impeccably written story about a hit and run, a family that must grapple with their grief as they try to make sense of why they’ve lost Driss, the patriarch, and the slowly unraveling mystery of who is responsible for the unthinkable. I love the depth of character here for Nora and Jeremy. The narrative is good from many points of view but theirs is the heart of this story and what a beautiful beating heart it is.
August 18, 2022
“Growing up in this town, I had long ago learned that the savagery of a man named Mohammed was rarely questioned, but his humanity always had to be proven.”
The hit-and-run killing of Driss Guerraoui echoed through his daughter’s mind with the vitality of a heartbeat. The pain of it is goading her to seek answers, and it was a tether that held her to the small Mojave Desert town. But the more Nora tries, the further her hopes sink, as inexorably as if they are weighted with stones. “Had he suffered? Had he called out for help?” The unspoken, hanging words are sharp, wounding. “How long had he lain on the asphalt before his breath ran out?”
From there, the novel dips like hummingbirds from one first-person narrator to another, but always coming around to the mystery of Driss’s death which assumes various dimensions as it is refracted through the alternating voices of the residents of his small suburb in the Mojave desert.
The brief, precise prose chapters blurred past me so swiftly I could not follow. Some sections, admittedly, sing in a more lucid voice than others, some viewpoints are more persuasive than others, their tragedies burrowing deeper. But Lalami effectively uses this structure to deliberately reveal the past in a progressively gripping and suspenseful narrative that coalesces into an unsettling conversation about the truth. Or what the characters claim is the truth.
Of The Other Americans’ many tantalizing themes, these loom silently over all others: the roaring shadows of 9/11 still lapping at Muslim Americans like dark water, the dehumanizing trials bearing down on immigrants in the current political climate, and the resonant conviction that the past seldom recedes into the distance, and that acts of violence and brutality are bound to leave ripples behind. The essential gesture of the novel is nestled in its title: a sense of profound alienation, of being “other”, crops up throughout the novel, and it's handled with welcome grace and attention. The characters, in many ways, are all dogged by the feeling that they are strangers to themselves, and strangers to the world, turned to stone for no reason they could name.
That said, not all the novel’s choices are good ones. Lalami’s ambition is sweeping, but there’s the inescapable sense that she keeps it tightly bottled. The writing is not without merit—there's a lyricism to the author’s prose that's both fervent and unsentimentally direct. However, The Other Americans sometimes seems detached in viewpoint, devoid of emotional power, as if the author had shut an actual door against the noises of the characters’ voices. Like Nora’s older sister, Salma, the agreeable Moroccan-born daughter, who, choosing marriage and motherhood and a career in dentistry, represents a sharp contrast to Nora. Salma’s presence carries its own vivacity, which is why it comes as a disappointment that there's no further effort to substantially flesh out her character.
This is my main qualm with The Other Americans: stories are engrossing but the tension always cautiously ebbs, and the full promise of family complications is often frustratingly cast to the side in favor of more pressing plot concerns which, by turn, culminate into a somewhat unsatisfying ending.
April 7, 2019
Laila Lalami is gradually becoming one of the writers I am definitely going to follow. Her writing style and character development is exquisite and absolutely to my liking. The Other Americans does not belong to the page-turner category, but for me it was!! I could not put down this novel revolving around a seemingly hit-and-run fatal accident in which a Moroccan immigrant is killed. Driss and his family left Morocco many years ago escaping political persecution, and, though with difficulty, they gradually settled down in California, and yet they have always been perceived as ‘the others’. One late evening Driss is hit by a car and left to die. The novel has several narrators who tell their stories and whose paths cross, and we learn step by step how they feel, where they have failed and what they have achieved, what they dream about, what they fear, and most importantly, why they act the way they do. The attempts to identify the culprit open space for unveiling the real face of a small town located on the Mojave Desert. Splendid novel that will stay with me for a long time …………..
June 12, 2019
I expected more from this because I SO loved Lalami’s last book, The Moor's Account. I thought that was just brilliant. This is something completely different, a lackluster combination of domestic drama, light suspense, romance and immigration/cultural issues. Being neither one thing nor another didn’t work for me. Additionally, Lalami has a good-sized group of rotating narrators who take turns unfolding the story in short chapters. None of the personalities struck a chord with me; in fact, they all seemed pretty much the same. You can’t do a ton of character development in alternating little snippets. I didn’t strongly identify with anyone so didn’t invest in this story or its outcome at all.
Many of my most trusted GR friends gave this 5 stars, so don’t rely on my outlier review for this one. Do, however, read Lalami’s previous book. I can hardly believe this is the same author.
Many of my most trusted GR friends gave this 5 stars, so don’t rely on my outlier review for this one. Do, however, read Lalami’s previous book. I can hardly believe this is the same author.
March 18, 2021
Finalist for the National Book Award 2019
Now THAT is what I call a page-turner! Lalami's polyphonic novel revolves around the death of a Moroccan immigrant who got hit by a car in front of his restaurant - was this an accident and the driver (who fled the scene) didn't see his victim because it was already dark, or did he intentionally kill the man? For me, the appeal of the story lies in the changing points of view, as every chapter is told from a different perspective: The main protagonists are the dead man's daughter Nora, who tries to make it as a composer in the Bay Area but heads back to the Mojave when she hears about her father's passing, and Jeremy, Nora's former classmate, an ex-Marine who now works as a policeman in their hometown. But we also hear from Nora's mother and sister, the investigating detective and other townfolk - this narrative is extremely well built and the changing perspectives really add to the scope and the suspense of the story. I have a hunch though that people who don't like that kind of thing (e.g. those who felt like There There had too many characters) will struggle with "The Other Americans".
As the title indicates, one main theme of the book is America as a melting pot: Nora's family has Moroccan roots and her parents have fled the unrest in their home country, Jeremy was deployed in Iraq and reflects upon his attitude towards foreigners as enemies versus Nora as his love interest, the investigating detective is black, and there are of course some white peole who have forgotten that they, too, are the descendants of immigrants. But as the characters talk about their own experiences, we also hear about life as a soldier and a policeman, the inner dynamics of families, the opioid crisis, unfaithfulness etc. - yes, it's a broad scope, but I didn't feel like it was too much. Life is complicated, and Lalami does a good job showing a multi-layered cast of people. I also enjoyed how she illuminates the dynamics of insecurity and denial from different angles.
So all in all, this book is fun, intelligent and well-worth reading. Now also available in German (Die Anderen). You can learn more about the novel in our podcast.
Now THAT is what I call a page-turner! Lalami's polyphonic novel revolves around the death of a Moroccan immigrant who got hit by a car in front of his restaurant - was this an accident and the driver (who fled the scene) didn't see his victim because it was already dark, or did he intentionally kill the man? For me, the appeal of the story lies in the changing points of view, as every chapter is told from a different perspective: The main protagonists are the dead man's daughter Nora, who tries to make it as a composer in the Bay Area but heads back to the Mojave when she hears about her father's passing, and Jeremy, Nora's former classmate, an ex-Marine who now works as a policeman in their hometown. But we also hear from Nora's mother and sister, the investigating detective and other townfolk - this narrative is extremely well built and the changing perspectives really add to the scope and the suspense of the story. I have a hunch though that people who don't like that kind of thing (e.g. those who felt like There There had too many characters) will struggle with "The Other Americans".
As the title indicates, one main theme of the book is America as a melting pot: Nora's family has Moroccan roots and her parents have fled the unrest in their home country, Jeremy was deployed in Iraq and reflects upon his attitude towards foreigners as enemies versus Nora as his love interest, the investigating detective is black, and there are of course some white peole who have forgotten that they, too, are the descendants of immigrants. But as the characters talk about their own experiences, we also hear about life as a soldier and a policeman, the inner dynamics of families, the opioid crisis, unfaithfulness etc. - yes, it's a broad scope, but I didn't feel like it was too much. Life is complicated, and Lalami does a good job showing a multi-layered cast of people. I also enjoyed how she illuminates the dynamics of insecurity and denial from different angles.
So all in all, this book is fun, intelligent and well-worth reading. Now also available in German (Die Anderen). You can learn more about the novel in our podcast.
May 9, 2019
.....Men speaking in hushed voices in the mortuary
.....An ingredient was always missing, but way too many different types of milk in America. ( I agree)....
.....Maryam, ( widow), had to leave many Moroccan traditions behind. And the more that time passed....the more they mattered to her.....even in death.
