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In the Country of Others #1
The Country of Others
1st edn 1st printing. 8vo. Original black lettered mustard coloured cloth (Fine), dustwrapper (Fine in protective cover, not price clipped). Pp. 315 (no inscriptions).
336 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,748 reviews
May 30, 2022
It’s impressive, touchy, emotional, lyrical women’s fiction! This story is about loneliness, being outsider, sexism, centered on a mother and her daughter’s sad stories who feel neglected, abandoned, bullied in fifties’ patriarchal Moroccan world .
After realizing this is the first book of a trilogy, I got a little disappointed because it means I have to put myself into long time commitment with this story and it’s characters. But I guess I lit won’t be problem after enjoying my reading. Only the waiting part of the other books’ release at least for one year is a little challenging.
The multi POVed narration, a slow burn approach of the story needed more of my patience to engage with the characters but eventually I liked the writing style of the author and I wanted to know Mathilde’s story.
She was a French woman who falls in love a Moroccan soldier man named Amine in 1944. They get married and she is expecting her first child as they decide to move to Moroccan farmland he inherited from his recently passed away father which means Mathilde will live with her mother in law and her young sister in law.
As she imagines a dreamy marriage life, she gets frustrated because of her husband’s meanness and dominance. She writes letters to her family in France, picturing totally opposite life style she lives which reminds of fairy tales.
Of course she’s lonely, suffering from adaptation issues, getting neglectful, even hateful reactions from the people live around who still think she’s an enemy. Her whiteness and her status as foreign woman doesn’t make things easier for her. Sometimes she dreams of being invisible to observe the beauty of the world from afar.
We also see fifties’ works from the realistic and objective perspective of the author. In this story: there is no evil or no good character: everyone makes their choices and faces the consequences of them. You learn to look at the events from each one’s sides and find all of them right from their own POV.
We also witness Amine’s brother Omar’s turning into a loyal resistance warrior as the young sister turns into an independent, modern, educated woman.
And we also observe young daughter of Mathilde’s have hard time at the Catholic school because of identity crisis. Being French woman’s kid at the school eventually attracts school bullies’ attention.
The events take place during the revolution of the country, reflecting the women’s suffering from inequality, injustice at the dominant men’s world.
The writing starts slow but after first %15, the characters start growing on you. The abrupt cuts at the chapter and story’s sudden process between different narrators was a little confusing but overall it captured my attention and I quickly connected with the characters so I’m curious to read more books and looking forward to read the second book of the trilogy.
I’m giving four historical, French-Moroccan, war story, feminism, women fiction stars.
Special thanks to Netgalley and PENGUIN BOOKS for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
After realizing this is the first book of a trilogy, I got a little disappointed because it means I have to put myself into long time commitment with this story and it’s characters. But I guess I lit won’t be problem after enjoying my reading. Only the waiting part of the other books’ release at least for one year is a little challenging.
The multi POVed narration, a slow burn approach of the story needed more of my patience to engage with the characters but eventually I liked the writing style of the author and I wanted to know Mathilde’s story.
She was a French woman who falls in love a Moroccan soldier man named Amine in 1944. They get married and she is expecting her first child as they decide to move to Moroccan farmland he inherited from his recently passed away father which means Mathilde will live with her mother in law and her young sister in law.
As she imagines a dreamy marriage life, she gets frustrated because of her husband’s meanness and dominance. She writes letters to her family in France, picturing totally opposite life style she lives which reminds of fairy tales.
Of course she’s lonely, suffering from adaptation issues, getting neglectful, even hateful reactions from the people live around who still think she’s an enemy. Her whiteness and her status as foreign woman doesn’t make things easier for her. Sometimes she dreams of being invisible to observe the beauty of the world from afar.
We also see fifties’ works from the realistic and objective perspective of the author. In this story: there is no evil or no good character: everyone makes their choices and faces the consequences of them. You learn to look at the events from each one’s sides and find all of them right from their own POV.
We also witness Amine’s brother Omar’s turning into a loyal resistance warrior as the young sister turns into an independent, modern, educated woman.
And we also observe young daughter of Mathilde’s have hard time at the Catholic school because of identity crisis. Being French woman’s kid at the school eventually attracts school bullies’ attention.
The events take place during the revolution of the country, reflecting the women’s suffering from inequality, injustice at the dominant men’s world.
The writing starts slow but after first %15, the characters start growing on you. The abrupt cuts at the chapter and story’s sudden process between different narrators was a little confusing but overall it captured my attention and I quickly connected with the characters so I’m curious to read more books and looking forward to read the second book of the trilogy.
I’m giving four historical, French-Moroccan, war story, feminism, women fiction stars.
Special thanks to Netgalley and PENGUIN BOOKS for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
June 16, 2021
This novel represents a shift in direction from Leila Slimani, here she draws inspiration from her personal past family history in this well researched piece of character driven historical fiction that takes in WW2, spanning the years and covering the 1950s. The strong Catholic Mathilde falls for a Muslim Moroccan soldier, Amine Belhaj, stationed in Alsace, fighting for the French in the war, becoming an interracial couple that gets married. She moves to Morocco with Amine, settling on inherited land to start a farm in a harsh, isolating and hostile environment. Her romantic dreams are shattered by the grim realities she is confronted by, the daily grind and hardships, the loneliness, the shock of a different culture she is not prepared for, the differing attitudes and expectations of women, the oppression, and the poverty.
She is shunned by the French community for marrying a Moroccan and regarded with suspicion by locals for not being one of them amidst the divisive background of political upheaval, the tensions and violence, with the country's fight for freedom and independence from France. Amine is a different man at home, there is abuse, and perhaps unsurprisingly, their love dissipates in the face of competing challenges, and their different values. This inevitably leads to conflict, such as Mathilde having to fight for her independence, and insisting on the education of her smart and intelligent daughter Aicha at a Catholic school, who in turn is made to feel like the outsider at school, not accepted, and bullied. Amine's own family is conflicted, divided and torn, a mirror and echo of what is happening in the country at large, and with the beautiful Selma wanting to be free of the constraints of family and societal attitudes.
Slimani evokes this complex historical period with skill, drawing parallels between Mathilde's and women's struggle for independence with that of the national resistance to shake off the shackles of the French, both intent on gaining freedom and independence. I found myself immersed in this historical time and place, feeling the heat and dust, the tensions, and caught up in the struggles and feelings of the sensitively portrayed flawed and complicated characters, all living 'in the country of others'. This is such a memorable and thought provoking read, of identity, belonging, being a woman, family, religion, traditions, culture, freedom, conflictive loyalties and race, made all the more powerful with its cultural, social, political and familial insights. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
She is shunned by the French community for marrying a Moroccan and regarded with suspicion by locals for not being one of them amidst the divisive background of political upheaval, the tensions and violence, with the country's fight for freedom and independence from France. Amine is a different man at home, there is abuse, and perhaps unsurprisingly, their love dissipates in the face of competing challenges, and their different values. This inevitably leads to conflict, such as Mathilde having to fight for her independence, and insisting on the education of her smart and intelligent daughter Aicha at a Catholic school, who in turn is made to feel like the outsider at school, not accepted, and bullied. Amine's own family is conflicted, divided and torn, a mirror and echo of what is happening in the country at large, and with the beautiful Selma wanting to be free of the constraints of family and societal attitudes.
Slimani evokes this complex historical period with skill, drawing parallels between Mathilde's and women's struggle for independence with that of the national resistance to shake off the shackles of the French, both intent on gaining freedom and independence. I found myself immersed in this historical time and place, feeling the heat and dust, the tensions, and caught up in the struggles and feelings of the sensitively portrayed flawed and complicated characters, all living 'in the country of others'. This is such a memorable and thought provoking read, of identity, belonging, being a woman, family, religion, traditions, culture, freedom, conflictive loyalties and race, made all the more powerful with its cultural, social, political and familial insights. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
March 2, 2025
In the first book of what (according to an article I recently read) promises to be a trilogy, Leïla Slimani weaves a story that is loosely based on the life of her grandmother. A young French woman called Mathilde falls for a Moroccan soldier, Amine, at the end of WW II. So keen is she on this man - and also desperate to chase adventure – that she accompanies him when he returns to his native land, where he is keen to build a farm on a plot that has come into his ownership. Unfortunately, the land is rock strewn and consists almost entirely of poor quality soil – it’s going to be a tough job to make this work.
In time, the pair are to have two children, a girl and a boy, and we are to meet a number of interesting characters whom they come into contact with. But the farm work is tough, and Amine, bereft of humour and a workaholic, proves to be difficult company. Has Mathilde made a terrible mistake, should she cut her losses and return to what would be a much more comfortable life in France? This story plays out during the decade leading up to Moroccan independence and, over time, potential for an uprising and the associated impacts become an ever looming threat.
Mostly, this story is played out with the focus on Mathilde and the particular challenges that she faces, especially with her stern, bullying husband. But later, we start to get a view through her daughter, Aïcha, too (perhaps with a view to setting up the next book?). The characters are persuasively drawn and the atmosphere of both time and place come through strongly, but for me the whole thing just felt a little too grim, with an excess of shade and a dearth of light. I actually found it hard work getting through this one.
I did finish it, and I’m glad I did, but I’m finding it hard to rid myself of the feeling that though the voice was strong, the storyline was actually quite weak. For me, it had more style than substance. Will I come back for the second book (if there is one)? Probably not. That said, I do think that this is a book that will find an audience, and many will appreciate the strengths of the writing and be less concerned about elements that, for me, were missing.
