Tag Archives: Algeria

Book review: Inch’Allah dimanche – I love France #84

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I LOVE FRANCE!

I plan to publish this meme every Thursday.

You can share here about any book

or anything cultural you just discovered related to France, Paris, etc.

Please spread the news on Twitter, Facebook, etc !

Feel free to grab my button,

and link your own post through Mister Linky,

at the bottom of this post.

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Inch’Allah dimanche

Inch-Allah-dimanche

 
 Inch’Allah Dimanche
[Sunday God Willing]
By Yamina Benguigui
Pub. Date: 2001
By Albin Michel
ISBN: 978-2226130488
Pages:  157
Genre: Fiction
Source: local College library

This book counts for the following Reading Challenges:

     books-on-france-14   New author challenge

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

new eiffel 4

READ MY ENGLISH REVIEW

For once, I’m going to share my thoughts about this book in French. No panic, though, my English review is available here [LINK JUST ABOVE].

Une fois n’est pas coutume, voici quelques pensées en français.

Désespérant de ne pouvoir acheter de livres électroniques récents en français en ligne, puisque je ne réside plus en France (grâce aux stupides droits internationaux concernant les livres électroniques), je suis allée faire un tour pour voir s’il n’y avait pas par hasard quelques livres autres que les grands classiques français soit que j’ai déjà lus, soit que je peux me procurer en ligne.

La récolte a été plutôt maigre, mais j’ai rapporté Inch’Allah Dimanche de Yamina Benguigui.
C’était une bonne façon de revisiter ma France des années 1970, où les ouvriers algériens eurent enfin le droit de faire venir leurs femmes et leurs enfants.

L’histoire est centrée sur Zouina, jeune Algérienne qui se retrouve à Saint-Quentin, loin de son beau pays et de tout ce qu’elle connaît. Pour mettre le comble à sa solitude, elle connaît à peine son mari, et il la bat. Sa belle-mère n’a que haine et mépris à son égard. Et quand les voisins s’y mettent…

Sans trop dévoiler, je peux dire qu’avec le temps, Zouina apprend à apprivoiser son nouveau pays, à retrouver sa force intérieure et à se faire respecter pour qui elle est.

C’est un  court roman beau et à l’ambiance un peu difficile, qui retrace bien l’atmosphère du temps.
Les personnages sont typiques et bien silhouettés.
J’ai particulièrement apprécié le style ; j’aime ces phrases extrêmement courtes, assez caractéristiques des romans contemporains, qui apportent beaucoup de dynamisme à l’écriture et lui un caractère nerveux, qui convient parfaitement pour cette histoire.

Vous pouvez en savoir plus sur Yamina Benguigui, sur ses romans, ses livres, et sa vie politique sur cette page.

 

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HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK?
ANY GOOD BOOK NOVEL ON EMIGRANTS YOU WOULD RECOMMEND?

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS  IN A COMMENT PLEASE

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Just a reminder :

If you link your own post on France,

please if possible

include the title of the book or topic in your link:

name of your blog (name of the book title or topic):

example : me @ myblog (Camus)

Thanks!

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(2012) #36 review: The Lovers of Algeria

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The Lovers of Algeria

by Anouar BELMALEK

Translated by Joanna Kilmartin

276 pages

Published by Graywolf Press in 2004

THIS BOOK COUNTS FOR THE FOLLOWING READING CHALLENGES

         

   

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

I hesitated reading a book about Algeria, because I know of so many real horror stories that happened there. But trying to follow the Middle East Reading Challenge, I had to dare.

Wow, that was quite a book! Very heart-breaking with beautiful human characters focused on loving, come what may, with in the background yes the all too common horror stories and what’s going on there: terrorism, relationships between white people and natives, government corruption, dealings between Algerian and French governments.

I loved the characters, the relationships between the couple, and between Anna and the child Jallal. The writing is beautiful. I wished my library had more books by this author, but they don’t!

WHAT IS IT ABOUT

A breathless story of love and survival in war-torn Algeria-past and present.
The devil has entered our country, and his footprints are everywhere.

Nine-year-old Jallal is old enough to know that his life in Algeria is precarious at best. Having run away from home, he survives by selling peanuts and single cigarettes on the street. The proposal by the elderly Swiss woman named Anna is shocking and preposterous: go to the mountains with her, as a translator, so she can find her lost lover from decades ago and pray over the graves of their murdered children.

Anna and Jallal’s journey is wrought with danger and unspeakable tragedy. It was under similar circumstances that Anna first met the Arab Nasreddine. Ousted from the traveling circus where she performed as a trapeze artist, she had little choice but to accept Nasreddine’s dangerous offer to live with him in a makeshift tent. But it was here, amid poverty, racism, and terrifyingly random violence, that they fell in love.

A best seller in France, The Lovers of Algeria is an unflinchingly candid story about a country where terrorism and government corruption are commonplace. As Anna and Nasreddine, beaten by time and memory, circle each other in Algeria, Anouar Benmalek shows with heart-wrenching detail that love can endure even the most inhuman conditions. [Goodreads]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anouar Benmalek was born on January 16, 1956 in Casablanca. He is a French-speaking Franco-Algerian writer, poet, and journalist. A mathematician by training, he lives in France, where he teaches at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University Paris-Sud. Described as the “Mediterranean Faulkner ” by a French newspaper (L’Express) and compared to Camus by the prestigious journal Harvard Review, his name has sometimes been cited in the list of writers who could possibly win the Nobel prize of literature.

You can check his impressive list of works here.

His website has trailers, interviews, etc, in French.

REVIEWS BY OTHER BLOGGERS
Goodreads
A book blog of one’s own

HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK YET?
DO YOU FEEL LIKE READING THIS BOOK?
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK ON ALGERIA?
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS  IN A COMMENT PLEASE

Paris in July 2012

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BookBath and Thyme For Tea are doing again “Paris in July” this year.

Here is their presentation:

There will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part of Paris in July – just blog about anything French and you can join in. Some ideas for the month might include:
– Reading a French book – fiction or non-fiction
– Watching a French movie
– Listening to French music
– Cooking French food
– Experiencing French art, architecture or travel (or remembering travel experiences)
– Or anything else French inspired you can think of…
Which is basically the same as my weekly French meme, I love France (see in the right side bar), but only in July.
Anyway, I decided to link my posts there this month.
If you plan to join the fun, click on the image.
And here is the place to link your posts.
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Here are my posts so far:
  1. Review: Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow, by Juliet Grey
  2. 3 great books on Paris.
  3. Dreaming in Provence
  4. Celebrating Bastille Day in Chicago!
  5. My brand new rating system – based on the Eiffel Tower!
  6. Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside (in Dijon, Burgundy)
  7. Guest post on a French woman in the US!
  8. Review: The Lovers of Algeria, by Anouar Benmalek, originally written in French
  9. French wines and vineyards