....the funeral seemed wrong to Maryam.
....Nora, A STAND OUT CHARACTER, a jazz composer, youngest daughter, ( her father’s favorite, and allied), was often criticized as a child growing up by both her mother and kids at school.
“Get your head out of the clouds, Nora”...her mother often repeated - when what Nora was doing was enriching her mind reading books.
One day, Nora brought eggplant in her lunch at school. Kids said it looked like poop and didn’t want anything to do with her. But it was Nora’s father who comforted her.
Coming to terms with he father’s death is an excruciating process.
Moroccan Born - American immigrant - Patriarch - husband, father, grandfather - Driss Guerraroui died at approx. 9:30 pm from a hit-and-run after his nights work at the diner which he own in the Mojave desert, in California. Driss was simply walking to his car. An ordinary walk to his car.....
In part, it was the not knowing of what had happened - and wanting answers to the devastating unsolved ‘Hit-and-Run’ accident - that weighed heavily on the hearts of family, friends, and neighbors.
But mostly it was just hard to process and comprehend the impact - the loss - of their ‘father/ husband/ friend’ for each of them in years to come.
I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!!!! The stories told by the diverse characters had me totally hooked. THE STORIES ARE SOOOOO GOOD and thought provoking.
We meet Efrain. He was an undocumented witness... but petrified to come forward.
We meet an Iraq War veteran - an o,d friend of Nora’s.
We also meet the police and other neighbors.
Violence - relationships- race - class - politics - war - love - hate - intimacy - ambition - loss - and humanity are examined from multiple points of views.
Everyone has secrets.... which begin to come to the surface....THE STORIES ARE SOOOO PERSONAL .....you feel like you’re in the same room sharing in with the dialogue. I laughed ( not haha)....but from how real American Talk shows were presented in the eyes an immigrant.
This is a wonderful family epic story/ stories....so uniquely written....and sooo personal!
This is the second book I’ve read by Laila Lalami ( loved “The Moor’s Account”)....
......and I’m falling in love with Lalami.
SHE CAN’T DO BAD.... honestly Laila really cannot write a bad book. Sign me up for another.
Lalami creates a world with richly textured language and bittersweet-beautiful intimacy.....she can spin vivid storytelling like a master!
5 very strong stars.
.....An ingredient was always missing, but way too many different types of milk in America. ( I agree)....
.....Maryam, ( widow), had to leave many Moroccan traditions behind. And the more that time passed....the more they mattered to her.....even in death.
....the funeral seemed wrong to Maryam.
....Nora, A STAND OUT CHARACTER, a jazz composer, youngest daughter, ( her father’s favorite, and allied), was often criticized as a child growing up by both her mother and kids at school.
“Get your head out of the clouds, Nora”...her mother often repeated - when what Nora was doing was enriching her mind reading books.
One day, Nora brought eggplant in her lunch at school. Kids said it looked like poop and didn’t want anything to do with her. But it was Nora’s father who comforted her.
Coming to terms with he father’s death is an excruciating process.
Moroccan Born - American immigrant - Patriarch - husband, father, grandfather - Driss Guerraroui died at approx. 9:30 pm from a hit-and-run after his nights work at the diner which he own in the Mojave desert, in California. Driss was simply walking to his car. An ordinary walk to his car.....
In part, it was the not knowing of what had happened - and wanting answers to the devastating unsolved ‘Hit-and-Run’ accident - that weighed heavily on the hearts of family, friends, and neighbors.
But mostly it was just hard to process and comprehend the impact - the loss - of their ‘father/ husband/ friend’ for each of them in years to come.
I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!!!! The stories told by the diverse characters had me totally hooked. THE STORIES ARE SOOOOO GOOD and thought provoking.
We meet Efrain. He was an undocumented witness... but petrified to come forward.
We meet an Iraq War veteran - an o,d friend of Nora’s.
We also meet the police and other neighbors.
Violence - relationships- race - class - politics - war - love - hate - intimacy - ambition - loss - and humanity are examined from multiple points of views.
Everyone has secrets.... which begin to come to the surface....THE STORIES ARE SOOOO PERSONAL .....you feel like you’re in the same room sharing in with the dialogue. I laughed ( not haha)....but from how real American Talk shows were presented in the eyes an immigrant.
This is a wonderful family epic story/ stories....so uniquely written....and sooo personal!
This is the second book I’ve read by Laila Lalami ( loved “The Moor’s Account”)....
......and I’m falling in love with Lalami.
SHE CAN’T DO BAD.... honestly Laila really cannot write a bad book. Sign me up for another.
Lalami creates a world with richly textured language and bittersweet-beautiful intimacy.....she can spin vivid storytelling like a master!
5 very strong stars.
August 16, 2025
دیگر آمریکاییها نوشته لیلا لعلمی، نویسندهی مراکشیتبار، روایتی جذاب از تجربهی مهاجرت، حاشیهنشینی، تبعیض نژادی، جنگ و پیامدهای آن بر زندگی انسانهاست. لعلمی در این کتاب تلاش کرده صدای کسانی را بازتاب دهد که اغلب در سایه ماندهاند؛ صداهایی از دل جامعهی آمریکا که کمتر شنیده شدهاند.
یک خانواده مراکشی مهاجر و همسایه های آنها که آمریکایی سفید پوست هستند ، پلیسی که پیشتر در عراق سرباز بوده و بازرسی سیاه پوست شخصیت های اصلی کتاب هستند . لعلمی برای پیشبرد داستان خود از روایتی چند صدایی و غیر خطی استفاده کرده و هریک از شخصیت ها ، داستان را از زاویه دید و تجربهی شخصی خود روایت میکنند .
در میان این شخصیت های مختلف ، خانواده مراکشی و دختر کوچک خانواده نورا درقلب داستان قرار دارند . نورا، زنی جوان موسیقیدان است که با تجربههای پیچیده مهاجرت، فقدان، و کشمکشهای هویتی دستوپنجه نرم میکند. او که موسیقی نقش محوری در زندگی و هویت فردیاش دارد زنی آسیبپذیر، اما مقاوم و امیدوار به بازسازی خویش است . نورا چندین رابطه عاطفی را با اشتباهات خود نابود کرده ، می کوشد تا در رابطه جدید ، از گذشته درس بگیرد .
در مجموع، نورا تجسم زن مدرن مهاجریست که با حفظ روح هنری و وفاداری به احساساتش، تلاش میکند مسیر خودش را در جامعهای نابرابر و در حال تغییر پیدا کند . او نماینده نسلی است که بین دو فرهنگ و دو زبان، در جستجوی معنا و جایگاه خویشاند.
داستان با یک تصادف در صحرای موهاوی آغاز میشود؛ فردی کشته میشود و راننده از صحنه میگریزد. این فاجعه، نقطه شروعی برای روایتهایی از دیدگاه شخصیتهای مختلف است: دختر قربانی، یک مأمور پلیس، همسایهها، و افراد دیگر. هرکدام از این شخصیتها با گذشته، هویت، و رازهای خود درگیرند.
لعلمی با استفاده از روایت چندصدایی ، هر فصل را از دیدگاه یکی از شخصیتها روایت میکند. این ساختار باعث شده خواننده هم اطلاعات تازه ای از ماجرا کسب کند و هم با درون شخصیتها نیز آشنا شود. تضاد میان روایتها، پرسشی اساسی را مطرح میکند: آیا حقیقت، امری واحد است یا مجموعهای از برداشتهای شخصی؟
نویسنده با سرک کشیدن به دنیای شخصی افراد ، به نیاز آنان به عشق ، هم دوست داشتن و هم دوست داشته شدن پرداخته . او توانسته رابطه گرمی میان دو شخصیت اصلی داستان ایجاد کند ، شیمی رابطه میان آن دو و تلاش برای درک یکدیگر و ساختن رابطه بلند مدت ، داستان او را جذاب و شیرین تر کرده . در مقابل تلاش او برای ایجاد یک رابطه هم جنس خواهانه موفق نبوده و رابطه کاملا مصنوعی و شاید هم اجباری شده .
در پایان دیگر آمریکایی ها را باید کتابی ساده ، جذاب و گیرا دانست که در این زمانه که مرگ حاکم شده ، بوی زندگی می دهد . دیگر آمریکایی ها در میان تناقض ها جای دارد ، جایی میان مرگ و زندگی ، خستگی جنگ، زخمِ مهاجرت، و پیوندهای انسانی.