My thanks to Faber & Faber and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
In time, the pair are to have two children, a girl and a boy, and we are to meet a number of interesting characters whom they come into contact with. But the farm work is tough, and Amine, bereft of humour and a workaholic, proves to be difficult company. Has Mathilde made a terrible mistake, should she cut her losses and return to what would be a much more comfortable life in France? This story plays out during the decade leading up to Moroccan independence and, over time, potential for an uprising and the associated impacts become an ever looming threat.
Mostly, this story is played out with the focus on Mathilde and the particular challenges that she faces, especially with her stern, bullying husband. But later, we start to get a view through her daughter, Aïcha, too (perhaps with a view to setting up the next book?). The characters are persuasively drawn and the atmosphere of both time and place come through strongly, but for me the whole thing just felt a little too grim, with an excess of shade and a dearth of light. I actually found it hard work getting through this one.
I did finish it, and I’m glad I did, but I’m finding it hard to rid myself of the feeling that though the voice was strong, the storyline was actually quite weak. For me, it had more style than substance. Will I come back for the second book (if there is one)? Probably not. That said, I do think that this is a book that will find an audience, and many will appreciate the strengths of the writing and be less concerned about elements that, for me, were missing.
My thanks to Faber & Faber and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
January 25, 2022
O País dos Outros é uma obra magnífica em todos os sentidos. A história é poderosíssima, a escrita de Leila Slimani é prodigiosa. Estou prestes a ajoelhar-me ao altar desta minha nova "deusa" literária.
E, contudo, este não é um livro fácil. Ou não tratasse ele de um período particularmente crítico de Marrocos, a seguir à II Guerra Mundial e durante o protetorado francês. "Indígenas" e colonos, aborígenes e estrangeiros, cristãos e muçulmanos, homens e mulheres, tradição e direitos humanos: são muitos os conflitos fraturantes aqui expostos. Pelo meio, uma história de amor, de atração sexual, de resistência, de escolhas questionáveis, de morais inquebrantáveis.
"Todos os sentimentos afiguravam-se-lhes uma traição (...). Eram simultaneamente vítimas e carrascos, companheiros e adversários (...). Eram dois excomungados (...) cujo deus é um deus secreto, íntimo, do qual ignoram tudo, até o nome."
Aconselho entusiasticamente.
E, contudo, este não é um livro fácil. Ou não tratasse ele de um período particularmente crítico de Marrocos, a seguir à II Guerra Mundial e durante o protetorado francês. "Indígenas" e colonos, aborígenes e estrangeiros, cristãos e muçulmanos, homens e mulheres, tradição e direitos humanos: são muitos os conflitos fraturantes aqui expostos. Pelo meio, uma história de amor, de atração sexual, de resistência, de escolhas questionáveis, de morais inquebrantáveis.
"Todos os sentimentos afiguravam-se-lhes uma traição (...). Eram simultaneamente vítimas e carrascos, companheiros e adversários (...). Eram dois excomungados (...) cujo deus é um deus secreto, íntimo, do qual ignoram tudo, até o nome."
Aconselho entusiasticamente.
July 8, 2025
Besoin de lire la suite NOWWW #Justice4Selma
March 5, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this book.
I’m a huge fan of Leila slimani’s previous novels and so I requested this immediately. There is no doubt that it is well written. She switches between characters perspectives so easily and effortlessly.
However the place and subject matter didn’t appeal to me on a personal level so I found it hard to enjoy.
I’m a huge fan of Leila slimani’s previous novels and so I requested this immediately. There is no doubt that it is well written. She switches between characters perspectives so easily and effortlessly.
However the place and subject matter didn’t appeal to me on a personal level so I found it hard to enjoy.
March 23, 2020
Mouais, je suis restée sur ma faim en finissant ce livre. Je m’attendais à mieux, surtout après avoir lu chanson douce.
L’histoire se passe à l’aube de l’indépendance du Maroc et suit un couple franco-marocain qui décide d’emménager à Meknès. La situation est décrite du point de vue de chaque personnage, avec une vue sur leur background et leur évolution.
Le pays des autres mets en exergue comment les femmes survivent dans un pays d’hommes, fait par les hommes et pour les hommes. On observe aussi comment elles vivent dans ce monde machiste sujet à moult tabous et silences, que ce soit la femme française ou marocaine.
Mathilde est un personnage sensible mais tout au long du récit on se rend compte qu’elle est surtout un amalgame de stéréotypes et il est difficile de s’attacher à elle ou d’avoir de la compassion pour elle. La trame tarde à se développer et on reste sur notre faim car on ne comprends pas ou Leila Slimani veut en venir. La trilogie historique peine à captiver l’attention du lecteur et on est perdu a essayer de comprendre chaque personnage et à essayer de deviner qui est le protagoniste principal autour de qui l’histoire tourne. Néanmoins, il est indéniable que la description des lieux et de l’ambiance du pays est bien travaillée et démontre une certaine recherche et passion pour la société de cette époque. Le style d’écriture est fluide ce qui est agréable tout au long de la lecture car les changements de scènes ou de chapitres ne sont pas brusques.
L’histoire manque cruellement d’originalité et fait place à des situations attendues ce qui rend la lecture ennuyante à souhait. Le récit manque de vie et de souffle, quel dommage pour un sujet si intéressant et écrit sur une période encore méconnue du grand public. C’est une tare que d’écrire un livre qui ne transmets pas l’idée de l’auteur ou le sujet à débattre qui est je pense ici le métissage et les enfants issus d’un mariage mixte.
J’espère qu’elle se rattrapera dans le second et troisième ouvrage car là, le démarrage est plutôt raté. Lisez le sans grandes attentes mais plutôt par curiosité d’avoir une fenêtre sur une autre époque.
L’histoire se passe à l’aube de l’indépendance du Maroc et suit un couple franco-marocain qui décide d’emménager à Meknès. La situation est décrite du point de vue de chaque personnage, avec une vue sur leur background et leur évolution.
Le pays des autres mets en exergue comment les femmes survivent dans un pays d’hommes, fait par les hommes et pour les hommes. On observe aussi comment elles vivent dans ce monde machiste sujet à moult tabous et silences, que ce soit la femme française ou marocaine.
Mathilde est un personnage sensible mais tout au long du récit on se rend compte qu’elle est surtout un amalgame de stéréotypes et il est difficile de s’attacher à elle ou d’avoir de la compassion pour elle. La trame tarde à se développer et on reste sur notre faim car on ne comprends pas ou Leila Slimani veut en venir. La trilogie historique peine à captiver l’attention du lecteur et on est perdu a essayer de comprendre chaque personnage et à essayer de deviner qui est le protagoniste principal autour de qui l’histoire tourne. Néanmoins, il est indéniable que la description des lieux et de l’ambiance du pays est bien travaillée et démontre une certaine recherche et passion pour la société de cette époque. Le style d’écriture est fluide ce qui est agréable tout au long de la lecture car les changements de scènes ou de chapitres ne sont pas brusques.
L’histoire manque cruellement d’originalité et fait place à des situations attendues ce qui rend la lecture ennuyante à souhait. Le récit manque de vie et de souffle, quel dommage pour un sujet si intéressant et écrit sur une période encore méconnue du grand public. C’est une tare que d’écrire un livre qui ne transmets pas l’idée de l’auteur ou le sujet à débattre qui est je pense ici le métissage et les enfants issus d’un mariage mixte.
J’espère qu’elle se rattrapera dans le second et troisième ouvrage car là, le démarrage est plutôt raté. Lisez le sans grandes attentes mais plutôt par curiosité d’avoir une fenêtre sur une autre époque.
April 24, 2022
This book is very problematic for so many reasons. To start with, the list of stale, lazy stereotypes used and abused by the author is too long and too boring to enumerate.
Moroccans are backwards, profane, irrational, uncivilised and barbaric.
Peasants and city dwellers alike are filthy and smell. Men are bloodthirsty brutes, ignorants and don't know how to love.
Women are exotic, brainless (obviously!) and have no ambition.
The novel is packed with tropes of Orientalism that translate the coloniser's image of the locals. It reinforces the myth of the civilised, rational and developed Western power, coming to the rescue of the barbaric savages.
Edward Said must be tossing in his grave!!!
To top it up, Slimani decided to sprinkle some white saviour complex examples through the characters of Mathilde and Mademoiselle Fabre. Mathilde is disgusted by the peasants, but nonetheless decides to dedicate her life to “healing the sick”. Mademoiselle Fabre, who is “goodhearted and generous” spends her time feeding the poor, giving clothes to kids in rags and dispensing life advice to young Moroccan females. Oh, I almost forgot! She is the only character who defends Morocco's legitimate fight for independence. Of course, We need a white advocate!!
However, her argument is extremely problematic. Judge for yourself: “After more than forty years of the Protectorate, how can anyone expect the Moroccans not to demand freedom? They helped us fight for it, and we gave them a taste for it and taught them the value of it. They deserve it”. I mean, does it get more patronising? It’s an absolute insult to a whole Nationalist movement, which united the whole nation across the board. Who knew that Moroccans owed their desire for freedom to the same people who spent over forty years dehumanising them???!!! It is condescending, ignorant and deluded.
The Author chose to ignore the fact that Morocco has a rich culture and history, which goes way back, twelve centuries back! A country which , at its height controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa! But that was long ago!
At the time of the French Protectorate, The country was weak and poor; and the French intended to keep it this way, through its politics of forceful land acquisition and the establishment of a powerful colonists community.
General Lyautey famously said " A colonist is worth a batallion". It was particularly true of the thousands of French farming colonists who did a great job keeping the locals at their mercy, either as employees or as customers.
