Some Dream for Fools

by Faïza Guène, Jennifer L. Johnson (Translator), Jenna Johnson (Translator)

Ahlème, a young woman living on the outskirts of Paris, is trying to make a life out of the dreams she brought with her from Algeria and the reality she faces every day. Her father lost his job after an accident at his construction site. Her mother was lost to a massacre in Algeria. And her brother, Foued, boils with adolescent energy and teeters dangerously close to choosing a life of crime.
 
As she wanders the streets of Paris looking for work, Ahlème negotiates the disparities between her dreams and her life, her youth and her responsibilities, the expectations of those back home, and the limitations of life in France.
 
With the same laugh-out-loud, razor-sharp humor that made Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow an international hit, Some Dream for Fools shows Faïza Guène’s evolution as a novelist and reminds us of her extraordinary talent as she explores what happens to people when a lid is put on their dreams.

Genres: France, Fiction, Algeria, Coming Of Age, Young Adult, Literary Fiction, French Literature

156 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Faïza Guène is a French writer and director. Born to parents of Algerian origin, she grew up in Pantin, in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris. She attended Collège Jean Jaurès followed by Lycée Marcelin Berthelot in Pantin. She began studies in sociology at Université Paris VIII, in St-Denis, before abandoning them to pursue writing and directing full-time.

Her first novel, "Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow" was published in 2004 when Guène was nineteen years old. The novel has sold over 200,000 copies and been translated into twenty-two different languages, and paved the way for her following work, "Some Dream for Fools" (2006) and "Les gens du Balto" (2008).

Guène has also written for "Respect" magazine since 2005 and directed several short films, including "Rien que des mots" (2004).

Reviews

[Vio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was thinking of 4 to 5 stars. But then I remembered Faiza Guene got this particular book published when she was 22 years of age, so, yes, 5 stars.
I like the easiness she has in her writing. Very, very much.
I wouldn't say she paints tremendously memorable characters, but I like reading her books (this one has been my second).

[Gretel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm quite surprised with the low average rating for this book. I really liked it and found Ahlème to be a convincing narrator. Faïza Guène is a young Parisian author of Algerian descent, and in my opinion this book really shows off her talent and how her writing has evolved from her young-adult novel Just Like Tomorrow. Guène really gives an interesting insight into a multicultural France and what it is like to grow up with an immigrant background. There's no real structure to the novel and the storyline just floats along. I found this to be a benefit, as at times it felt like sitting across from Ahlème and listening to her frustrations about her life, her need to keep her little brother out of trouble and her old memories, missing her mother and the way her dad used to be.

Dreams from the Endz is a novel that which feels very realistic, and I could definitely when reading it find similarities to some particular areas of London.

[Aqsa Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely worth reading! Even though the book has no concrete plot, Guene provides an amazing insight into the lives of immigrants, raising a variety of emotions along the way. In a few pages, the book explores multiculturalism without giving in to popular or romanticised beliefs. Coming from an immigrant herself, it's much more believable. The characters seem real, and their feelings relatable.

P.S. if a plot is the first thing you look for, you might not enjoy it so much. Read it for the experience, not for the story.

[Kirsty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guene has been on my radar for quite some time, so I decided to borrow this from the library when I spotted it nestled between two rather enormous books on the fiction shelves. The cultural details here were fascinating, but it felt rather too colloquial in its style; yes, I get that this was probably the point, but it was out of my comfort zone. Hell, I don't even know what 'man dem' means. (NB. My laptop automatically corrected that to 'man den', which sounds miles better to me. Beards and beer. Mmm.)

Whilst Dreams from the Endz was rather fitting to read in the current political situation, and in the face of the 'migrant crisis', I just didn't think it was very good in either its plot or its telling. Its characters were flat, and I would not read another of Guene's books again on this basis.

[Frank Brondon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meet Ahlème, a young spirited woman who came to France from Algeria after her mother’s death. While Looking after her ill father and her troublemaker younger brother, she invites us with humour in her love life, her friendships and her dreams in a world that insists on reminding people like her that they don’t and will never belong.
Captivating!

