aixcentric

Sometimes the best guide through history’s complications is a well-researched piece of fiction, and this is certainly the case with ‘The Art of Losing’ by Alice Zeniter, a novel which follows a family uprooted from 50s Algeria to an unwelcoming new life in France.

Spanning three generations across 70 years, the novel tells the story of colonisation and immigration, and how people adjust to loss.  In it, grandaughter Naima goes to Algeria herself to understand why her grandfather Ali went from being a wealthy landowner to being an immigrant factory-worker in a French sink estate.

It won the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens and the Prix Littéraire du Monde, and has just come out in English (hard back).  ‘A startling exploration of the unspoken histories of the Algerian war’, Le Monde. 

I found it riveting and it helped me understand more of this complex period.  On a local note, Ali’s journey takes him through the south of France as he and his family are billeted at Jouques.  Recommended.