Slimani chose to tell her story through the prism of the colonists. Even though Amin is Moroccan, he acts no different than his French neighbours, treating the labourers with disdain and mistrust. He refuses to take sides in the Moroccans fight for independence and even though he fought for the French army, he still cant understand his brother’s “fanaticism”!
Apparently, only France's freedom is worth his bravery!
Also, freedom fighters are either motivated by hate and despair or fanaticism. The word “terrorists” is tossed a few times, even though it wasnt commonly used at the time. I wonder why???!!!
On the other hand, not a word about the ruthless repression and violence of the French military, who never apologised for their war crimes. massacres committed by colonial France, from 1945 to 1962 are estimated to have caused the death of one million victims. In August 1955, an insurrection in Oued Zem caused the death of 70 Europeans, the response of the French army was ruthless: a thousand Moroccan victims.
Hundreds of thousands lost their lives during the French colonisation. The political, economic and cultural consequences of colonialism are still rippling through Moroccan society.
The author chose to write a heavily pro french account of that period, but I genuinely believe that her parti pris isn't even a conscious choice. These are internalised reflexes and narratives, fed since childhood, to a whole part of the Moroccan elite. Moroccans, who speak French more fluently than Arabic. They can recite by heart the name of French Presidents, under the Fifth Republic; but wouldn't be able to name the dynasties that ruled Morocco, to save their lives!
I was expecting better from a Moroccan author, at least more balance and a more wholesome perspective of that painful period of Moroccan history. Very disappointing!
Moroccans are backwards, profane, irrational, uncivilised and barbaric.
Peasants and city dwellers alike are filthy and smell. Men are bloodthirsty brutes, ignorants and don't know how to love.
Women are exotic, brainless (obviously!) and have no ambition.
The novel is packed with tropes of Orientalism that translate the coloniser's image of the locals. It reinforces the myth of the civilised, rational and developed Western power, coming to the rescue of the barbaric savages.
Edward Said must be tossing in his grave!!!
To top it up, Slimani decided to sprinkle some white saviour complex examples through the characters of Mathilde and Mademoiselle Fabre. Mathilde is disgusted by the peasants, but nonetheless decides to dedicate her life to “healing the sick”. Mademoiselle Fabre, who is “goodhearted and generous” spends her time feeding the poor, giving clothes to kids in rags and dispensing life advice to young Moroccan females. Oh, I almost forgot! She is the only character who defends Morocco's legitimate fight for independence. Of course, We need a white advocate!!
However, her argument is extremely problematic. Judge for yourself: “After more than forty years of the Protectorate, how can anyone expect the Moroccans not to demand freedom? They helped us fight for it, and we gave them a taste for it and taught them the value of it. They deserve it”. I mean, does it get more patronising? It’s an absolute insult to a whole Nationalist movement, which united the whole nation across the board. Who knew that Moroccans owed their desire for freedom to the same people who spent over forty years dehumanising them???!!! It is condescending, ignorant and deluded.
The Author chose to ignore the fact that Morocco has a rich culture and history, which goes way back, twelve centuries back! A country which , at its height controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa! But that was long ago!
At the time of the French Protectorate, The country was weak and poor; and the French intended to keep it this way, through its politics of forceful land acquisition and the establishment of a powerful colonists community.
General Lyautey famously said " A colonist is worth a batallion". It was particularly true of the thousands of French farming colonists who did a great job keeping the locals at their mercy, either as employees or as customers.
Slimani chose to tell her story through the prism of the colonists. Even though Amin is Moroccan, he acts no different than his French neighbours, treating the labourers with disdain and mistrust. He refuses to take sides in the Moroccans fight for independence and even though he fought for the French army, he still cant understand his brother’s “fanaticism”!
Apparently, only France's freedom is worth his bravery!
Also, freedom fighters are either motivated by hate and despair or fanaticism. The word “terrorists” is tossed a few times, even though it wasnt commonly used at the time. I wonder why???!!!
On the other hand, not a word about the ruthless repression and violence of the French military, who never apologised for their war crimes. massacres committed by colonial France, from 1945 to 1962 are estimated to have caused the death of one million victims. In August 1955, an insurrection in Oued Zem caused the death of 70 Europeans, the response of the French army was ruthless: a thousand Moroccan victims.
Hundreds of thousands lost their lives during the French colonisation. The political, economic and cultural consequences of colonialism are still rippling through Moroccan society.
The author chose to write a heavily pro french account of that period, but I genuinely believe that her parti pris isn't even a conscious choice. These are internalised reflexes and narratives, fed since childhood, to a whole part of the Moroccan elite. Moroccans, who speak French more fluently than Arabic. They can recite by heart the name of French Presidents, under the Fifth Republic; but wouldn't be able to name the dynasties that ruled Morocco, to save their lives!
I was expecting better from a Moroccan author, at least more balance and a more wholesome perspective of that painful period of Moroccan history. Very disappointing!
May 8, 2021
Boring as FUCK (but beautifully written)
September 20, 2021
The atmosphere is panoramic…
Personal, social, political…
Set in Morocco-
mid 1940’s-1950’s-after
WWII > approaching the revolt against French Colonialism…..
Leila Slimani (the absolutely gorgeous French-Moroccan-talented author) created a fictional world that’s filled with history-conflict-race-class-country-marriage-[interracial]-family loyalty -motherhood-sexual freedom——with a female perspective > a hard- knocking-life for women - and the fight for independence….
THE FIRST of a planned TRILOGY….
Mathilde (from France) marries Amine (a Moroccan soldier)….
The story we follow is vivid, terrifying, and engrossing.
The cultural endeavors for women were grippingly bleak - add the futility of war - and the tragedies just seemed too much—but the strength of the women - are relentless….
Great Book….
… I’ll look forward to continuing with this trilogy.
Personal, social, political…
Set in Morocco-
mid 1940’s-1950’s-after
WWII > approaching the revolt against French Colonialism…..
Leila Slimani (the absolutely gorgeous French-Moroccan-talented author) created a fictional world that’s filled with history-conflict-race-class-country-marriage-[interracial]-family loyalty -motherhood-sexual freedom——with a female perspective > a hard- knocking-life for women - and the fight for independence….
THE FIRST of a planned TRILOGY….
Mathilde (from France) marries Amine (a Moroccan soldier)….
The story we follow is vivid, terrifying, and engrossing.
The cultural endeavors for women were grippingly bleak - add the futility of war - and the tragedies just seemed too much—but the strength of the women - are relentless….
Great Book….
… I’ll look forward to continuing with this trilogy.
June 14, 2023
Quando cheguei ao fim do livro pensei: mas que raio, isto acaba assim?! 🧐
Já é a segunda vez, num espaço muito curto de tempo, que fico com a sensação que faltam páginas ao livro.
Depois de uma pequena pesquisa parece que O País dos Outros é o primeiro volume de uma trilogia (agora é sentar e aguardar pelos próximos, que ainda nem devem estar escritos) que conta a saga familiar da autora.
É a história de Mathilde, uma alsaciana, que se apaixona em 1944 por Amine Belhaj, um marroquino que combatia no exército francês. O casal muda-se para os arredores de Meknès – uma das cidades imperiais de Marrocos, e que foi capital entre 1672 e 1727 – e começam uma nova vida.
Mathilde chega cheia de sonhos, mas a jovem esposa rapidamente descobrirá em que condições irá viver.
O clima é quente, há demasiada poeira, há diferenças culturais e religiosas inultrapassáveis, há conflitos geracionais, há xenofobismo e racismo, e como estão num período pré-independência há uma escalada da violência nas lutas entre marroquinos e franceses.
Explorada, indignada, desfigurada pelos golpes do seu marido, Mathilde vive dominada na quinta da família. Por vezes é submissa, por vezes é rebelde. Sobrevive por conta da sua força de carácter, pelo seu amor pelos filhos e pela sua determinação em melhorar a vida de todos, até o ponto de se sacrificar.
As tensões entre o casal são fortes e violentas. Amine não sabe lidar com uma mulher emancipada.
Uma história densa, muito bem escrita e com as personagens muito bem definidas.
Quando sai o próximo? 🕒
53/198 – Marrocos
Já é a segunda vez, num espaço muito curto de tempo, que fico com a sensação que faltam páginas ao livro.
Depois de uma pequena pesquisa parece que O País dos Outros é o primeiro volume de uma trilogia (agora é sentar e aguardar pelos próximos, que ainda nem devem estar escritos) que conta a saga familiar da autora.
É a história de Mathilde, uma alsaciana, que se apaixona em 1944 por Amine Belhaj, um marroquino que combatia no exército francês. O casal muda-se para os arredores de Meknès – uma das cidades imperiais de Marrocos, e que foi capital entre 1672 e 1727 – e começam uma nova vida.
Mathilde chega cheia de sonhos, mas a jovem esposa rapidamente descobrirá em que condições irá viver.
O clima é quente, há demasiada poeira, há diferenças culturais e religiosas inultrapassáveis, há conflitos geracionais, há xenofobismo e racismo, e como estão num período pré-independência há uma escalada da violência nas lutas entre marroquinos e franceses.
Explorada, indignada, desfigurada pelos golpes do seu marido, Mathilde vive dominada na quinta da família. Por vezes é submissa, por vezes é rebelde. Sobrevive por conta da sua força de carácter, pelo seu amor pelos filhos e pela sua determinação em melhorar a vida de todos, até o ponto de se sacrificar.
As tensões entre o casal são fortes e violentas. Amine não sabe lidar com uma mulher emancipada.