[Darshani Workman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story with no real plot but isn't that how life is? A short visit into a migrant's life and her daily trials to merely survive.
A good read.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

This loosely structured novel uses lots of slang, non sequiturs, and some outrageous imagery -- all from the tongue of twenty-something narrator Ahleme -- to illuminate the adaptation of struggling Algerians to their new lives in France. Woven between Ahleme's criticisms of the boys she meets to date, the friends whose spending outpaces her income, and the family she struggles to help adapt to their lives in Paris' outskirts, are subtle reminders of the xenophobia and outright prejudice that confront immigrants in a world still focused on a nebulously defined 'War on Terror.' The heavier aspects of "Some Dream for Fools," however, easily give way to more accessible stories of family loyalty and economic struggle.

In fact, the novel succeeds because it is much more a universal coming of age story than it is an attempt to write a political novel. Ahleme shares a voice with a long literary line of questionably educated but wholly spirited, angst-ridden young adults struggling, as Holden Caufield did in "Cather in the Rye," with the phonies and frauds that can seem the only representatives of an uncaring and insincere adult world.

"Some Dream for Fools" has a freshness to its voice, an easy and enjoyable humor, and an unvarnished sincerity in Ahleme's narration that may not quite elevate the novel to literature, but certainly create an engaging world that is accessible, enjoyable, and eye-opening to those whose existence the reader might otherwise ignore.

[micha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Der zweite Roman der algerischen und in Frankreich lebenden Schriftstellerin Faiza Guène ist - wie ihr Debut - eine Einwanderergeschichte, die kein Blatt vor den Mund nimmt, und die aus der subjektiven Sicht der "Heldin" geschrieben ist. Eine junge Frau, noch ein Mädchen von 17 Jahren, schlägt sich in einer Pariser Beton-Vorstadt durch und kümmert sich um den randalierenden, jüngeren Bruder und den kranken Vater. Die Mutter ist schon tot und liegt in Algerien auf dem Dorffriedhof.

Ahlème, so ihr Name, beschreibt ihren Alltag zwischen Sozialamt, Jobsuche, Kneipentour, erster Liebe und den Besuchen bei Tante Marietou, die ihr mit Rat zur Seite steht und so etwas wie ein Mutterersatz ist. Das alles in klarer, lakonischer Sprache, rotzig und etwas prollig - aber auch liebenswert. Es ist, als würde man in eine fremde Welt eintauchen, die sich direkt vor unserer Nase befindet, aber zu der man keinen Zugang hat. Die Schicksale der Menschen, die so anderen Lebenswege, die Probleme, die sich daraus ergeben (z.B. der "Heimatbegriff") erweitern das Buch über das individuelle Schicksal hinaus.

"Träume für Verrückte", wie es auf deutsch heißt, ist eigentlich kein richtiger Roman. Es sind einzelne Szenen und Ausrisse aus einem Leben, die hier zusammengruppiert werden. Und verschiedene rote Fäden verbinden dann kapitelübergreifend das Geschehen. Aber die Form geht ganz eindeutig dem Inhalt nach: das zerrissene und auch orientierungslose Leben der Protagonistin wird mit einer Prosa dargestellt, die ebenfalls zerrissen ist- wie ein kaputter Spiegel, der ein einheitliches Bild erst herstellen muss. Dieses Bild stellt der Leser her, der die Geschichte(n) liest.

Und wenn Ahlème ganz am Ende dann für einen kurzen Moment nach Algerien kommt und das ganze Dorf anfängt zu tanzen, dann kann man die wärmende Sonne aus Oran beinahe durch die Zeilen des Textes spüren. Es ist ein wunderbares, warmherziges Finale.