یک خانواده مراکشی مهاجر و همسایه های آنها که آمریکایی سفید پوست هستند ، پلیسی که پیشتر در عراق سرباز بوده و بازرسی سیاه پوست شخصیت های اصلی کتاب هستند . لعلمی برای پیشبرد داستان خود از روایتی چند صدایی و غیر خطی استفاده کرده و هریک از شخصیت ها ، داستان را از زاویه دید و تجربهی شخصی خود روایت میکنند .
در میان این شخصیت های مختلف ، خانواده مراکشی و دختر کوچک خانواده نورا درقلب داستان قرار دارند . نورا، زنی جوان موسیقیدان است که با تجربههای پیچیده مهاجرت، فقدان، و کشمکشهای هویتی دستوپنجه نرم میکند. او که موسیقی نقش محوری در زندگی و هویت فردیاش دارد زنی آسیبپذیر، اما مقاوم و امیدوار به بازسازی خویش است . نورا چندین رابطه عاطفی را با اشتباهات خود نابود کرده ، می کوشد تا در رابطه جدید ، از گذشته درس بگیرد .
در مجموع، نورا تجسم زن مدرن مهاجریست که با حفظ روح هنری و وفاداری به احساساتش، تلاش میکند مسیر خودش را در جامعهای نابرابر و در حال تغییر پیدا کند . او نماینده نسلی است که بین دو فرهنگ و دو زبان، در جستجوی معنا و جایگاه خویشاند.
داستان با یک تصادف در صحرای موهاوی آغاز میشود؛ فردی کشته میشود و راننده از صحنه میگریزد. این فاجعه، نقطه شروعی برای روایتهایی از دیدگاه شخصیتهای مختلف است: دختر قربانی، یک مأمور پلیس، همسایهها، و افراد دیگر. هرکدام از این شخصیتها با گذشته، هویت، و رازهای خود درگیرند.
لعلمی با استفاده از روایت چندصدایی ، هر فصل را از دیدگاه یکی از شخصیتها روایت میکند. این ساختار باعث شده خواننده هم اطلاعات تازه ای از ماجرا کسب کند و هم با درون شخصیتها نیز آشنا شود. تضاد میان روایتها، پرسشی اساسی را مطرح میکند: آیا حقیقت، امری واحد است یا مجموعهای از برداشتهای شخصی؟
نویسنده با سرک کشیدن به دنیای شخصی افراد ، به نیاز آنان به عشق ، هم دوست داشتن و هم دوست داشته شدن پرداخته . او توانسته رابطه گرمی میان دو شخصیت اصلی داستان ایجاد کند ، شیمی رابطه میان آن دو و تلاش برای درک یکدیگر و ساختن رابطه بلند مدت ، داستان او را جذاب و شیرین تر کرده . در مقابل تلاش او برای ایجاد یک رابطه هم جنس خواهانه موفق نبوده و رابطه کاملا مصنوعی و شاید هم اجباری شده .
در پایان دیگر آمریکایی ها را باید کتابی ساده ، جذاب و گیرا دانست که در این زمانه که مرگ حاکم شده ، بوی زندگی می دهد . دیگر آمریکایی ها در میان تناقض ها جای دارد ، جایی میان مرگ و زندگی ، خستگی جنگ، زخمِ مهاجرت، و پیوندهای انسانی.
August 28, 2021
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2.5 stars (rounded down)
I'm really disappointed by this book. It tells a predictable and unevenly paced story which focuses on flat stereotypes whose different point of views merge into one indistinguishable passive voice.
Not a bad novel but...far from good.
If you haven't read novels similar to this one you might be able to look past its cliches and its poorly orchestrated narrative.
NARRATION
Initially I thought that this book was doing something similar to Everything Here Is Beautiful where chapters alternated between 'connected' characters (in that case they were all close to the same person) but here we get chapters from the victim (in one chapter he is young, another one takes place weeks before his death), his wife, Maryam, (again, there is one from her early days in America and then the other ones take place in the present), his younger daughter, Nora, and his older daughter, (who gets 1 single chapter in 2nd perspective, and yes, that was awful), as well as people outside of the family.
All of these other characters added little to the narrative. If anything they showed Lalami's writing weaknesses since they are all told in the same way. They are meant to make us see how different these characters are from each other, but really, they just provide us with a quick and unsubtle info-dump of their lives until now (a whole history dumbed down and rammed with a paragraph or two) and had no impact (emotional or otherwise) to the main story. In fact, they water down what could have been a poignant story of a fraught family history. If I were to cut half of these chapters, the story wouldn't suffer one bit.
These 'extra' character all used the same language and thought patterns.
There were these painful attempts to make us see through the eyes of Anderson, an elderly man (and we can tell his age only because he sees a woman and thinks 'little lady'), A.J., the son of this man, Efraín, the man who witnessed the hit and run, Coleman, the detective who is investigating it, and Jeremy, an Iraqi War veteran...seeing through their perspective added 0 layers to their characters. Not having their point of view wouldn't alter the way we perceive them, quite the opposite instead. I would have found them more believable without reading from their povs.
I often forgot who was narrating the story because they sounded so much alike one another. Which isn't great given that they should have very little in common. It was only if they actually stated their political views or profession on the page that I would know whose point of view I was reading from.
The story tries hard to be this tapestry of different accounts and perspectives but ends up being a poorly written monologue which wasn't sure wherever it should sound like a series of 'confessions' (which I personally think would have worked) in which each character gives their view on the victim and or his family or if they were just random snippets of different types of people. Maybe if it had been all written from the third point of view it would have worked, and I wouldn't have found their voices so jarringly similar.
At times it seemed that these extra characters were merely there to offer a bigger picture of Driss's death, that they would only talk about things relating to him and or the events after his hit and run but that wasn't always clear. We were given all this information about these characters which suggested that their chapters would add something to the overall narrative...but that wasn't the case either. They are quite clearly 'not the focus' and yet so many pages are wasted on them. Their chapters don't add anything to the story or to their characters. It didn't make us understand them more or any such thing.
There was also this tendency to describe a scene from different point of views (first we would see it from Nora, then Jeremy, then Coleman) which was used like some sort of cheap 'party trick'. Maybe it would have worked if these characters didn't sound so much like the same person.
In order to move their narrative from the info dumping to the 'now', the characters use 'anyways' and 'of course' which got repetitive, fast. Surely there is a less obvious way to move the story along than saying 'anyways'?
The narrative seems to be wavering, not knowing what it's trying to be, trying—and failing—to capture a certain time, place or community. There were occasional phrases that stood out (in a good way) especially at the start of the novel but these were far too few.
STORY
The story takes itself too seriously, and by trying to tackle too many different themes and issues, it ends up spreading itself way way way too thin. If you are looking for a superficial and stereotypical portrayal of xenophobia, ptsd, racism, sexism, look no further.
I was hoping to read an engaging and thought-provoking story of a grief, loneliness, and estrangement (from one's country or one's parents). Where is the feeling of dislocation? The oppressing sense of being viewed as 'other'? These things were barely there. Guilt, fear and anxiety are depicted in such a one-dimensional way.
This novel isn't a family saga or a mystery....it tries to be topical but in such a blatant and contrived manner that I found myself laughing out loud or rolling my eyes at moments that should have had some emotional impact.
There is this detective who is there just to show us readers what it means to be a woman. When someone tells her that she did a good job on a case she is about to close, she replies by saying:
What kind of person would immediately view their own response as 'patriarchy's fault'? There were many other instances which sounded like they belong on twitter.
The story...it tries. I will give it that. But it is also >so inconsistent. The pacing is all over the place, the switching from past to present is muddled, and it just seems not to know where it's headed.
At the start Nora says that at a teacher made her realise that she has Synesthesia:
Is this touched upon again? No.
Does Nora seems to view her surroundings differently from the other characters? No.
Why then throw the word 'synesthesia' in the mix? It is an actual condition not something that you should mention once in order to establish that your character is different.
The characters seem unable to make any valid argument or intelligible statement but behave like sketches of inane people.
There is one scene in which Nora discovers that Jeremy served in Iraq and is repulsed by this. The two part on unfriendly terms, and one would think that Jeremy would try to get Nora to see why he felt that he had to join (he wanted to get away from his alcoholic father, his prospect-less future) but no. That is the type of conversation two adults would have. These two don't say anything to one another until Nora suddenly decides that...she doesn't mind? I don't even know! Her initial reaction is so strong that she is unable to look at him...and the day after she is just okay with it? She doesn't articulate why she is able to overcome her initial reaction. Later on she has the cheesy realisation that: 'he has blood on his hands'.
aaaaaaargh
CHARACTERS
These characters do not sound, behave, or think like real people. They are posterboys for certain issues or personalities.