Uma história densa, muito bem escrita e com as personagens muito bem definidas.
Quando sai o próximo? 🕒
53/198 – Marrocos
July 29, 2021
I liked the setting of this book as well as the historical narrative that it incorporates with the clash between the French colonialists and the Moroccan nationalists following World War Two. I’m always keen to read more books set in different countries and I had not yet read one about Morocco so I do feel I learnt from this book about the history of the country.
I wasn’t entirely engrossed in the story though and when I reflect on why I think that it was written with an almost detachment to the characters in a way so that I couldn’t really connect with any of them. At times a new character would pop up and it would go in to a lot of detail describing this new character and their past and then would just drop them and carry on with the story and I’d be left a little confused as to why.
I did like the themes it explored, not just the political climate of Morocco but the issues of gender inequality that was felt by almost all of the women in the novel, including the young girl.
Overall, it was an interesting read in terms of the setting and political and social themes that was explored throughout, but I couldn’t emotionally connect to the story or characters.
Read
January 23, 2025У мене з цією книжкою стався разючий незбіг очікувань і реальності, і якби мої очікування були ближчі до реальності, то я взагалі не бралася б її читати, бо я манала на рівному місці відчувати овердофіга негативних емоцій без жодного срібного обрамлення навколо хмарки. Коротше, анотація обіцяє "a passionate interracial love story between a Moroccan soldier who fought for France in World War II and a French woman whose fierce desire for autonomy parallels colonial Morocco's fight for independence", і я уявляла, що це буде щось (а) ближче до жанрових конвенцій любовного роману; (б) щось оптимістичне про здобуття національних прав і особистих прав, незалежність країни і незалежність людини. Так от, ніфіга, бо, по суті, в основі сюжет про покарання жінки за її бажання. Головна героїня виростає у провінційній Франції під час Другої світової, життя депресивне, бідне і безбарвне, аж тут з'являється красівенький ветеран, та ще й з далеких країв, де напевно все яскраво і цікаво, і от за мить буття horny teen вона потім розплачується зламаною рештою життя, проведеного з аб'юзером, жлобом і нікчемою (і це навіть не помста колонізованого колонізатору, просто мужик мудак), у злиднях і забобонах, де її діти потерпатимуть від расизму (в обох напрямках - і від арабів, і від французів) і матимуть фігові життєві перспективи. З боротьбою Марокко за незалежність ситуація теж паскудна - буквально всі європейці виписані нормальними людьми й буквально всі марокканці виписані максимально антипатичними мудаками (скажімо, типова сценка: головна героїня-француженка лікує місцевих селян, і в винагороду один із місцевих робітників каже: коли я прийду до вас наступного разу, навіть якщо казатиму, що треба допомога, то ви не відкривайте дверей, бо це значитиме, що я прийшов вас убивати). Я з очевидних причин схильна симпатизувати колонізованим у сюжетах про визвольну боротьбу - бо навіть якщо хтось мудак, це не значить, що він не має права на життя і національне самовизначення, але not gonna lie, у цій книжці вболівати за Марокко досить важко. Коротше, якщо вам хочеться подепресувати не через новини, а через вигаданих людей, то вам сюди, але якщо вам не хочеться депресувати, то пошукайте якесь інше читво.
March 2, 2022
Em 1944, Mathilde, uma jovem alsaciana, apaixona-se por Amine, um oficial marroquino que combate no exército francês durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial. Terminada a guerra, o casal muda-se para Marrocos e instala-se perto de Meknés. Amine dedica-se a recuperar a quinta herdada do pai, tentando arrancar frutos de uma terra pedregosa e estéril. Enquanto isso, Mathilde começa a sentir o jugo dos costumes conservadores do novo país, tão sufocante quanto o seu clima. Nem a maternidade apaga a solidão que sente no campo, longe de tudo, num lugar que não é o seu e que a verá sempre como estrangeira.
[Resumo da responsabilidade do Plano Nacional de Leitura 2027]
ISBN:
978-989-784-004-3 ( v. 1 )
CDU:
821.133.1(64)-311.6
Livro recomendado PNL2027 - 2021 1.º Sem. - Literatura - maiores 18 anos - Fluente
[Resumo da responsabilidade do Plano Nacional de Leitura 2027]
ISBN:
978-989-784-004-3 ( v. 1 )
CDU:
821.133.1(64)-311.6
Livro recomendado PNL2027 - 2021 1.º Sem. - Literatura - maiores 18 anos - Fluente
March 30, 2023
Aïcha connaissait ces femmes aux visages bleus. Elle en avait vu souvent, des mères aux yeux mi-clos, à la joue violette, des mères aux lèvres fendues. À l’époque, elle croyait même que c’était pour cela qu’on avait inventé le maquillage. Pour masquer les coups des hommes.
Aïcha knew these women with blue faces. She she had seen them often, the mothers with half-closed eyes, with violet cheeks, mothers with split lips. At the time, she even thought that that was why make-up had been invented. To hide the blows of men.
A wonderfully engrossing and immersive story of Mathilde who marries Amine, a handsome soldier in the French army during WW2 and moves to live with him on his family farm in Morocco. Slimani treats everything with nuance and complexity: the clash of French and Arabic cultures, the background of the growing Moroccan struggle for independence from their French colonisers, issues of gender and patriarchy.
There are shocking moments of violence on both the domestic and national stages but also something far more complicated in the relationship between Mathilde and Amine.
Unlike many family sagas, Slimani keeps the focus on one generation though we're already considering what will happen to the daughter of the family, Aïcha.
This is a book which I abandoned in English translation but which worked brilliantly in the original French: the translation felt flat and lifeless, whereas that stark and unadorned French with little direct speech and a dearth of figurative language felt modernist and clean. With a translation of the sequel due out in the summer (Watch Us Dance) I'm tempted to read the second volume in French too: Regardez-nous danser, even if it does take longer to complete.
June 16, 2025
I think Ms Slimani ought to familarise herself with the works of Edward Said, Frantz Fanon, as well as Said Graiouid and other post colonial writers, thinkers, and activists, because In the Country of Others feels like an exercise in Orientalism written to appeal to the French gaze.
At first I thought that Slimani was being intentional by having us see Morocco through the eyes of her white, French, bourgeois protagonist, Mathilde. I thought she was using her disdain for Moroccanness, and her desire to raise her mixed-raced children in a French-Catholic manner, was an intentional showcase of how colonisers impose themselves and their ideals onto an indigenous population. Her love for Morocco is strictly limited to her husband -- whom she constantly talks of in fetishist terms. The darkness of his skin, his African-ess, his smell, the way he moves across a room or makes love to her are the qualities that endear her to him. Yet, she wants him to behave and act like a Frenchman. And, in many ways, he does. I thought this was akin to how French colonisers were enamoured with the idea of North African mysticism and eroticism, whilst also brutally beating down the Moroccan identity.
But Mathilde's and Amine's relationship is not an allegory for the coloniser and the colonised. There's no sympathy for Amine's condition as a colonised person who was forced to fight on the front line for his coloniser. Experiencing two-fold humiliation first at the hands of the French government, and then in a German POW camp. Instead, he is softened by his ambivalence to the Moroccan revolutionary cause; his decision to remain apolitical whilst the French government and military brutalise Moroccans on a daily basis, he can keep himself separate on his farm surrounded by the estates of French colonists.
Indeed, it his Frenchness that sets him apart from the rest of the Moroccans in the story. Who are all described in such crude terms. Each embodying an orientalist stereotype about North African people. Amine's mother is excessively superstitious and is inhibited by the oppressiveness of her men in the family; Omar is a violent Arab man whose participation in the revolution is framed as being a result of excessive anger and hatred, as opposed to the trauma of colonisation; the Amazigh people who work on Amine's and Mathilde's farm are disgustingly filthy and don't know how to bathe. Even though they're all Muslims and ritual ablution is a fundamental part of Islam. Yet, they need Mathilde and her European sensibilities to teach them how to keep clean.
The only Moroccan character who is framed in a positive light is Selma, but that's because she hates being Moroccan. She has a French boyfriend, she dresses like a Parisian, she doesn't care for Meknes and wants to go to Europe or America. Its her rejection of the Moroccan identity that endears her in the narrative. Even then, she rejects education and has a ravenous appetite for sex despite being what...fourteen? fifteen?
I think the most obvious confirmation that Slimani is writing from a perspective that sympathises with the French colonialist lens is how she describes the old Frenchwoman, who lives in Meknes, and has embraced Moroccan culture and supports the independence movement. The woman lives in a ramshackle riad where rats are abound and the roof is leaking and carries with her a host of superstitions. Morocco has robbed her of her cleanliness and her rationality. In the way it robs Mathilde of her freedom, beauty, and effervescent spirit. When she briefly returns to France she is transformed: no longer is she mistaken for a poor Arab woman, despite her gargantuan height, pale skin, and thin blonde hair, now she can look like at an ACTRESS.
Its all so laughably white feminist to me. Especially the parts that go on about how Mathilde had so much more freedom in France even though French women weren't allowed to vote until 1946 and marital rape wasn't criminalised until 1990. And its not like the life of the 1950s European and American housewife was particularly liberating, either. There's not a hint of irony in the prose when Mathilde peruses through European magazines on how to be a better housewife. Just because you're wearing Revlon lipstick and a tea dress, it does not mean you're liberated. Your white husband who works in marketing will just be the one to smash your face in when dinner isn't fixed up properly, instead of a smelly Arab farmer. Patriarchy is a universally applied system of power that's not exclusive to one race or another. If anything, colonialism only served to exacerbate patriarchy by creating strict hierarchies of which men were deserving of dignity (read: white upper class) and which were canon fodder (the poor, non white, disabled, black, etc).