[Fadillah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m kind of like a cat. Its as ive already lived several lives. I’m twenty five years old and already feel like i’m forty.
- Ahleme
.
.
The story begins with narration by Ahleme, an Algerian immigrant in France. It has no
concrete plot so if you did choose book based on plot then this book is not for you. It was more on random recollection of Ahleme thoughts , memories and experiences as an immigrant trying to survive in France. The struggle of identity that Ahlame felt as she has been living in France for so long that she practically like french but not necessarily wil be perceived as one by them. At the same time, Algerian identity is so detached from her that she did not remember what’s it like back home and the memories she has with her relatives. No matter how hard she worked, life always come and ambush her with more problems. From taking care of her father whom
she called ‘the boss’, to be alert all the
time about her brother Foued as she was scared that he will do some mistakes and got shipped out of the country, to always feel insecure about her finance when she hanged out with her friends, Nawel and Linda and shifting from one job to another because she needed job that paid well so she can feed her family. Ahleme’s strong point of view really painted out what its like to be an immigrant. I think the reason i can engage with her writing because it has a tone of nihilism. She does not really find that life has many things to offer (especially if you are considered an outsider and constantly fear of being deported back). I loved her relation with Auntie Mariatou (not her real auntie). She’s merely someone from the neighborhood that Ahleme find comfort with and seek guidance whenever life is too hard for her. Overall, I would recommend it if you wanted to explore a brief perspective of an immigrant in France.

[Desca Ang · Rating 3 out of 5]

The review is taken from my IG account: @descanto

Another diasporic writer trying to voice the hardship of a young Algerian immigrant.

Ahlème left Algeria for France with her father and mother following the death of the mother during the massacre. She later becomes French living for more than a decade there. Yet she keeps facing the hardships in pursuing a better life in France. She would have to look after her father who is unable to work after the incident in the construction site. The older brother does not seem aware of their living situation spends most of his time with the local gang. Ah, what a mess!

This is so typical diaspora writer minus the identity crisis but I honestly don't know whether I can refer Guène's as a novel. Once you read it, you can see that even though she tries to portray a life of a 12-yo immigrant, there is no story line and the plot is jumping around. It is to me just a compilation of stories that is stitched into a whole story.

Well, it's still a fun reading because it's a light reading but Jhumpa Lahiri with the complicated life of Gogol is way better than Ahlème's story.

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Description du quotidien banlieusard, froid, dur, violent des "oufs". Des tous ces gens qui galèrent a renouvelé leurs papiers, a trouver du taf, a jongler entre la sénilité de leur daron et le comportement autodestructeur de leur petit reuf. De toutes ces meufs qui tombent que sur des ploucs alors qu'elles rêvent de prince charmant. De débrouillards, de marginaux

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une histoire qui te fait ressentir toutes sortes d'émotions en exprimant une grande critique sociale. Très recommandable.

[amina bnmr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le livre est paru en 2006 et le découvrir en 2024 vient ouvrir une faille spatio temporelle dans mon esprit, me replonge dans une chronique digne d'être savourée sur Facebook après les cours. La go a juste réalisé notre rêve de l'époque à toutes, en écrire une et se faire publier. Bon c'est quand même mieux écrit qu'à l'époque, excepté pour les dialogues qui me ramènent des années en arrière dans la cour de mon collège de ZEP ("tu veux finir au habs????"). Les passages sur l'Algérie m'auraient fait chialer si j'étais en SPM, là ils m'ont juste rendue "? :S ? ^€^#^%€< :'(". J'espère que Foued n'a pas fini en mécanique et qu'il passera pro, inshallah.

[Adriana Davesa melero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Du rêve pour les oufs nous raconte l’histoire d’Ahlème, une fille de 24 ans qui procède de l’Algérie, mais qui habite à Paris depuis la mort de sa mère. Elle a une vie très, très compliquée.
J’ai aimé cette histoire par différentes raisons. Premièrement par l’héroïne, Ahlème, qui est vraiment adorable. Elle est une jeune fille très courageuse qui aime sa famille par-dessus tout. Elle est très spéciale, elle fait des observations de tout. J’ai vue quelques similitudes entre Ahlème et l’héroïne du célèbre film français Amélie. À mon avis, les deux sont toutes bizarres, mais au bon sens. Et deuxièmement par toutes les réflexions qu’on trouve grâce à Tante Mariatou et Ahlème. J’ai beaucoup réfléchi sur ma vie à cause de ce livre.

Cette histoire est très réaliste et crédible. Nous pouvons voir des gens qui passent par les mêmes circonstances qu’Ahlème. Le roman a des sujets sociaux très remarquables comme l’immigration, le sentiment d’être perdu dans l’adolescence, l’intolérance et le racisme.
Les personnages du roman sont très différents entre eux, et j’ai bien aimé cela. Mon personnage préféré est Tante Mariatou. Comme j’ai aimé ses proverbes ! C’est le personnage le plus drôle et le plus mûr. J’ai complètement adoré ses conseils.