We have Nora, the classic 'I'm different', 'I'm not like other people', 'I'm the black sheep of the family', 'I'm creative', who is immensely dislikable in spite of the many attempts to make her into some sort of just and compassionate person. Her sister, whose life is predictably 'not as perfect as it seems' (her chapter was cringe-worthy and seems like some sort creative writing assignment). Their mother...she makes these obvious comments such as 'I wish my daughters stopped fighting with one another' and 'these Americans'.
The extras are just as flat. We have the bad guy, a white racists, xenophobic, sexist, rude, who feels no guilt or remorse whatsoever, and Lalami tries to give us his 'side' of the story through laughable statements like: “Do you know what it does to a boy when a girl laughs at him? ”
Jeremy was awful. He was just there to be Nora's love interest. We get a quick info-dump in which he tells us about his alcoholic dad and that he used to be made fun for being fat. And then his chapters are centred on his obsession with Nora. She is the girl for him. She is not like other women. You see, while he could brag about sleeping with other women, he could never speak like that of Nora. Nora was nice to him (once) years before.And Nora makes him realise that using offensive terms like 'raghead' isn't nice. So...it must be love?
I could go on and on about how stereotypical these characters are. I read a review that said that you can tell exactly what has happened and what will happen to each character within the first few chapters and I agree 100%.
At times it seemed that Lalami forgot about her own characters...why add them to the mix to begin with?
OVERALL
If I were you I would skip reading this and read Elif Shafak's The Saint of Incipient Insanities.
2.5 stars (rounded down)
I'm really disappointed by this book. It tells a predictable and unevenly paced story which focuses on flat stereotypes whose different point of views merge into one indistinguishable passive voice.
Not a bad novel but...far from good.
If you haven't read novels similar to this one you might be able to look past its cliches and its poorly orchestrated narrative.
NARRATION
Initially I thought that this book was doing something similar to Everything Here Is Beautiful where chapters alternated between 'connected' characters (in that case they were all close to the same person) but here we get chapters from the victim (in one chapter he is young, another one takes place weeks before his death), his wife, Maryam, (again, there is one from her early days in America and then the other ones take place in the present), his younger daughter, Nora, and his older daughter, (who gets 1 single chapter in 2nd perspective, and yes, that was awful), as well as people outside of the family.
All of these other characters added little to the narrative. If anything they showed Lalami's writing weaknesses since they are all told in the same way. They are meant to make us see how different these characters are from each other, but really, they just provide us with a quick and unsubtle info-dump of their lives until now (a whole history dumbed down and rammed with a paragraph or two) and had no impact (emotional or otherwise) to the main story. In fact, they water down what could have been a poignant story of a fraught family history. If I were to cut half of these chapters, the story wouldn't suffer one bit.
These 'extra' character all used the same language and thought patterns.
There were these painful attempts to make us see through the eyes of Anderson, an elderly man (and we can tell his age only because he sees a woman and thinks 'little lady'), A.J., the son of this man, Efraín, the man who witnessed the hit and run, Coleman, the detective who is investigating it, and Jeremy, an Iraqi War veteran...seeing through their perspective added 0 layers to their characters. Not having their point of view wouldn't alter the way we perceive them, quite the opposite instead. I would have found them more believable without reading from their povs.
I often forgot who was narrating the story because they sounded so much alike one another. Which isn't great given that they should have very little in common. It was only if they actually stated their political views or profession on the page that I would know whose point of view I was reading from.
The story tries hard to be this tapestry of different accounts and perspectives but ends up being a poorly written monologue which wasn't sure wherever it should sound like a series of 'confessions' (which I personally think would have worked) in which each character gives their view on the victim and or his family or if they were just random snippets of different types of people. Maybe if it had been all written from the third point of view it would have worked, and I wouldn't have found their voices so jarringly similar.
At times it seemed that these extra characters were merely there to offer a bigger picture of Driss's death, that they would only talk about things relating to him and or the events after his hit and run but that wasn't always clear. We were given all this information about these characters which suggested that their chapters would add something to the overall narrative...but that wasn't the case either. They are quite clearly 'not the focus' and yet so many pages are wasted on them. Their chapters don't add anything to the story or to their characters. It didn't make us understand them more or any such thing.
There was also this tendency to describe a scene from different point of views (first we would see it from Nora, then Jeremy, then Coleman) which was used like some sort of cheap 'party trick'. Maybe it would have worked if these characters didn't sound so much like the same person.
In order to move their narrative from the info dumping to the 'now', the characters use 'anyways' and 'of course' which got repetitive, fast. Surely there is a less obvious way to move the story along than saying 'anyways'?
The narrative seems to be wavering, not knowing what it's trying to be, trying—and failing—to capture a certain time, place or community. There were occasional phrases that stood out (in a good way) especially at the start of the novel but these were far too few.
STORY
The story takes itself too seriously, and by trying to tackle too many different themes and issues, it ends up spreading itself way way way too thin. If you are looking for a superficial and stereotypical portrayal of xenophobia, ptsd, racism, sexism, look no further.
I was hoping to read an engaging and thought-provoking story of a grief, loneliness, and estrangement (from one's country or one's parents). Where is the feeling of dislocation? The oppressing sense of being viewed as 'other'? These things were barely there. Guilt, fear and anxiety are depicted in such a one-dimensional way.
This novel isn't a family saga or a mystery....it tries to be topical but in such a blatant and contrived manner that I found myself laughing out loud or rolling my eyes at moments that should have had some emotional impact.
There is this detective who is there just to show us readers what it means to be a woman. When someone tells her that she did a good job on a case she is about to close, she replies by saying:
“Stroke of luck,” I said, and immediately regretted the modesty in my voice. Humility had been drilled in me, as it was in most of the women I knew, and I found it hard to get rid of it, even though it was frequently mistaken for inability.”
What kind of person would immediately view their own response as 'patriarchy's fault'? There were many other instances which sounded like they belong on twitter.
The story...it tries. I will give it that. But it is also >so inconsistent. The pacing is all over the place, the switching from past to present is muddled, and it just seems not to know where it's headed.
At the start Nora says that at a teacher made her realise that she has Synesthesia:
“She gave a name to how I saw the world. Synesthesia. And with that word came the realization that there was nothing wrong with me, that I shared this way of experiencing sound with many others, some of them musicians.”
Is this touched upon again? No.
Does Nora seems to view her surroundings differently from the other characters? No.
Why then throw the word 'synesthesia' in the mix? It is an actual condition not something that you should mention once in order to establish that your character is different.
The characters seem unable to make any valid argument or intelligible statement but behave like sketches of inane people.
There is one scene in which Nora discovers that Jeremy served in Iraq and is repulsed by this. The two part on unfriendly terms, and one would think that Jeremy would try to get Nora to see why he felt that he had to join (he wanted to get away from his alcoholic father, his prospect-less future) but no. That is the type of conversation two adults would have. These two don't say anything to one another until Nora suddenly decides that...she doesn't mind? I don't even know! Her initial reaction is so strong that she is unable to look at him...and the day after she is just okay with it? She doesn't articulate why she is able to overcome her initial reaction. Later on she has the cheesy realisation that: 'he has blood on his hands'.
CHARACTERS
These characters do not sound, behave, or think like real people. They are posterboys for certain issues or personalities.
We have Nora, the classic 'I'm different', 'I'm not like other people', 'I'm the black sheep of the family', 'I'm creative', who is immensely dislikable in spite of the many attempts to make her into some sort of just and compassionate person. Her sister, whose life is predictably 'not as perfect as it seems' (her chapter was cringe-worthy and seems like some sort creative writing assignment). Their mother...she makes these obvious comments such as 'I wish my daughters stopped fighting with one another' and 'these Americans'.
The extras are just as flat. We have the bad guy, a white racists, xenophobic, sexist, rude, who feels no guilt or remorse whatsoever, and Lalami tries to give us his 'side' of the story through laughable statements like: “Do you know what it does to a boy when a girl laughs at him? ”
Jeremy was awful. He was just there to be Nora's love interest. We get a quick info-dump in which he tells us about his alcoholic dad and that he used to be made fun for being fat. And then his chapters are centred on his obsession with Nora. She is the girl for him. She is not like other women. You see, while he could brag about sleeping with other women, he could never speak like that of Nora. Nora was nice to him (once) years before.And Nora makes him realise that using offensive terms like 'raghead' isn't nice. So...it must be love?