Moreover, Moroccan women (as with other women living under French colonialism) were often trafficked and forced into sexual slavery by the French military forces. New forms of homemade contraception were invented by these women to prevent them from getting pregnant or catching STDs. Morocco was one of the most favoured hotspots for sex tourism during the 19th and 20th centuries. Yet, there's not a peep to be said about it. Interesting...
I wanted to give Slimani the benefit of the doubt because I know she drew upon her own family's experience, but after finding out she's buddy-buddy with Macron, who glorifies French colonialism and has been constantly encroaching on the sovereignty of the former French colonies in Africa and the ME, I knew that there was no room for doubt with In the Country of Others . Leila Slimani is peddling racist stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims for a French gaze. For a country that still denies the brutality of its colonial past. That still benefits from it TO THIS DAY -- controlling much of the natural resources in its former colonies AND continuing to demand reparations from Haiti. That out of left field ending where Aicha is suddenly radicalised by the revolutionary spirit was so disjointed and a clear way to sell the sequel.
This book, and Leila Slimani, can kindly go fuck.
At first I thought that Slimani was being intentional by having us see Morocco through the eyes of her white, French, bourgeois protagonist, Mathilde. I thought she was using her disdain for Moroccanness, and her desire to raise her mixed-raced children in a French-Catholic manner, was an intentional showcase of how colonisers impose themselves and their ideals onto an indigenous population. Her love for Morocco is strictly limited to her husband -- whom she constantly talks of in fetishist terms. The darkness of his skin, his African-ess, his smell, the way he moves across a room or makes love to her are the qualities that endear her to him. Yet, she wants him to behave and act like a Frenchman. And, in many ways, he does. I thought this was akin to how French colonisers were enamoured with the idea of North African mysticism and eroticism, whilst also brutally beating down the Moroccan identity.
But Mathilde's and Amine's relationship is not an allegory for the coloniser and the colonised. There's no sympathy for Amine's condition as a colonised person who was forced to fight on the front line for his coloniser. Experiencing two-fold humiliation first at the hands of the French government, and then in a German POW camp. Instead, he is softened by his ambivalence to the Moroccan revolutionary cause; his decision to remain apolitical whilst the French government and military brutalise Moroccans on a daily basis, he can keep himself separate on his farm surrounded by the estates of French colonists.
Indeed, it his Frenchness that sets him apart from the rest of the Moroccans in the story. Who are all described in such crude terms. Each embodying an orientalist stereotype about North African people. Amine's mother is excessively superstitious and is inhibited by the oppressiveness of her men in the family; Omar is a violent Arab man whose participation in the revolution is framed as being a result of excessive anger and hatred, as opposed to the trauma of colonisation; the Amazigh people who work on Amine's and Mathilde's farm are disgustingly filthy and don't know how to bathe. Even though they're all Muslims and ritual ablution is a fundamental part of Islam. Yet, they need Mathilde and her European sensibilities to teach them how to keep clean.
The only Moroccan character who is framed in a positive light is Selma, but that's because she hates being Moroccan. She has a French boyfriend, she dresses like a Parisian, she doesn't care for Meknes and wants to go to Europe or America. Its her rejection of the Moroccan identity that endears her in the narrative. Even then, she rejects education and has a ravenous appetite for sex despite being what...fourteen? fifteen?
I think the most obvious confirmation that Slimani is writing from a perspective that sympathises with the French colonialist lens is how she describes the old Frenchwoman, who lives in Meknes, and has embraced Moroccan culture and supports the independence movement. The woman lives in a ramshackle riad where rats are abound and the roof is leaking and carries with her a host of superstitions. Morocco has robbed her of her cleanliness and her rationality. In the way it robs Mathilde of her freedom, beauty, and effervescent spirit. When she briefly returns to France she is transformed: no longer is she mistaken for a poor Arab woman, despite her gargantuan height, pale skin, and thin blonde hair, now she can look like at an ACTRESS.
Its all so laughably white feminist to me. Especially the parts that go on about how Mathilde had so much more freedom in France even though French women weren't allowed to vote until 1946 and marital rape wasn't criminalised until 1990. And its not like the life of the 1950s European and American housewife was particularly liberating, either. There's not a hint of irony in the prose when Mathilde peruses through European magazines on how to be a better housewife. Just because you're wearing Revlon lipstick and a tea dress, it does not mean you're liberated. Your white husband who works in marketing will just be the one to smash your face in when dinner isn't fixed up properly, instead of a smelly Arab farmer. Patriarchy is a universally applied system of power that's not exclusive to one race or another. If anything, colonialism only served to exacerbate patriarchy by creating strict hierarchies of which men were deserving of dignity (read: white upper class) and which were canon fodder (the poor, non white, disabled, black, etc).
Moreover, Moroccan women (as with other women living under French colonialism) were often trafficked and forced into sexual slavery by the French military forces. New forms of homemade contraception were invented by these women to prevent them from getting pregnant or catching STDs. Morocco was one of the most favoured hotspots for sex tourism during the 19th and 20th centuries. Yet, there's not a peep to be said about it. Interesting...
I wanted to give Slimani the benefit of the doubt because I know she drew upon her own family's experience, but after finding out she's buddy-buddy with Macron, who glorifies French colonialism and has been constantly encroaching on the sovereignty of the former French colonies in Africa and the ME, I knew that there was no room for doubt with In the Country of Others . Leila Slimani is peddling racist stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims for a French gaze. For a country that still denies the brutality of its colonial past. That still benefits from it TO THIS DAY -- controlling much of the natural resources in its former colonies AND continuing to demand reparations from Haiti. That out of left field ending where Aicha is suddenly radicalised by the revolutionary spirit was so disjointed and a clear way to sell the sequel.
This book, and Leila Slimani, can kindly go fuck.
January 27, 2022
Am Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs verliebt sich die junge Elsässerin Mathilde in den marokkanischen Offizier Amine Belhaj. Sehr schnell, noch in Frankreich, heiraten die beiden. Amine kehrt nach Marokko zurück und Mathilde folgt ihm, sie lassen sich gemeinsam in der Nähe von Meknès, am Fuß des Atlas-Gebirges, auf einem abgelegenen Hof nieder. Was für Mathilde als Abenteuer beginnt, endet für das Ehepaar in der bitteren Realität: Mathilde ist für Amine zu Emanzipiert, er lässt seinen Frust auf brutale Weise an ihr aus - sie hingegen leidet unter dem kargen, armen Leben in der Abgeschiedenheit. Und in diesem Land der Anderen"voller Rassismus und patriarchaler Strukturen versteht niemand die Ehe zwischen einer Französin und einem Marokkaner.
Leïla Slimani entwirft mit "Das Land der Anderen", übersetzt von Amelie Thoma, den Auftakt einer historischen Roman-Trilogie, die an die Geschichte ihrer eigenen Großeltern angelehnt ist. Die Lesenden werden nach Marokko in die Zeit zwischen 1945 und 1955 entführt, man erfährt viel über das Zeitgeschehen, die Menschen und deren Umgang miteinander. Für mich waren gerade diese historischen Bezüge sehr, sehr interessant, da ich mich mit Marokko und seiner Vergangenheit als französische Kolonie bisher noch nie auseinander gesetzt habe. Auch die Beschreibungen des Landlebens und des Lebens in Meknès als Kontrast dazu haben mir gefallen.
Leider hört meine Begeisterung mit dem historischen Kontext und dem Setting aber auch schon auf - denn an der Geschichte selbst konnte ich mich überhaupt nicht erfreuen. Subjektiv lässt sich anmerken, dass es mir die vielen Perspektivenwechsel leider fast unmöglich gemacht haben, zu einer Figur im Roman eine stärkere Bindung aufzubauen. Durch diese fehlende Verknüpfung zu den Charakteren hat sich das Buch für mich an vielen Stellen sehr gezogen und ich habe mich leider oft gelangweilt. Darüber hätte ich aber hinwegsehen können.
Warum ich "Das Land der Anderen" aber nicht weiterempfehlen möchte, ist zum einen die Verharmlosung von sexualisierter sowie häuslicher Gewalt und der problematische Umgang der Protagonist*innen damit. Amine weckt beispielsweise regelmäßig das Begehren von Mathilde indem er sie vergewaltigt und verprügelt - eine kritische Auseinandersetzung damit sucht man vergeblich. Zum anderen kann ich einfach nicht nachvollziehen, weshalb im Buch so häufig rassistische Sprache reproduziert wird. Das N- und Z-Wort fallen mehrfach, obwohl das für den Kontext und den Fortgang der Geschichte absolut nicht notwendig ist.
Auch wenn mich gerade der Erzählstrang um die siebenjährige Aïcha, die Tochter von Mathilde, tatsächlich stellenweise gefesselt und neugierig gemacht hat, werde ich die weiteren Teile der Reihe wohl nicht mehr lesen. Leïla Slimani konnte mich mit ihrem ersten Vorstoß in die Welt der historischen Romane leider nicht überzeugen - klar, es geht um eine patriarchal geprägte Gesellschaft, die noch dazu in einer anderen Zeit angesiedelt ist und ich kann auch nicht beurteilen, was den Vorfahr*innen der Autorin tatsächlich zugestoßen ist. Trotzdem glaube ich, dass ein Buch heute auch ohne unreflektierten Sexismus, Bagatellisierung von Vergewaltigung, Stereotype und rassistische Sprache auskommen kann und muss. Ich freue mich aber, wenn Leïla Slimani zu ihrer ursprünglichen Art, Romane zu schreiben, zurück kehrt und werde sicherlich auch weiterhin auf Neuerscheinungen aus ihrer Feder unabhängig der Trilogie hin fiebern.
