Reviews

In the Country of Others by Leïla Slimani

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gsilveira's review against another edition

5.0

Muito bom! Uma história no pós 2ª guerra que relata de forma muito interessante o choque cultural entre França e Marrocos. Algumas vezes um pouco duro e cru. Vale a pena ler.

ihyuca's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

silene312's review against another edition

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3.0

In the Country of Others is a novel based on author Leila Slimani's own family history, telling the story of Mathilde, a French woman who marries Amine, a Moroccan soldier she meets during the war. When she moves with him to the Moroccan countryside, it becomes clear that wartime romance has given way to the reality of being a foreigner in a land that Mathilde can't quite make her own.

There were many things I liked about the writing in this book, and some passages were gripping, but overall, I didn't enjoy it as much as I had expected to. Perhaps it is my inability to get past my modern upbringing and life, but I couldn't relate to Mathilde or understand her choices at all. While she is young at the beginning of the novel, she does little to grow or mature throughout. Amine is an angry, violent person--and while the novel hints at why, again, he is stuck in his ways. Other characters flit in and out of the book--having major events happen to them, but not staying around to give you a sense of who they are or what will become of them. I think part of the issue is the constantly changing focus in narrator--while I enjoy that style, in this case it felt like we didn't stay with some of the characters to understand their stories or connections to each other. (In one case, there is a major plot development involving Mathilde and her sister-in-law....and even upon rereading, I couldn't figure out how or why Mathilde was implicated in this event.).

I would recommend this if you are interested in reading a post WWII historical novel set somewhere other than Europe--that was interesting. This is apparently the start of a trilogy, so my hope is that some of the issues I had with dangling "threads" are resolved in the next books.

jacqueline55a81's review

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adventurous dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

fiatlux82's review against another edition

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2.0

Tropey, orientalist, and repeats tired, problematic colonial stereotypes. Quite sad that a novel like this would be so highly regarded and that so many have not pointed out the (to me) obvious issues with her book