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by Laila Lalami

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  • ISBN: 1565124944
  • Category: Fiction
  • Author: Laila Lalami
  • Subcategory: Genre Fiction
  • Other formats: docx lrf mobi rtf
  • Language: English
  • Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1 edition (April 21, 2009)
  • Pages: 291 pages
  • FB2 size: 1446 kb
  • EPUB size: 1244 kb
  • Rating: 4.9
  • Votes: 643
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SECRET SON A NOVEL Laila Lalami Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill Published by ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL Post Office Box 2225 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225.

SECRET SON A NOVEL Laila Lalami Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill Published by ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL Post Office Box 2225 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. Published by. Post Office Box 2225. Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225.

Conditional Citizens. Secret Son. Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits.

Laila Lalami describes all her characters y so: They spring from the page. Readers can see many of them vividly, and empathize with the problems that shape their behavior, even while sometimes feeling irritation. The construction of this novel is deft. Reminiscent of Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth in its depiction of the enduring effects of family secrets and betrayals, The Other Americans also addresses a multitude of other issues-immigration, prejudice, post-traumatic stress, love and murder-with what can only be described as magical finesse.

FREE shipping on qualifying offers. Raised by his mother in a one-room house in the slums of Casablanca, Youssef El Mekki has always had big dreams of living another life in another world. Suddenly his dreams are within reach when he discovers that his father-whom he’d been led to believe was dead-is very much alive. A wealthy businessman.

Laila Lalami (Arabic: ليلى العلمي‎, born 1968) is a Moroccan-American novelist, essayist, and professor. Lalami's second book, the novel Secret Son (2009), is a coming-of-age story set in the slums of Casablanca

Laila Lalami (Arabic: ليلى العلمي‎, born 1968) is a Moroccan-American novelist, essayist, and professor. After earning her Licence ès Lettres degree in Morocco, she received a fellowship to study in the United Kingdom (UK), where she earned an MA in linguistics. Lalami's second book, the novel Secret Son (2009), is a coming-of-age story set in the slums of Casablanca. A young college student named Youssef El Mekki discovers that his father-whom he'd been led to believe was a high school teacher, and dead for many years-is in fact a businessman and lives across town.

Laila Lalami writes lovely, clear and elegant prose, and her story is very well-balanced

Laila Lalami writes lovely, clear and elegant prose, and her story is very well-balanced. Plenty to hold the interest without there ever being too much to keep track of, and everything that is there is needed to make the story complete. She evokes both the poor and the wealthy streets of Casablanca simply but very, very effectively.

Illustration by Jillian Tamaki. What books are on your nightstand? Milkman, by Anna Burns, an intelligent and thoroughly engrossing novel about a girl who’s forced into a relationship with a powerful man. The author, most recently, of the novel The Other Americans first read Zora Neale Hurston five years ago: I was knocked out by her eye for detail. It’s told in a ess style that’s both rich and darkly funny.

English (UK) · Русский · Українська · Suomi · Español. Growing up in Rabat, Morocco, author Laila Lalami loved Adventures of Tintin comic books and identified with Tintin, a young reporter who solves crimes. 31 July at 14:59 ·. Thanks to everyone who came to the . Times Book Club event! I had a great time talking with Lorraine Ali on stage and meeting so many smart readers.

Laila Lalami’s rich, polyphonic fourth novel The Other Americans, her first to be set in the present-day US, centres on the hit-and-run killing of Driss, a Moroccan grandfather and restaurant owner who, as a philosophy student in the early 80s, fled a crackdown on anti-royal dissent i. .

Laila Lalami’s rich, polyphonic fourth novel The Other Americans, her first to be set in the present-day US, centres on the hit-and-run killing of Driss, a Moroccan grandfather and restaurant owner who, as a philosophy student in the early 80s, fled a crackdown on anti-royal dissent in Casablanca to settle with his wife in California

Raised by his mother in a one-room house in the slums of Casablanca, Youssef El Mekki has always had big dreams of living another life in another world. Suddenly his dreams are within reach when he discovers that his father—whom he’d been led to believe was dead—is very much alive. A wealthy businessman, he seems eager to give his son a new start. Youssef leaves his mother behind to live a life of luxury, until a reversal of fortune sends him back to the streets and his childhood friends. Trapped once again by his class and painfully aware of the limitations of his prospects, he becomes easy prey for a fringe Islamic group.In the spirit of The Inheritance of Loss and The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Laila Lalami’s debut novel looks at the struggle for identity, the need for love and family, and the desperation that grips ordinary lives in a world divided by class, politics, and religion.
Reviews about Secret Son (7):
Kajishakar
This is a tale that, in other variations, could happen in any inner city slum. This is the story of Youssef, who lives in a slum in Casablanca with his "widowed" mother. The story is told against a background of hopelessness in a country where a good education is free--but amounts to nothing when there are no jobs. And all around are the deadly traps of crime and becoming radicalized as a pawn of political factions including radical Muslims, socialist-communists and the government snitches.