Leïla Slimani entwirft mit "Das Land der Anderen", übersetzt von Amelie Thoma, den Auftakt einer historischen Roman-Trilogie, die an die Geschichte ihrer eigenen Großeltern angelehnt ist. Die Lesenden werden nach Marokko in die Zeit zwischen 1945 und 1955 entführt, man erfährt viel über das Zeitgeschehen, die Menschen und deren Umgang miteinander. Für mich waren gerade diese historischen Bezüge sehr, sehr interessant, da ich mich mit Marokko und seiner Vergangenheit als französische Kolonie bisher noch nie auseinander gesetzt habe. Auch die Beschreibungen des Landlebens und des Lebens in Meknès als Kontrast dazu haben mir gefallen.
Leider hört meine Begeisterung mit dem historischen Kontext und dem Setting aber auch schon auf - denn an der Geschichte selbst konnte ich mich überhaupt nicht erfreuen. Subjektiv lässt sich anmerken, dass es mir die vielen Perspektivenwechsel leider fast unmöglich gemacht haben, zu einer Figur im Roman eine stärkere Bindung aufzubauen. Durch diese fehlende Verknüpfung zu den Charakteren hat sich das Buch für mich an vielen Stellen sehr gezogen und ich habe mich leider oft gelangweilt. Darüber hätte ich aber hinwegsehen können.
Warum ich "Das Land der Anderen" aber nicht weiterempfehlen möchte, ist zum einen die Verharmlosung von sexualisierter sowie häuslicher Gewalt und der problematische Umgang der Protagonist*innen damit. Amine weckt beispielsweise regelmäßig das Begehren von Mathilde indem er sie vergewaltigt und verprügelt - eine kritische Auseinandersetzung damit sucht man vergeblich. Zum anderen kann ich einfach nicht nachvollziehen, weshalb im Buch so häufig rassistische Sprache reproduziert wird. Das N- und Z-Wort fallen mehrfach, obwohl das für den Kontext und den Fortgang der Geschichte absolut nicht notwendig ist.
Auch wenn mich gerade der Erzählstrang um die siebenjährige Aïcha, die Tochter von Mathilde, tatsächlich stellenweise gefesselt und neugierig gemacht hat, werde ich die weiteren Teile der Reihe wohl nicht mehr lesen. Leïla Slimani konnte mich mit ihrem ersten Vorstoß in die Welt der historischen Romane leider nicht überzeugen - klar, es geht um eine patriarchal geprägte Gesellschaft, die noch dazu in einer anderen Zeit angesiedelt ist und ich kann auch nicht beurteilen, was den Vorfahr*innen der Autorin tatsächlich zugestoßen ist. Trotzdem glaube ich, dass ein Buch heute auch ohne unreflektierten Sexismus, Bagatellisierung von Vergewaltigung, Stereotype und rassistische Sprache auskommen kann und muss. Ich freue mich aber, wenn Leïla Slimani zu ihrer ursprünglichen Art, Romane zu schreiben, zurück kehrt und werde sicherlich auch weiterhin auf Neuerscheinungen aus ihrer Feder unabhängig der Trilogie hin fiebern.
May 18, 2022
Extraordinara!!!!! Am auzit despre aceasta carte la Radio România Cultural, vorbea despre ea chiar traducătorul şi m-a făcut atât de curioasă încât am cumpărat-o. Daca nu prindeam emisiunea slabe şanse sa o fi citit vreodată şi mult as fi pierdut. Da, războiul, spus de 3 ori (subtitlul cărții) este tema principală: razboiul dintre culturi si rase, razboiul din viata amoroasa a femeii, din casnicie si viata de zi cu zi cu tot ceea ce implica ea, războiul interior al bărbatului, personaj principal, iar acestea toate culmineaza cu izbucnirea războiului propriu zis. Super fluidă, intensă, interesantă, foarte actuală am simtit-o, trateaza foarte bine trairile interioare ale personajelor, zbuciumul lor si mi-a placut mai ales finetea cu care expune modul in care diferentele culturale, din pacate, uneori duc la dezbinare... Este o saga de familie superba, m-a facut teribil de curioasa de continuarea ei si o astept cu nerabdare! Este prima carte pe care o citesc, de-a acestei autoare. Sunt curioasa sa incerc si altele.
July 24, 2022
Mathilde, a French national, falls in love with a Moroccan soldier fighting for France in the World War II. They go to live in Morocco, have two children, and set up a farm. Ten out of ten for Slimani’s attempt to write the big novel in which all the characters, including Morocco itself, are trying to find their own true identity ‘in the country of others’. Sadly, it doesn’t work, probably because it spreads itself too thinly even if the thesis that we are all fighting for our emancipation (independence) is solid. I want to give it four stars for the attempt, but it really is a three star read at best for me. I have a feeling that the second in the series will be worth reading, and I will get around to reading it when it is translated.
November 2, 2025
Este livro deixou-me um pouco dividida. Por um lado, adorei a forma como a Leila Slimani escreve — tem uma prosa elegante e envolvente, e consegue mesmo transportar-nos para o contexto histórico do pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial em Marrocos. A mistura cultural, o choque de identidades e a tensão entre modernidade e tradição estão super bem retratados.
Mas a verdade é que a leitura foi mais lenta do que eu esperava. A história é interessante, mas em certos momentos pareceu-me arrastar-se, e tive alguma dificuldade em sentir empatia pelas personagens. Ainda assim, dá para perceber a intenção da autora em mostrar o desconforto e a solidão de quem vive entre dois mundos, o europeu e o norte africano, e isso é uma das partes mais fortes do livro.
Gostei da forma como a autora aborda temas como o racismo, o papel da mulher e as feridas deixadas pelo colonialismo, sem cair em moralismos. A escrita é delicada, mas incisiva, e nota-se o cuidado em construir um retrato humano e realista de uma época de mudança.
No geral, é um livro bonito e com uma reflexão importante sobre identidade e pertença, mas não me prendeu completamente. Acho que vai agradar mais a quem gosta de leituras introspectivas e históricas, do que a quem procura uma narrativa mais dinâmica.
Mas a verdade é que a leitura foi mais lenta do que eu esperava. A história é interessante, mas em certos momentos pareceu-me arrastar-se, e tive alguma dificuldade em sentir empatia pelas personagens. Ainda assim, dá para perceber a intenção da autora em mostrar o desconforto e a solidão de quem vive entre dois mundos, o europeu e o norte africano, e isso é uma das partes mais fortes do livro.
Gostei da forma como a autora aborda temas como o racismo, o papel da mulher e as feridas deixadas pelo colonialismo, sem cair em moralismos. A escrita é delicada, mas incisiva, e nota-se o cuidado em construir um retrato humano e realista de uma época de mudança.
No geral, é um livro bonito e com uma reflexão importante sobre identidade e pertença, mas não me prendeu completamente. Acho que vai agradar mais a quem gosta de leituras introspectivas e históricas, do que a quem procura uma narrativa mais dinâmica.
August 11, 2020
In ‘Mathilde’, het eerste deel van de trilogie ‘Het land van de anderen’ focust Leïla Slimani op — jawel – Mathilde. Deze Française uit de Elzas wordt in 1944 smoorverliefd op de Marokkaanse soldaat Amine en trouwt met hem. Een paar jaar later verhuist ze met hem mee naar een dorpje op het Marokkaanse platteland.
Het leven had ze zich daar anders voorgesteld. Amine, die in zijn thuisland in een norse man is veranderd, bepaalt de regels. ‘Zo gaat dat hier.’ Het huis is een hut die aanvoelt als een gevangenis — want ook een geëmancipeerde vrouw hoort binnenshuis te werken. Als Française hoort Mathilde zich bovendien gedeisd te houden: zij komt immers uit het land van ‘de bezetter’.
De hitte is hels, het werk is zwaar, de zorgen wegen, maar in haar brieven naar huis spiegelt ze haar familie voor dat ze gelukkig is. Ze zal de leugen niet eeuwig kunnen volhouden. De wereld is in beweging. Op het platteland is er eerst niet erg veel van de onafhankelijkheidsstrijd te merken, maar via een aantal personages begrijp je wat er in de jaren vijftig speelt.
Amines moeder ziet Amines broer Omar veranderen in een overtuigde verzetsman. Amines zusje verlangt ernaar een moderne, zelfstandige vrouw te zijn. Aïcha, de dochter van Mathilde en Amine wordt op haar katholieke school gepest omdat ze Frans is, maar keert zich desondanks meer en meer tegen de Fransen.
Door de titel, die niet de vertaling is van de oorspronkelijke titel, was ik enigszins verrast om de feiten niet alleen door de ogen van Mathilde te lezen. Die niet ingeloste verwachting beïnvloedde mijn leeservaring. Ik begreep niet waarom ik onaangekondigd Mathilde moest verlaten om het verhaal door de ogen van Aïscha te lezen, om daarna weer naar Mathilde of iemand anders over te gaan.
Leïla Slimani kiest geen partij, niemand is goed of slecht. Je begrijpt de drijfveren van Mathilde en de mensen om haar heen, en hoe moeilijk het is om je dromen na te jagen met respect voor anderen.