I could go on and on about how stereotypical these characters are. I read a review that said that you can tell exactly what has happened and what will happen to each character within the first few chapters and I agree 100%.
At times it seemed that Lalami forgot about her own characters...why add them to the mix to begin with?
OVERALL
If I were you I would skip reading this and read Elif Shafak's The Saint of Incipient Insanities.
November 24, 2019
Rating 3.75
One story told from alternating view points. A family moved here long ago from Morocco and has two daughters. They are different, look different, eat different things, etc. The father opens a diner and one night, late at the dinner, he is struck by a car and killed. A hit and run. This tells his story but it's also more the story of family and daily lives of these characters and the people that come into their lives.
I liked this one but at one point it started to drag just a bit. It came together in the end. I dunno, guess I felt it could have been more, could have explained more, tied up those loose ends. I listened to the audio on this one. Many different narrators from each persons point of view. Only one voice really grated on me and I so disliked to hear that persons story. Overall, glad I read this one.
One story told from alternating view points. A family moved here long ago from Morocco and has two daughters. They are different, look different, eat different things, etc. The father opens a diner and one night, late at the dinner, he is struck by a car and killed. A hit and run. This tells his story but it's also more the story of family and daily lives of these characters and the people that come into their lives.
I liked this one but at one point it started to drag just a bit. It came together in the end. I dunno, guess I felt it could have been more, could have explained more, tied up those loose ends. I listened to the audio on this one. Many different narrators from each persons point of view. Only one voice really grated on me and I so disliked to hear that persons story. Overall, glad I read this one.
July 16, 2020
This is a gorgeous novel, so richly layered and beautifully written.
Our heroine is Nora, who returns to her hometown when her father, Driss, is killed in a suspicious accident. Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective, so we get to meet Nora's family, including her judgmental mother and her bitter sister, and also Jeremy, one of Nora's friends from high school who still has a crush on her.
There are other characters who also get to talk, but I'll let the reader discover those because one of the things I enjoyed about this novel was the unfolding of the mystery of what really happened to Driss.
Highly recommended to those who like literary fiction, family dramas, or stories of the immigrant experience in America (Nora's parents were from Morocco). I loved this book so much I plan on reading the author's other works.
Opening Passage
Our heroine is Nora, who returns to her hometown when her father, Driss, is killed in a suspicious accident. Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective, so we get to meet Nora's family, including her judgmental mother and her bitter sister, and also Jeremy, one of Nora's friends from high school who still has a crush on her.
There are other characters who also get to talk, but I'll let the reader discover those because one of the things I enjoyed about this novel was the unfolding of the mystery of what really happened to Driss.
Highly recommended to those who like literary fiction, family dramas, or stories of the immigrant experience in America (Nora's parents were from Morocco). I loved this book so much I plan on reading the author's other works.
Opening Passage
My father was killed on a spring night four years ago, while I sat in the corner booth of a new bistro in Oakland. Whenever I think about that moment, these two contradictory images come to me: my father struggling for breath on the cracked asphalt, and me drinking champagne with my roommate, Margo. We were celebrating because Margo had received a grant from the Jerome Foundation to work on a new chamber piece, her second big commission that year. We'd ordered steamed mussels and shared an entree and lingered late into the night. The waiter was trying to convince us to get the chocolate mousse for dessert when my phone rang.
I have no clear memory of what happened next. I must have told Margo the news. We must have paid the bill, put on our coats, walked the five blocks back to our apartment. A bag was packed, somehow. But I do remember driving home on the 5 freeway, in the foggy darkness that cloaked almond groves and orange orchards, all the while dreaming up alternate explanations: perhaps the sheriff's department had misidentified the body, or the hospital had swapped my father's records with someone else's. These possibilities were far-fetched, I knew, and yet I clung to them as I drove. Under my headlights, I could see only twenty feet ahead. But the fog lifted at dawn, and by the time I reached the Mojave, the sun was out and the sky a brazen blue.
November 23, 2020
A timely page-turner about a Moroccan family reunited by the death of their patriarch, Driss Guerraoui, a father who immigrated to the United States in search of a safer life. Nora, the younger of his two daughters and a jazz composer, returns home upon hearing about how her father died in a car accident. There, in Mojave, California, she reconnects with her mother, a woman who years for the life she had before immigrating, and her sister, Salma, a successful dentist envious of how her father favored Nora. In their search for answers about how Griss died that night, the family, and Nora in particular, will come face to face with some startling truths about their small town's true colors across race, religion, and class.
The Other Americans intertwines family drama with murder mystery quite well. I loved Laila Lalami's nuanced portrayal of immigrant family dynamics, like Maryam's longing for something different than the life she sailed into, or Driss's determination to make it in America with his diner despite his dissatisfying marriage. The envy, difference, and hidden pain between Nora and Salma stood out as one of the most humanizing aspects of the novel, showing how these women's lives diverged, both in contrast to stereotypes about women of color. The murder mystery moved the plot forward at an enjoyable pace, maintaining the tension of the narrative throughout the entirety of the novel.
Overall, a great novel that felt like a slightly more plot-focused version of A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza, with slightly similar vibes to Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (both The Other Americans and Everything I Never Told You start with the death of a family member and dissect family dynamics from there.) A part of me wanted a little more fleshing out of the dynamics between and within characters (e.g., Salma and her grief, or more room for Maryam's disappointment), but that may be unrealistic of me given how every part of the novel felt necessary, or at least for the murder plot device. Maybe taking out Coleman and Efraín's perspectives woudl have helped focus more on the family, but those two characters also contributed to the story. Either way, an entertaining novel that makes several smart points about race and racism and existing in America today, for all of us.
The Other Americans intertwines family drama with murder mystery quite well. I loved Laila Lalami's nuanced portrayal of immigrant family dynamics, like Maryam's longing for something different than the life she sailed into, or Driss's determination to make it in America with his diner despite his dissatisfying marriage. The envy, difference, and hidden pain between Nora and Salma stood out as one of the most humanizing aspects of the novel, showing how these women's lives diverged, both in contrast to stereotypes about women of color. The murder mystery moved the plot forward at an enjoyable pace, maintaining the tension of the narrative throughout the entirety of the novel.
Overall, a great novel that felt like a slightly more plot-focused version of A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza, with slightly similar vibes to Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (both The Other Americans and Everything I Never Told You start with the death of a family member and dissect family dynamics from there.) A part of me wanted a little more fleshing out of the dynamics between and within characters (e.g., Salma and her grief, or more room for Maryam's disappointment), but that may be unrealistic of me given how every part of the novel felt necessary, or at least for the murder plot device. Maybe taking out Coleman and Efraín's perspectives woudl have helped focus more on the family, but those two characters also contributed to the story. Either way, an entertaining novel that makes several smart points about race and racism and existing in America today, for all of us.
April 9, 2019
3.5 stars: “The Other Americans” Is an interesting read in that it’s billed a bit like a hit and run mystery that has an immigrant story as background. Or is the hit and run mystery the background of an immigrant’s story? This is a character-driven story that provides background for motivation and opinions/beliefs of each character. All the characters feel not only misunderstood but also marginalized. There are Moroccan immigrants, undocumented working immigrants, and a black woman in a male dominated white police force. Differing religious views and social class values add to differences.
The story begins with daughter Nora informing the reader that a car hit her father in the late night and left him to die. The only eyewitness, who does not come immediately forward, is an undocumented worker. Through his chapter the reader can feel his insecurity. If he does the right thing, his whole family can be affected.
Nora is the main character in that she is bound and determined to figure out who did it. She becomes involved with another character, a policeman with whom she went to high school. He is an Iraq War veteran, and Nora has personal issues being involved with a person who fought a war.
The story meanders around the characters and their personal lives while at the same time solving the hit and run mystery.
I am a huge fan of character-driven stories that illuminates me as a reader to a different culture or different ideals. Author Laila Lalami has a master’s in Linguistics, and it shows. Her writing is phenomenal.
The story begins with daughter Nora informing the reader that a car hit her father in the late night and left him to die. The only eyewitness, who does not come immediately forward, is an undocumented worker. Through his chapter the reader can feel his insecurity. If he does the right thing, his whole family can be affected.