La seule chose que je n’ai aimée pas a été la partie de la romance. Cette romance entre Ahlème et Tonislav, je ne l’ai crue pas. C’est trop rapide, elle tombe amoureuse tout à coup, et cela n’est pas crédible.

Le style de l’auteur est génial, parfois comique, parfois touchant. C’est un roman assez facile à lire. La langue et les mots choisis sont corrects. Faïza utilise quelques mots en verlan puisque le vocabulaire utilisé est colloquial, ainsi que de mots arabes.

Pour finir, je mets ma citation préférée : « c’est quand croit trouver l’exception qu’on vit la plus grosse spoliation ».

[Elisa Paris · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Ahlème, quasi francese” è un libro nella media. Questo libro è comparso sulla mia scrivania per una serie fortuita di eventi ed ho deciso di dargli una chance. Ad essere onesta, se avessi visto questa copertina in libreria non mi ci sarei soffermata. Per spezzare una lancia a suo favore, tuttavia, il libro risale al 2008 è capisco che in 16 anni tante cose siano cambiate. Parlando del libro in sé, non so cosa dire in realtà. Non posso dire che il libro mi sia piaciuto particolarmente perché mentirei, l'ho voluto finire perché breve e tutto sommato scorrevole, ma dall'altro lato non posso dire che non mi sia piaciuto. Come dicevo, la scrittura è sicuramente il suo punto forte, è molto scorrevole e permette una buona immedesimazione. La trama in sé però non mi ha fatto impazzire, partendo dal presupposto che non c'è una vera e propria trama. Cioè, il libro è troppo breve per costruircene una attorno e mi è sembrato di seguire la vita della protagonista a spizzichi e bocconi, senza una particolare introspezione o scopo. È chiaro che il punto focale del libro sia stato la condizione degli immigrati in Francia e su quello non ci piove, però non abbiamo abbastanza informazioni sul resto. Per esempio, il viaggio in Algeria era un ottimo modo per approfondire e differenziare la narrazione, ma non è durato più di un capitoletto e quindi si ritorna a punto e a capo. Insomma, consiglio il libro come lettura leggerissima e se non avete voglia di impegnarvi, ma in caso contrario io lascerei perdere.

PS: La valutazione sarebbe 2,5 ⭐️ ma goodreads non collabora.

[Ape · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't a long read, and I was looking for something short to read yesterday, so I just got stuck into this book. I think I preferred it over Just Like Tomorrow, as the main character, Ahleme, is in her twenties, rather than the teenager who was the main character in Just Like Tomorrow. Although characters and characters... I do wonder how much of this is actually autobiographical.

It's set in the ghettos of Paris, with Algerian family, headed up by "the Boss", who hasn't been able to work for the last few years thanks to a nasty knock to the head on a building site; Ahleme, and her teenage brother Foued. Mum died many years ago back in Algeria. Ahleme struggles through life, with money worries, trouble getting work, dealing with her dad, dealing with her brother who is getting kicked out of school and sucked into the gang drug-dealing life of the estates. She never feels completely French, out in this side-world of the estates for immigrants; but at the same time when she goes back to Algeria after 10 years of France, she doesn't feel at home there either. Which is the curse of living abroad - you end up belonging nowhere.

[Katie M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure if this was actually a better novel or just a better translation, but I liked it so much more than Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow. If you don't read both at least read this one; in vague terms it's the Parisian narrative that you never hear about; in specific terms it's the snarky, slangy story of a teenage Algerian immigrant girl living in the Paris projects that was actually WRITTEN by a former teenage (and not even that much former... I think she was 23 when this was published) Algerian immigrant girl living in the Paris projects. Both the author and her protagonist are pretty badass. And the book is short enough that you can knock it out in an afternoon. Just do it.

[Madeleine · Rating 4 out of 5]

First...I keep reading Faiza Guene's books on airplanes and she is far, far too good an author for that. Both her books are beautifully written, funny, ironic, enlightening stories of immigrant lives in Paris. Airplanes are supposed to be for reading fluffy formulaic crap about vampires and/or crime fiction and/or Downton Abbey-like-stuff in book form.