‘Mathilde’ (oorspronkelijke titel ‘Le pays des autres (première partie: La guerre, la guerre, la guerre)’ is uit het Frans vertaald door Gertrud Maes.
Het leven had ze zich daar anders voorgesteld. Amine, die in zijn thuisland in een norse man is veranderd, bepaalt de regels. ‘Zo gaat dat hier.’ Het huis is een hut die aanvoelt als een gevangenis — want ook een geëmancipeerde vrouw hoort binnenshuis te werken. Als Française hoort Mathilde zich bovendien gedeisd te houden: zij komt immers uit het land van ‘de bezetter’.
De hitte is hels, het werk is zwaar, de zorgen wegen, maar in haar brieven naar huis spiegelt ze haar familie voor dat ze gelukkig is. Ze zal de leugen niet eeuwig kunnen volhouden. De wereld is in beweging. Op het platteland is er eerst niet erg veel van de onafhankelijkheidsstrijd te merken, maar via een aantal personages begrijp je wat er in de jaren vijftig speelt.
Amines moeder ziet Amines broer Omar veranderen in een overtuigde verzetsman. Amines zusje verlangt ernaar een moderne, zelfstandige vrouw te zijn. Aïcha, de dochter van Mathilde en Amine wordt op haar katholieke school gepest omdat ze Frans is, maar keert zich desondanks meer en meer tegen de Fransen.
Door de titel, die niet de vertaling is van de oorspronkelijke titel, was ik enigszins verrast om de feiten niet alleen door de ogen van Mathilde te lezen. Die niet ingeloste verwachting beïnvloedde mijn leeservaring. Ik begreep niet waarom ik onaangekondigd Mathilde moest verlaten om het verhaal door de ogen van Aïscha te lezen, om daarna weer naar Mathilde of iemand anders over te gaan.
Leïla Slimani kiest geen partij, niemand is goed of slecht. Je begrijpt de drijfveren van Mathilde en de mensen om haar heen, en hoe moeilijk het is om je dromen na te jagen met respect voor anderen.
‘Mathilde’ (oorspronkelijke titel ‘Le pays des autres (première partie: La guerre, la guerre, la guerre)’ is uit het Frans vertaald door Gertrud Maes.
April 24, 2021
Nėra iš tų romanų, kur praryji ar aikčioji iš nuostabumo, bet vis tiek kažkas tokio labai gero, jei ne ištisai, tai gabalais, už ką verta duoti keturias žvaigždes.
https://knyguziurkes.com/2021/04/24/k...
https://knyguziurkes.com/2021/04/24/k...
September 23, 2023
View this review on my booksta
4.5 but an easy round up to 5
(In post-reading clarity, I've decided to knock down .25 stars more because the last book I read prior to this one was Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend and I prefer the Italian lady's work just a teeny bit more.)
Set in post WWII Morocco amidst burgeoning anti-colonist sentiments against the French Protectorate, In the Country of Others narrates the story of Mathilde, a Frenchwoman struggling for autonomy after leaving her hometown in the name of love, and Amine, a Moroccan soldier whose identity is left fractured after fighting under the flag of his nation’s oppressors.
The tone is deliberately non-partisan, but not in the manner of centrists with their tawdry, my-parents-didn’t-give-me-enough-attention brand of so-called sociopolitcal omniscience. No, its judiciousness stems from an intimate knowledge of being born in the margins, in the knotted intersections of subjugation and privilege. It refuses to reduce matters into singular verdicts, into a mere bang of gavel on wood.
How must a woman imbued with modernist Western ideals of female liberation carve a name for herself without superimposing upon the culture of her adopted home? How might a man, on one end bound by duty, tradition, and patriotic honor, and on the other, romanced by pride and a well-meaning desire to care for his family, reconcile his own feelings of incongruence?
Most importantly, where must one draw the line between accountability and cultural relativism? Slimani doesn’t give us the satisfaction of answers; rather, she grants us something infinitely more invaluable: the discomfort of questions. She challenges our empathy and the breadth of our understanding, contorting them into rarely-adopted forms and shapes.
Mathilde and Amine’s relationship, along with its implications on the people around them, is a diorama not just of Morocco’s sociopolitical landscape in the 1950’s, but of the many different forms that the struggle for emancipation can take. Each character is lost in one way or another, trapped in a diaspora beyond the literal; each trying their best to thrive in the soil they’ve been transplanted into, whether by choice or by force.
4.5 but an easy round up to 5
(In post-reading clarity, I've decided to knock down .25 stars more because the last book I read prior to this one was Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend and I prefer the Italian lady's work just a teeny bit more.)
Set in post WWII Morocco amidst burgeoning anti-colonist sentiments against the French Protectorate, In the Country of Others narrates the story of Mathilde, a Frenchwoman struggling for autonomy after leaving her hometown in the name of love, and Amine, a Moroccan soldier whose identity is left fractured after fighting under the flag of his nation’s oppressors.
The tone is deliberately non-partisan, but not in the manner of centrists with their tawdry, my-parents-didn’t-give-me-enough-attention brand of so-called sociopolitcal omniscience. No, its judiciousness stems from an intimate knowledge of being born in the margins, in the knotted intersections of subjugation and privilege. It refuses to reduce matters into singular verdicts, into a mere bang of gavel on wood.
How must a woman imbued with modernist Western ideals of female liberation carve a name for herself without superimposing upon the culture of her adopted home? How might a man, on one end bound by duty, tradition, and patriotic honor, and on the other, romanced by pride and a well-meaning desire to care for his family, reconcile his own feelings of incongruence?
Most importantly, where must one draw the line between accountability and cultural relativism? Slimani doesn’t give us the satisfaction of answers; rather, she grants us something infinitely more invaluable: the discomfort of questions. She challenges our empathy and the breadth of our understanding, contorting them into rarely-adopted forms and shapes.
Mathilde and Amine’s relationship, along with its implications on the people around them, is a diorama not just of Morocco’s sociopolitical landscape in the 1950’s, but of the many different forms that the struggle for emancipation can take. Each character is lost in one way or another, trapped in a diaspora beyond the literal; each trying their best to thrive in the soil they’ve been transplanted into, whether by choice or by force.
April 4, 2024
At an intellectual level it was really interesting to read a novel about the tensions of colonisation in a context more distant from my own. I know much less about French colonisation, particularly in places like Morocco, than I do other contexts. However, something about this novel kept me at a distance, so while I found the ideas interesting I never really felt like I was in the narrative, or connected to the characters. Unsure if this was a translation thing, or a style thing but it didn’t quite work for me.
January 6, 2024
Translated from the French, the first part of a projected trilogy based on Slimani’s own family history. Mathilde is a 20 year old Frenchwoman who marries a Moroccan soldier after the Second World War in her haste to begin adult life and adventure, and leave her village behind. She moves to Morocco with her new husband, and finds herself isolated from both the French colonialists and the locals, partly because of her mixed marriage and partly due to physical isolation on her rather dour husband’s farm. Over the ensuing decade the couple have two children, including Aicha, a rather awkward, fey little girl excluded by the others in her Catholic school. At the same time, Moroccan nationalism grows ever stronger, but the calls for national emancipation are not experienced the same way by women.
I liked the exploration of how what looks like freedom and emancipation from one perspective can still oppress and exclude others - whether the French view of their ‘civilizing mission,’ or the very male-dominated nationalist project. I’ve seen some criticism of Slimani’s writing here as orientalist. Certainly there are many descriptions of local Moroccans as dirty or ‘stupid,’ but she seemed to me to be voicing the perspectives of the characters. And to suggest (as I saw in one article) that a female Moroccan writer is orientalist for writing about Moroccan male characters who are violent towards women seems problematic to me. Certainly although she depicts physical violence in Mathilda’s marriage, she also depicts a complicated and nuanced marriage. The novel didn’t hang together perfectly (and the translation was a little flat), but I enjoyed it and would read the next one.
“Selma would have given anything for a locked door, a place where she could keep her dreams and secrets. She prayed that fate would smile on her and that one day she could escape to Casablanca and reinvent herself. Like the men in the street shouting ‘Freedom! Independence!’ she shouted the same words, but nobody heard her.”
“As a teenager, it had never occurred to Mathilde that it was possible to be free on her own. As a woman with no education, it struck her as inevitable that her fate should be intimately linked to that of a man.”
“Everything she achieved was doomed to disappear, to be erased. That was the fate of all small, domestic lives, she thought, where endless repetition of the same tasks ended up eating away the soul.”
“…even chance was on the side of men, the side of power, the side of injustice.”
I liked the exploration of how what looks like freedom and emancipation from one perspective can still oppress and exclude others - whether the French view of their ‘civilizing mission,’ or the very male-dominated nationalist project. I’ve seen some criticism of Slimani’s writing here as orientalist. Certainly there are many descriptions of local Moroccans as dirty or ‘stupid,’ but she seemed to me to be voicing the perspectives of the characters. And to suggest (as I saw in one article) that a female Moroccan writer is orientalist for writing about Moroccan male characters who are violent towards women seems problematic to me. Certainly although she depicts physical violence in Mathilda’s marriage, she also depicts a complicated and nuanced marriage. The novel didn’t hang together perfectly (and the translation was a little flat), but I enjoyed it and would read the next one.
“Selma would have given anything for a locked door, a place where she could keep her dreams and secrets. She prayed that fate would smile on her and that one day she could escape to Casablanca and reinvent herself. Like the men in the street shouting ‘Freedom! Independence!’ she shouted the same words, but nobody heard her.”
“As a teenager, it had never occurred to Mathilde that it was possible to be free on her own. As a woman with no education, it struck her as inevitable that her fate should be intimately linked to that of a man.”