Nora is the main character in that she is bound and determined to figure out who did it. She becomes involved with another character, a policeman with whom she went to high school. He is an Iraq War veteran, and Nora has personal issues being involved with a person who fought a war.
The story meanders around the characters and their personal lives while at the same time solving the hit and run mystery.
I am a huge fan of character-driven stories that illuminates me as a reader to a different culture or different ideals. Author Laila Lalami has a master’s in Linguistics, and it shows. Her writing is phenomenal.
April 29, 2019
There's so much wrong with this book it's not even funny. I'm trying to figure out where all these 5 stars are coming from and if we all read the same book. This was a classic case of the author doing too damn much and not executing it properly. Every issue was completely surface level. Zenophobia, sexism, racism, drug abuse, you name it. It was dumped into this book. I'm always here for a good family saga but this was not it and a complete fail. At the very far background was a "mystery" and if you love thrillers, you will hate this. We have an entire cast of characters here that were not needed at all. We get their back stories...but they don't add much to the story. We are talking about maybe 9 perspectives including the dead guy. There were so many loose ends that never were discussed again. The romance in this is as stale as burnt toast. I didn't connect or like any of these characters and I'm just glad it's over to be honest.
September 25, 2022
I sometimes find novels with multiple narrators distracting. This was not the case with The Other Americans. This powerful novel starts with a hit and run and keeps momentum by exploring the perspectives of several characters, all adding something essential to the storyline. Nora in particular is a compelling character - dealing with her grief by fighting for justice for her father.
March 13, 2019
The title – The Other Americans – provides an undeniable clue as to what Laila Lalami wants to achieve in this, her third novel. The hit-and-run death of Moroccan diner owner Driss Guerraoui, creating seismic waves that introduce us to a cast of characters with his single daughter, Nora, a struggling composer at the center of it.
All the main characters are American outsiders – the Moroccan Guerraoi family (Driss, his wife Maryam, Nora, and her sister Salma), a traumatized Iraqi veteran Jeremy who offers Nora intimacy, Anderson and his son A.J. who own the next-door bowling alley and haven’t been able to take hold of the American Dream, a black detective Erica Coleman who has not escaped racist slurs, and so on. Each is isolated in his or her own pain, a large part of which is caused by religious, race, class, or immigration differences.
But when I closed the book, I felt strangely unsatisfied and I had to think hard about what was missing for me. Certainly, Laila Lalami is a very good writer and her theme couldn’t be more appropriate.
And yet. Part of it is that the chorus of nine alternating voices, which take turns in narrating the book, become indistinguishable. There is a deadened or toneless quality to the narration as one after the other of the narrators “takes the stage”, each sounding very much like the one before.
Moreover, the potency of this powerful theme – for me – never reaches full boil. I’ve come across these characters before: the “lost” daughter who chooses to deviate from traditional familial expectations, the veteran who can’t leave the traumas of wartime behind, the police detective with her own family issues who must prove herself, and so forth. I could pretty much predict the path their journey would take. It’s not that these issues aren’t important ones – they absolutely are – but I feel as if other writers have handled them more compellingly. This is, of course, one reader’s opinion and others may relate far more.
All the main characters are American outsiders – the Moroccan Guerraoi family (Driss, his wife Maryam, Nora, and her sister Salma), a traumatized Iraqi veteran Jeremy who offers Nora intimacy, Anderson and his son A.J. who own the next-door bowling alley and haven’t been able to take hold of the American Dream, a black detective Erica Coleman who has not escaped racist slurs, and so on. Each is isolated in his or her own pain, a large part of which is caused by religious, race, class, or immigration differences.
But when I closed the book, I felt strangely unsatisfied and I had to think hard about what was missing for me. Certainly, Laila Lalami is a very good writer and her theme couldn’t be more appropriate.
And yet. Part of it is that the chorus of nine alternating voices, which take turns in narrating the book, become indistinguishable. There is a deadened or toneless quality to the narration as one after the other of the narrators “takes the stage”, each sounding very much like the one before.
Moreover, the potency of this powerful theme – for me – never reaches full boil. I’ve come across these characters before: the “lost” daughter who chooses to deviate from traditional familial expectations, the veteran who can’t leave the traumas of wartime behind, the police detective with her own family issues who must prove herself, and so forth. I could pretty much predict the path their journey would take. It’s not that these issues aren’t important ones – they absolutely are – but I feel as if other writers have handled them more compellingly. This is, of course, one reader’s opinion and others may relate far more.
March 28, 2019
Moroccan-American novelist Leila Lalami is a multiple award-winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist; here, she has essentially written a story exploring the secrets families keep and the diverse, multicultural cast were a joy to behold. However, my primary issue was the ever-changing point-of-view switching between about ten different characters which was unnecessarily complicated, and what made it worse was that they each sounded the same and could not be differentiated from one another. Very monotone, sadly.
Although it broaches some ubiquitous first-world problems of which literary fiction is alive right now I also felt as though it spelt everything out in extensive detail when that wasn't entirely necessary; that lead to me being able to predict from early on where it was heading. Introduced are topics of migrant America, racism, cultural differences and post-combat PTSD. Written in a linear, accessible fashion I did enjoy it but not as much as I'd hoped. Lalami is a proficient storyteller, but I felt it was lacking that special something. Recommended to those who love compassionate family stories.
Many thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC.
Although it broaches some ubiquitous first-world problems of which literary fiction is alive right now I also felt as though it spelt everything out in extensive detail when that wasn't entirely necessary; that lead to me being able to predict from early on where it was heading. Introduced are topics of migrant America, racism, cultural differences and post-combat PTSD. Written in a linear, accessible fashion I did enjoy it but not as much as I'd hoped. Lalami is a proficient storyteller, but I felt it was lacking that special something. Recommended to those who love compassionate family stories.
Many thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC.
July 7, 2019
A Moroccan immigrant is killled by a bit and run driver. The fact that he’s an immigrant is crucial to this story. There he was trying to mind his own business stepping off the curb after closing his shop. Why him? Did he do something to deserve this? Does he have enemies in this post 9/11 time? His family is astounded and overcome with grief. At first they have no answers. Each character has a chance to not only express their reactions but to travel back in time looking for clues and understanding. Lalami gradually fills in the blanks of the mystery. As the story evolves she reminds us that in those desolate times of loss memories come flooding in. The focus is on how some memories sharpen rather than dull with time. Each character has a different set of memories from the horrors of war in Iraq to watching with amazement the acrobats on the Jamaat el-Fna in Marrakech. Efraín, a Mexican immigrant, can’t escape his memory of witnessing the man, Driss, being killed. One can try to outwait these memories but the ghosts from the past have a way of keeping pace with the present. Then there are the secrets. All these secrets hidden away in private places barely if ever visible to even loved ones. Invisible until they manifest in varied forms - addiction, infidelity, longing for home, racism and love. A story about how life, in memories and the present, leads us to understanding how to survive the random and unexpected and maybe find a more hopeful future.
November 23, 2019
My husband has been pushing me to read the 2014 novel The Moor's Account from Pulitzer Prize-finalist Lalami, but this is the first of her books I've read. The story begins when a Moroccan immigrant is hit and killed by a speeding car not far from his California home. What follows is part procedural, part family saga, part love story, and part American origin story.
I read this on my Kindle, and the plot was complex enough that I strongly suspect I would have been happier reading this on paper, or at the very least reading with a notepad and pen in hand to track the characters.
I read this on my Kindle, and the plot was complex enough that I strongly suspect I would have been happier reading this on paper, or at the very least reading with a notepad and pen in hand to track the characters.
April 29, 2019
Brilliant. Moroccan-American Lalami explores the issues of immigration, cultural diversity, and white resentment in a small town near Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. The hit-and-run death of Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant causes huge ripples across his family and the community. Who could have done this—and not even stop to help?
Lalami follows the ripples caused by Driss’ death through multiple voices. There is Nora, his youngest daughter who is pursuing music composition and decides to return home as she grieves for her beloved father. Jeremy Gorecki, former Marine and current Sheriff Deputy, welcomes the return of the girl he adored in high school. Maryam, Driss’ widow, wants to sell the diner business; as does the oldest daughter, Salma. And then there is Erica Coleman, the police investigator, and Efrain Aceves, the witness unwilling to go to the police as he is undocumented. The reader also gets to hear from Anderson Baker, the elderly, quarrelsome owner of the bowling alley.