Youssef is the son of a hospital worker. She is an orphan and a widow, or...is she? The neighbors shun her--even in a slum, there are social distinctions. She raises her son the best she can but he eventually ferrets out her secret, actually secrets. This book has layers of them and they are slow to be unveiled, which is one of the pleasures of this novel. The surprises are laid out along the path Youssef takes to his eventual fate at the end of the novel and each one is a shock, and yet, sometimes, it's not a shock but an "of course."

The interesting part of this book is how the actions of the two mothers have such unintended consequences. All along, Youssef's mother Rachida struggles to keep him safe, safe from knowledge of his past, safe from his rich connections,and perhaps selfishly, safe from changing his fate as the son of a poor mother in a slum and leaving her behind. The outcome is astonishingly bad. Every good intention based on a lie pushes Youssef down a spiral of desperation. Even though Youssef isn't strictly speaking "radicalized" as we'd know it in the press, this novel gives you a good idea of how it can take place with appalling ease, for young people who have poor prospects ahead of them, but a good mind and good upbringing.

The setting is in Lalami's native Morocco, in the largest city, Casablanca. Many Moroccan words in Darjia Arabic are used and they are difficult to look up--sometimes the translation of the word is in French. Though the words give great local flavor to the wonderful prose, they are stumbling blocks as they are sometimes not easy to understand what is meant. I wish the author had not used some of them, or had woven in more of their meaning. This is a small criticism--I loved this book so much, I'm re-reading it and want to read more of this author's writing. Five stars, and I couldn't put it down for a second. Really good.
Arcanefire
I have read many, many, novels by Middle Eastern, Asian, East European, authors. I seek them out...What impresses me is that i find myself reading their books with pencil in hand, underlining thoughtful passages...meanings and thoughts that enlighten me and that I could not have put into words. I found none of that in this writing. Aside from the story, it was exceptionally ordinary writing ...ordinary thinking in the characters... I was disappointed. Cannot recommend to friends...not a keeper .
Viashal
"Secret Son" is the story of one young Moroccan's struggle for self identity in the midst of a society that is undergoing economic, political and cultural changes, albeit changes that are not enough to keep up with the country's population growth and aspirations. It could easily be the story of similar individuals in any number of developing countries, and in fact, echoes one such tale in the memorable recent Egyptian novel, "The Yacoubian Building."

As poignant and uncomfortable as Youssef El Mekki's story in "Secret Son" is, it is an engaging one, beautifully told by Moroccan writer Laila Lalami. Lalami knows her country and its modern society well and has created wonderful characters in Youssef, his mother, Rachida, Youssef's friends Amin and Maati, and the Amrani family members.

A wonderful cautionary tale that makes a great read. Highly recommended.
Yar
Lalami's book is in many ways an exposition upon Shakespeare's famous "All the world's a stage" monologue from William Shakespeare's As You Like It
"All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages."
Her characters play out their individual roles with no understanding of the playwright's overall plot - leading as often to tragedy, but tragedy by circumstance rather than by intent. A wonderful read - I highly recommend it.
Halloween
I surprisingly liked this book. It's not my normal genre. I had to read it for school (English major). I liked learning about an entirely different culture, one that often gets a lot of negative criticism, through a great piece of literature. It was well written and entertaining.
Malara
This is a complex story with layers and layers of intrigue, familial betrayal, and political corruption. The characters captured my interest, even throughout their changes in station, and held it until the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the depiction of life in Casablanca, not only in the wealthy circles but in the lowest of ghettos, as well.
Clandratha
This novel sweeps the reader along on a fast-paced journey that examines the lives of mother, son, father, friends, and various other characters in contemporary Morocco. Everyone and every thing, it seems, is flawed in one way or another. The mother, thinking her lies are protecting her bastard son, sets him on a path of self-destruction. The son, yearning to escape abject poverty, is willing to desert family and friends for the comfort and ease of the good life, forsaking the spiritual for the material. The recently-discovered absentee father thinks that doing the "right thing" means bending the world and everyone in it to his will--and ends up driving away all those close to him.

This book is a page-turning tragedy of larger proportions. It examines by proxy the corruption of government, helplessness of the lower class, and the futility of trying to escape the vicious circle of poverty and corruption.

Author Lalami is a wonderful storyteller whose prose is as much factual social commentary as it is fiction. Once you start, you won't be able to rest until you reach the startling conclusion.
Modern day story about Morroco told from the point of view of a young man who had the misfortune of being born poor with little hope for his future. Fate plays many tricks on his young life and he will pay the ultimate price.

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