Second, it is awfully interesting to read a book about immigrant stories...as some sort of immigrant. Albeit a very privileged one. (Not feeling the "expat" label. Never have here, that's not how leaving felt, and don't feel like pretending otherwise at the moment.) A first for me, though I have read so many books about immigrant experiences to my country of birth.

[Véronique · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's the second book I read by this author and I really like her style. Faïza Guène is French from Algerian origins and she mixes the French language with some expressions used by the kids of Northern Africa leaving on the outskirts of Paris, where so many of them can't find a job and try to make sense of their lives.
Her book is full of emotion and sensitivity, quite funny at times but also sad. She excels at describing what it's like to grow up with an immigrant background.
Each time I finish one of her books, I want to start another one!

[Ltambar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some Dream for Fools follows similar themes of Guene's first novel, Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow, displacement, poverty, and coming of age. Some Dream of Fools fails to keep the reader's attention because one wonders if they are reading Kiffe Kiffe again. It follows the same predictable pattern, with the exception that the lead character returns to the bled. This books lacks the comedy and entertainment value of Guene's first book.

[Persephone Abbott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt this book had great potential but I wish the writing had been a bit stronger. Mostly I did enjoy the narrative of the main character, but I would have really enjoyed this novel more if the author would have dived a little deeper and shown more complex thoughts in depth. My enthusiasm waned as I read further and stars fell off of the cover, hence the one star.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Touching and funny. Between caring for her bewildered dad and her delinquent brother, Alheme struggles with her Algerian roots and the unwelcoming soil of Ivry near Paris. But a trip 'home' shows her no more a creature of the village, either.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrator uses humor to offset the grinding, unrelenting uncertainty of living as a resident immigrant in France. The characters were "step off the page" real. There isn't much of a plot or character arc. It was engaging for a novel where not a lot happens.

[Jeana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a lot happens in this book about an immigrant family living in France from Algeria, but it's well-written and has a subtle beauty that I liked.

[Nurganym · Rating 4 out of 5]

An immigrant experience prior to Brexit, immigrant crisis of 2015, and challenges of identities in France.

[Noah Oanh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dreams from the Endz is the story of twenty-four-year-old Ahlème, who is spirited, sassy and wise but has more problems than she knows how to deal with. She struggled a lot with her identities - is she an Algerian living in France or would she be able to go back to her home country and living as a French in Algeria. Her father, is permanently disabled after an accident on a building site and her sixteen-year-old brother, Foued, has been permanently excluded from school and seems intent on joining the drug-dealers who share their estate, while she is left to deal with the guilt trips from their family back in Algeria. I learnt a bit more about slang through her story and another perspective of an immigrant living in a foreign country.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Algeria to France to Algeria—present times. Ahleme—a 25-year-old woman had left Algeria with her father and brother after their mother was killed at a wedding. They moved to France, where her father was seriously injured at work. Her teenage brother and his friend’s are driving Ahleme nuts as she tries to raise him. The family returns to visit the old village back in Algeria.
The book is a mixture of comedy and sadness. At times I wondered if this was a short novel or an autobiography. The author may have shared some autobiographical material in the form of another character.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well worth reading. I've seen the narrator described as an Algerian Bridget Jones. Well, maybe if Bridget's father was clinically depressed and disabled, the mother was murdered at a family wedding along with 200 other people, and Bridget had a series of extremely dead-end clerical and waitressing jobs while overseeing her little brother who seems intent on a life of petty criminality. Despite all that, and the problems of translating slang, it's funny. And maybe hopeful.

[Valerie Patkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book delivers how it feels to be an immigrant really well. Based on Ahlème's point of view, her personality has become the strongest point of the whole plot. She made someone who's never been moving to start a life a new country like me know how to struggle.

I love Foued's character too eventhough sometimes, he was too stubborn to listen to her sister, at least knowing his reasons to be involved with the big dogs built a whole new image of him.

[Liz Grauel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m glad I gave this book a try because it was a different style than I’m used to. It is not particularly plot driven, which made it a bit difficult to read at first until I realized that it wasn’t meant to be. It was an interesting look into the world of an immigrant in France in the modern day and was political in its own right. The language was a bit brusk and tone was a bit young for me. Definitely an interesting read and I learned.