Through these voices, the author explores the effects of violence on families/communities and what determines being an ‘American’. Is it citizenship? Or being native born? Does one need to belong to a particular race or practice a particular religion?
Highly recommend this excellently written book.
Lalami follows the ripples caused by Driss’ death through multiple voices. There is Nora, his youngest daughter who is pursuing music composition and decides to return home as she grieves for her beloved father. Jeremy Gorecki, former Marine and current Sheriff Deputy, welcomes the return of the girl he adored in high school. Maryam, Driss’ widow, wants to sell the diner business; as does the oldest daughter, Salma. And then there is Erica Coleman, the police investigator, and Efrain Aceves, the witness unwilling to go to the police as he is undocumented. The reader also gets to hear from Anderson Baker, the elderly, quarrelsome owner of the bowling alley.
Through these voices, the author explores the effects of violence on families/communities and what determines being an ‘American’. Is it citizenship? Or being native born? Does one need to belong to a particular race or practice a particular religion?
Highly recommend this excellently written book.
October 1, 2019
Lalami is trying to do a lot here, frankly too much. Islamaphobia, undocumented immigration, treatment of veterans, parental expectation, work/life balance, opioid abuse, gun rights, racism etc... are all brought up over the course of the narrative, but because there are so many issues to explore, none can be examined in any meaningful way. I get that she is going for “this is America now” but what’s the point if we’re only skimming the surface? 2.5 rounded down.
March 27, 2019
The Other Americans is a multilayered novel. It is all at once a family saga, a mystery, social commentary and a love story. Told from the perspectives of the victim, his immigrant family, neighbors and police, The Other Americans not only provides a clear lense for racial and class tensions, but also allows insight into the burdens our protectors carry. Although the book description focuses on the hit and run accident that claimed the life of patriarch Driss Guerraroui, at the forefront of this novel is love: self-love and acceptance, the love between a parent and child, sacrifice and romantic love. Not a syrupy sweet fairy tale romance, but a soul stirring love with real people, real issues and real emotion.
Before picking up this book I was struggling through a reading slump. The Other Americans came at just the right time for me. I have already ordered a physical copy for my personal library. Would definitely recommend!
Before picking up this book I was struggling through a reading slump. The Other Americans came at just the right time for me. I have already ordered a physical copy for my personal library. Would definitely recommend!
March 15, 2019
My perspective on reading this book is to forgo guessing what is going to happen, or trying to determine how accurate your suspicions. Just dive in and let it gently steal through you. There’s a Who and Why regarding a hit-and-run that resulted in death, which is the ballast of the plot, at least in a pressing sense. The other characters are immediate family or characters connected to the family or incident in some way. “What a fragile thing a heart was. So easy to fool. To break. To stop on impact in a darkened intersection.”
Moroccan-born Driss Guerraoui, a husband, father, and grandfather, is a diner owner in a small Mojave desert community. He’s also the victim of the hit-and-run, while walking to his car from work one evening. His two adult daughters and wife, Maryam, grieve in separate ways, often rupturing old wounds and inciting new ones. An undocumented worker, Efraín, witnessed the incident but is afraid to come forward.
The primary protagonist, however, is Nora, Driss’ youngest (and favorite) daughter and the non-conformist of the two. She’s a jazz pianist and performer with more rejection notices than work; her mother pointedly and wearily saying “She has her head in the clouds,” a tired refrain to her daughter. Nora refuses to settle for a pragmatic, secure job, like her sister, the dentist. It was only her father that understood this, which makes his death even harder to bear.
Returning to the Mojave for the funeral, feeling unmoored and paralyzed by her father’s death, Nora stays longer and begins a romance with a past schoolmate, Jeremy, an Iraqi war veteran-turned-cop, also a central character. They are very different people with allied needs, but Nora has difficulty trusting due to past struggles. The story highlights several ugly stereotypes without condescending to the reader. Driss, for example, is highly educated and an atheist, but is often referred to by others as “the Muslim.” Nora has been stymied and bullied by others since childhood, and finds solace in her music.
Told in first-person POV, the various characters alternate with their own or overlapping stories. The theme is home, identity, and loss, and the title suggests the outliers, the outsiders, the “other” Americans. But a sharp pivot shattered me, also, that turns the title inside out and upside down—and that is all I will say. I read this in two days; the pages turn easily and the prose is strong and vivid. Lalami is superb at providing the fine points of a scene, the flourish of details that happen simultaneously, like the sound of keys jingling or a cat turning its head, all the while bolstering the scene at hand. It all hits hard and deep by the end. I'm in awe of her sympathy for all characters.
Moroccan-born Driss Guerraoui, a husband, father, and grandfather, is a diner owner in a small Mojave desert community. He’s also the victim of the hit-and-run, while walking to his car from work one evening. His two adult daughters and wife, Maryam, grieve in separate ways, often rupturing old wounds and inciting new ones. An undocumented worker, Efraín, witnessed the incident but is afraid to come forward.
The primary protagonist, however, is Nora, Driss’ youngest (and favorite) daughter and the non-conformist of the two. She’s a jazz pianist and performer with more rejection notices than work; her mother pointedly and wearily saying “She has her head in the clouds,” a tired refrain to her daughter. Nora refuses to settle for a pragmatic, secure job, like her sister, the dentist. It was only her father that understood this, which makes his death even harder to bear.
Returning to the Mojave for the funeral, feeling unmoored and paralyzed by her father’s death, Nora stays longer and begins a romance with a past schoolmate, Jeremy, an Iraqi war veteran-turned-cop, also a central character. They are very different people with allied needs, but Nora has difficulty trusting due to past struggles. The story highlights several ugly stereotypes without condescending to the reader. Driss, for example, is highly educated and an atheist, but is often referred to by others as “the Muslim.” Nora has been stymied and bullied by others since childhood, and finds solace in her music.
Told in first-person POV, the various characters alternate with their own or overlapping stories. The theme is home, identity, and loss, and the title suggests the outliers, the outsiders, the “other” Americans. But a sharp pivot shattered me, also, that turns the title inside out and upside down—and that is all I will say. I read this in two days; the pages turn easily and the prose is strong and vivid. Lalami is superb at providing the fine points of a scene, the flourish of details that happen simultaneously, like the sound of keys jingling or a cat turning its head, all the while bolstering the scene at hand. It all hits hard and deep by the end. I'm in awe of her sympathy for all characters.
September 26, 2025
آرامش کتاب رو دوست داشتم...
February 22, 2019
The Other Americans was an all round pretty solid read, which missed the mark a little for this reader.
The story hinges around the death of a Moroccan man, Driss, killed in a hit-and-run accident in the U.S., where he had lived for the past few decades with his family. We follow the investigation into his death and the impact it has on his youngest daughter, Nora. The story is told from a number of viewpoints (too many for me - it got a little confusing at times) of key characters in the narrative, but mainly from Driss, Nora and Jeremy's point of view.
Overall I found the story relatively engaging and quite readable, but ultimately it was a little too message heavy for me - almost every plot point or development in the story felt like it was only there to "say something", make a point about issues within society today, for example. This got a bit much for me, and I think it got in the way of the storytelling at times. Additionally, while this is categorised under general and literary fiction on Netgalley, I wouldn't say the writing blew me away.
Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
The story hinges around the death of a Moroccan man, Driss, killed in a hit-and-run accident in the U.S., where he had lived for the past few decades with his family. We follow the investigation into his death and the impact it has on his youngest daughter, Nora. The story is told from a number of viewpoints (too many for me - it got a little confusing at times) of key characters in the narrative, but mainly from Driss, Nora and Jeremy's point of view.
Overall I found the story relatively engaging and quite readable, but ultimately it was a little too message heavy for me - almost every plot point or development in the story felt like it was only there to "say something", make a point about issues within society today, for example. This got a bit much for me, and I think it got in the way of the storytelling at times. Additionally, while this is categorised under general and literary fiction on Netgalley, I wouldn't say the writing blew me away.
Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
March 31, 2019
Solid, straightforward, predictable
"The present could never be untethered from the past, you couldn't understand one without the other."
As is the case with the quotation above, this book tells us things that are true but that are hardly original or novel in any way. Part love story, part excavation of family secrets, the plot is precipitated by the hit and run death of Driss, a Moroccan immigrant to America and the father of Nora, one of the main characters.