“Everything she achieved was doomed to disappear, to be erased. That was the fate of all small, domestic lives, she thought, where endless repetition of the same tasks ended up eating away the soul.”
“…even chance was on the side of men, the side of power, the side of injustice.”
September 30, 2022
"O País dos Outros" venceu o Prémio Madame Figaro e é o primeiro volume de uma trilogia, escrita pela franco-marroquina Leïla Slimani, que já reconheceu tratar-se de um retrato da sua própria família – a história de Mathilde e Amine é a história dos seus avós.
A história da trilogia, centra-se numa saga familiar que se inicia neste primeiro livro com Mathilde, nascida e criada em Mulhouse, na francesa Alsácia e Amine, nascido e criado em Meknès, Marrocos, soldado do exército colonial francês na Segunda Guerra Mundial. Com o fim da guerra e já depois de casados, Mathilde deixa a sua terra natal para viver na quinta que Amine herdou do seu pai, nos arredores de Meknès." O progresso lento da agricultura nessa quinta rochosa, a distância entre os sonhos grandiosos do casal e a dura realidade que o terreno quase estéril lhes impõe, condiciona constantemente as suas vidas. A versão idílica do marido depressa é contrariada pela realidade e Mathilde, que é uma mulher jovem, alegre, faladora, inteligente e independente, vê-se completamente isolada e limitada às tarefas domésticas e maternais, sentindo constantemente que o marido não a compreende e que os seus sonhos ficaram estagnados.
Excelente retrato histórico da pré-independência de Marrocos, que viveu uma situação de grande instabilidade provocada pelo movimento independentista, que se iniciou na década de 30 e se intensificou com o final da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Este conflito, assim como as diferenças religiosas e culturais, o racismo e os efeitos do colonialismo estão presentes ao longo de toda a história. "O País dos Outros" mostra-nos um país que deveria pertencer aos marroquinos, mas que há 70 anos atrás era dominado pelos colonizadores franceses. Omar, o irmão de Amine, representa todos aqueles que não se conformavam com a opressão francesa.
Gostei muito que Leïla Slimani nos mostrasse o ponto de vista das diferentes personagens, percebendo-se, que existe uma ligação a todas elas. Podia ter-se cingido às dificuldades de adaptação de Mathilde ao novo país e à nova realidade cultural, mas também conseguimos perceber a lado do marido que enfrenta uma complicada luta interior entre a fidelidade aos padrões culturais que defendem o domínio do homem sobre as mulheres e o respeito que Mathilde lhe suscita. Encontramos uma constante luta interna entre liberdade individual e os hábitos arcaicos, que valorizam a submissão da mulher.
Slimani não tem medo de pôr o dedo na ferida, de ser desconfortável e isso é uma mais valia na sua escrita. Destaco também a qualidade da tradução de Tânia Ganho. Espero ansiosamente pela continuação!
A história da trilogia, centra-se numa saga familiar que se inicia neste primeiro livro com Mathilde, nascida e criada em Mulhouse, na francesa Alsácia e Amine, nascido e criado em Meknès, Marrocos, soldado do exército colonial francês na Segunda Guerra Mundial. Com o fim da guerra e já depois de casados, Mathilde deixa a sua terra natal para viver na quinta que Amine herdou do seu pai, nos arredores de Meknès." O progresso lento da agricultura nessa quinta rochosa, a distância entre os sonhos grandiosos do casal e a dura realidade que o terreno quase estéril lhes impõe, condiciona constantemente as suas vidas. A versão idílica do marido depressa é contrariada pela realidade e Mathilde, que é uma mulher jovem, alegre, faladora, inteligente e independente, vê-se completamente isolada e limitada às tarefas domésticas e maternais, sentindo constantemente que o marido não a compreende e que os seus sonhos ficaram estagnados.
Excelente retrato histórico da pré-independência de Marrocos, que viveu uma situação de grande instabilidade provocada pelo movimento independentista, que se iniciou na década de 30 e se intensificou com o final da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Este conflito, assim como as diferenças religiosas e culturais, o racismo e os efeitos do colonialismo estão presentes ao longo de toda a história. "O País dos Outros" mostra-nos um país que deveria pertencer aos marroquinos, mas que há 70 anos atrás era dominado pelos colonizadores franceses. Omar, o irmão de Amine, representa todos aqueles que não se conformavam com a opressão francesa.
Gostei muito que Leïla Slimani nos mostrasse o ponto de vista das diferentes personagens, percebendo-se, que existe uma ligação a todas elas. Podia ter-se cingido às dificuldades de adaptação de Mathilde ao novo país e à nova realidade cultural, mas também conseguimos perceber a lado do marido que enfrenta uma complicada luta interior entre a fidelidade aos padrões culturais que defendem o domínio do homem sobre as mulheres e o respeito que Mathilde lhe suscita. Encontramos uma constante luta interna entre liberdade individual e os hábitos arcaicos, que valorizam a submissão da mulher.
Slimani não tem medo de pôr o dedo na ferida, de ser desconfortável e isso é uma mais valia na sua escrita. Destaco também a qualidade da tradução de Tânia Ganho. Espero ansiosamente pela continuação!
June 27, 2024
Leila Slimani não desilude!
Sabia que Marrocos tinha sido uma colónia francesa! A partir daí já não sabia mais nada.
Numa escrita envolvente, somos transportados para os locais da acção e ficamos presos nestas personagens! Torcemos por elas, rimos e choramos!
Uma das personagens que adorei foi, para além da Mathilde ( personagem principal), a presença da mãe. O jogo entre o antigo e o moderno, a submissão e a esperança!
Gostei imenso e estou curiosa com o volume 2
Sabia que Marrocos tinha sido uma colónia francesa! A partir daí já não sabia mais nada.
Numa escrita envolvente, somos transportados para os locais da acção e ficamos presos nestas personagens! Torcemos por elas, rimos e choramos!
Uma das personagens que adorei foi, para além da Mathilde ( personagem principal), a presença da mãe. O jogo entre o antigo e o moderno, a submissão e a esperança!
Gostei imenso e estou curiosa com o volume 2
March 20, 2022
Nepatiko ir gal daugiau neskaitysiu Slimani, bent jau šitos autobiografinės trilogijos. Čia ji pasakoja apie prancūzę (vikipedijoj pasiskaitom, kad čia pačios Slimani močiutė), įsimylėjusią marokietį kareivį ir grįžusi į Maroką su juo gyventi. Nu ir - kultūrų skirtumai, vyrai muša moteris, Maroke karšta, jiems gimsta vaikai, prancūzė tampa Daktare Kvin, Marokas siekia nepriklausomybės. Vat, nebūtina skaityti 300 psl.
Skaitydama galvojau apie: 1) Enard'o Vagių gatvę, kažkaip, nors ir europocentristinis, anas romanas buvo nepalyginti gyvesnis - gal visa ta brandos romano kelionė? 2) Camus. Aišku, paralelė su Camus visiškai formaliai biografinė, tiesiog abu yra kolonijoj užaugę kolonisto kraujo vaikai-intelektualai. Bet va skaitant Camus kolonializmo klausimas nekyla (arba nepamenu, arba gal jis jį išsigvildenęs), o su Slimani negalėjau jo nusikratyti: kodėl ta šeimos istorija, tas kolonializmo "demaskavimas" ir savotiška keliaguba tapatybė taip traukia ar gal tiesiog atrodo taip "perkama". Ar ta kelių kartų saga turėtų būti įdomi dėl kultūrų clasho? Ar ji turėtų būt įdomi dėl "iš kur aš atsiradau" aspekto? Vat apie kultūrų clashą, nors iš savo ribotos perspektyvos, Enard'as geriau parašė. O iš kur aš atsiradau... ok, gal aš per daug negatyvi, bet šiuo metu, karo kontekste, tie "iš kur aš atsiradau" atrodo tokia, na, nereikalingybė.
SPOILER: KAI KNYGOS ANOTACIJOJ KLAUSIA, KAIP IŠSAUGOTI MEILĘ KITŲ ŠALYJE, TAI KNYGOJ APIE TAI NERAŠO.
Skaitydama galvojau apie: 1) Enard'o Vagių gatvę, kažkaip, nors ir europocentristinis, anas romanas buvo nepalyginti gyvesnis - gal visa ta brandos romano kelionė? 2) Camus. Aišku, paralelė su Camus visiškai formaliai biografinė, tiesiog abu yra kolonijoj užaugę kolonisto kraujo vaikai-intelektualai. Bet va skaitant Camus kolonializmo klausimas nekyla (arba nepamenu, arba gal jis jį išsigvildenęs), o su Slimani negalėjau jo nusikratyti: kodėl ta šeimos istorija, tas kolonializmo "demaskavimas" ir savotiška keliaguba tapatybė taip traukia ar gal tiesiog atrodo taip "perkama". Ar ta kelių kartų saga turėtų būti įdomi dėl kultūrų clasho? Ar ji turėtų būt įdomi dėl "iš kur aš atsiradau" aspekto? Vat apie kultūrų clashą, nors iš savo ribotos perspektyvos, Enard'as geriau parašė. O iš kur aš atsiradau... ok, gal aš per daug negatyvi, bet šiuo metu, karo kontekste, tie "iš kur aš atsiradau" atrodo tokia, na, nereikalingybė.
SPOILER: KAI KNYGOS ANOTACIJOJ KLAUSIA, KAIP IŠSAUGOTI MEILĘ KITŲ ŠALYJE, TAI KNYGOJ APIE TAI NERAŠO.
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