It's not hard to see where the whole thing is going from the outset, and the revolving 1st person narratives are all spoken in the same voice. Standard lit-fic issues of racism, of what is means to be a migrant in today's USA, ex-soldiers with anger issues and an inability to settle back at home after combat are all here with some predictability. The writing is straightforward.
I guess I expected something more from someone with Lalami's reputation. If this is not exciting, it is solid story-telling with some warmth and heart. Good if you like family relationship stories with a politicised flavour.
"The present could never be untethered from the past, you couldn't understand one without the other."
As is the case with the quotation above, this book tells us things that are true but that are hardly original or novel in any way. Part love story, part excavation of family secrets, the plot is precipitated by the hit and run death of Driss, a Moroccan immigrant to America and the father of Nora, one of the main characters.
It's not hard to see where the whole thing is going from the outset, and the revolving 1st person narratives are all spoken in the same voice. Standard lit-fic issues of racism, of what is means to be a migrant in today's USA, ex-soldiers with anger issues and an inability to settle back at home after combat are all here with some predictability. The writing is straightforward.
I guess I expected something more from someone with Lalami's reputation. If this is not exciting, it is solid story-telling with some warmth and heart. Good if you like family relationship stories with a politicised flavour.
December 21, 2018
I freely admit that I came to this book with expectations. Laila Lalami's last novel was a Pulitzer Finalist and I'd had it on my to-read list for a while so when I got my hands on an advance proof copy of her forthcoming book, I was excited to see what kind of writer she is.
This is not literary fiction. It reads kind of like a formulaic genre mystery trying to be something more. Sometimes the prose is nice. But too often it's cringeworthy. If Lalami was trying for genre mystery, I think she mostly succeeded. Something readable, middle-of-the-road vacation read.
I did not enjoy this book. I really try to resist rating books on the basis of whether I found the characters "likable" but that wasn't the problem here. These characters weren't totally archetypal, but they were recognizable enough that they felt very flat. The plot is painfully predictable. Consumable enough, but by page 50, everything already clicked into place and I lost track of how many times I rolled my eyes.
I wish I could sell this book for store credit somewhere so I could buy myself something decent (but alas, unproofed copies are useless other than to give away to someone else).
This is not literary fiction. It reads kind of like a formulaic genre mystery trying to be something more. Sometimes the prose is nice. But too often it's cringeworthy. If Lalami was trying for genre mystery, I think she mostly succeeded. Something readable, middle-of-the-road vacation read.
I did not enjoy this book. I really try to resist rating books on the basis of whether I found the characters "likable" but that wasn't the problem here. These characters weren't totally archetypal, but they were recognizable enough that they felt very flat. The plot is painfully predictable. Consumable enough, but by page 50, everything already clicked into place and I lost track of how many times I rolled my eyes.
I wish I could sell this book for store credit somewhere so I could buy myself something decent (but alas, unproofed copies are useless other than to give away to someone else).
November 15, 2025
This novel is a pitch-perfect, subtly drawn examination of the complex, sometimes fraught, always authentic inner lives of a small constellation of characters in a Mojave Desert town, whose individual stories collide and intersect in fascinating ways. The novel’s emotional power accumulates, and Lailani’s almost deceptively simple and straightforward approach in her sentence-to-sentence writing allows the richness of the threads of her narrative to resonate more and more profoundly as the intricate layers of the story she’s built reveal themselves.
I alternated between eye reading this and listening to the audiobook, and I was very impressed by the work of the talented actors who brought her characters to life with a welcome ease and depth.
This was a finalist for the National Book Award, and I can see why. It talks about the ways in which race, grief, chance, anger, politics, family, shame, and violence affect modern American lives with an unerring sense of compassion that is very affecting, insightful, and never preachy or judgmental.
I’m very glad to have read this.
I alternated between eye reading this and listening to the audiobook, and I was very impressed by the work of the talented actors who brought her characters to life with a welcome ease and depth.
This was a finalist for the National Book Award, and I can see why. It talks about the ways in which race, grief, chance, anger, politics, family, shame, and violence affect modern American lives with an unerring sense of compassion that is very affecting, insightful, and never preachy or judgmental.
I’m very glad to have read this.
May 24, 2019
In addition to the regular convoluted family dynamics of adult children, aging parents, and family tragedy, the Guerraoui’s are Moroccan immigrants dealing with all that comes from being an Arab in America. They are labeled as suspicious from the minute their name is pronounced. Their California is a place where hurtful racial slurs continue to be spoken by ignorant people.
I enjoyed the structure of the book in that each chapter was a first person narrative of each character. Their individual chapter was an in-depth study of their perspective and lead the reader on a trail of subtle clues and revelations. Lalami tells a story of post 911 and post Iraqi war in which modern immigrants struggle and persevere to find love. The last sentence in the book is beautiful.
Recommended 4.5 stars.
I enjoyed the structure of the book in that each chapter was a first person narrative of each character. Their individual chapter was an in-depth study of their perspective and lead the reader on a trail of subtle clues and revelations. Lalami tells a story of post 911 and post Iraqi war in which modern immigrants struggle and persevere to find love. The last sentence in the book is beautiful.
Recommended 4.5 stars.
April 17, 2019
Laila Lalami’s The Other Americans is compulsively readable, carefully plotted, and well paced. Lalami fills it with empathy for her characters, even its least sympathetic and most despicable characters. Although not pollyannish, The Other Americans is the rare current novel that leaves at least this reader feeling somewhat better about today’s United States.
The Other Americans contains few surprises with either its plot or its characters. As you read Lalami’s latest novel, you may not know exactly where it’s going, but where it goes feels both understandable and ultimately predictable. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the mysteries in The Other Americans emerge from the relationships that Lalami portrays: just why and how does Maryam love Driss, and just what’s the basis of Nora’s attraction to Jeremy?
I recall Lalami’s The Moor’s Account, her third novel and immediately preceding The Other Americans as ingenious and surprising. Interesting and absorbing as The Other Americans is, it also felt less surprising to me.
3.5 st
The Other Americans contains few surprises with either its plot or its characters. As you read Lalami’s latest novel, you may not know exactly where it’s going, but where it goes feels both understandable and ultimately predictable. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the mysteries in The Other Americans emerge from the relationships that Lalami portrays: just why and how does Maryam love Driss, and just what’s the basis of Nora’s attraction to Jeremy?
I recall Lalami’s The Moor’s Account, her third novel and immediately preceding The Other Americans as ingenious and surprising. Interesting and absorbing as The Other Americans is, it also felt less surprising to me.
3.5 st
April 24, 2019
I became familiar with Laila Lalami through her writings for The Nation, and I have always thought very highly of her as a writer. I read The Moor's Account and was most impressed by her as a novelist as well. And she knocks it out of the park again in this tale depicting the immigrant experience in these United States and all the highs and lows of such.
The tale revolves around the death of a patriarch in a Moroccan American family living near Joshua Tree National Park in the desert in Southern California who is killed in a hit and run one night leaving the diner that he owns and runs. It may be just an accident or it may have been intentional. His daughter Nora, a composer who lives in Oakland, comes home for the funeral and stays to help settle affairs. She deals with her competitive sister, demanding mother, and an old classmate and bandmate from her high school days. The story is told from various viewpoints, including all the above-mentioned as well as the father and son who own and work at the bowling alley next door to the diner, the police officer investigating the accident, and a Mexican American immigrant who witnessed the accident.
There are many issues introduced and parsed here, including the immigrant experience, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, family issues, cultural issues, and romance. This is definitely not a mystery thriller, though it does have some elements of the genre. It is very much of a character driven affair, and I found it to be very readable and thought provoking.
The tale revolves around the death of a patriarch in a Moroccan American family living near Joshua Tree National Park in the desert in Southern California who is killed in a hit and run one night leaving the diner that he owns and runs. It may be just an accident or it may have been intentional. His daughter Nora, a composer who lives in Oakland, comes home for the funeral and stays to help settle affairs. She deals with her competitive sister, demanding mother, and an old classmate and bandmate from her high school days. The story is told from various viewpoints, including all the above-mentioned as well as the father and son who own and work at the bowling alley next door to the diner, the police officer investigating the accident, and a Mexican American immigrant who witnessed the accident.
There are many issues introduced and parsed here, including the immigrant experience, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, family issues, cultural issues, and romance. This is definitely not a mystery thriller, though it does have some elements of the genre. It is very much of a character driven affair, and I found it to be very readable and thought provoking.
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