serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I first heard about The Art of Losing when it was named on the shortlist for the Dublin Literary Award so I’m especially glad it was shortlisted. It’s got so many elements that appeal to me as a reader I would have hated to have missed it. It’s a multi-generational family story and focusses on themes like colonisation, immigration, racism, knowing and understanding your roots, and of course family. I always appreciate a little novelty in my reading, when a book exposes me to things I didn’t previously know. In this novel that came because these issues were explored in the context of the Algerian-French relationship. It was interesting to note the commonalities as well as the differences when compared to similar stories from America or the United Kingdom. The treatment of harkis (Algerian Muslims who remained loyal to France during Algeria’s fight for independence) particularly caught my attention. The writing and translation were both strong - nothing felt flat or struck me as clunky as I read. The personal family story and the wider political background were well balanced. As a reader I felt I was given enough information to understand the political situation but never felt overburdened by large info dumps. All up an interesting, well-told story - just what I want in my reading life.
Graphic: Violence and Racism
Moderate: Death
the_literarylinguist's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Racism, Islamophobia, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Confinement, and Infidelity
Minor: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mass/school shootings
astridrv's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
An in-depth exploration of one family's story of loss, grief and growth in relation to the war in Algeria. I was really excited about reading this book. It reads easily, it is very informative, and struck a chord at some pages. I am glad to have spent time with these characters, but in the end, I was not overly impressed with the writing or the structure. I would have made different choices in terms of narration - although I get that the occasional presence of a first person narrator may be useful to avoid the obvious parallel between the author and one character, I feel like it would have been more organic to just let it be and the additional voice felt like an interference. The way different time frames were woven into each other also did not feel very strong to me. As for the writing, it is accessible (which is good!) but a bit too simple and direct for me (nothing hidden, no surprises, all the character's layers were right on the surface). I am still grateful for what I learned.
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Violence
Minor: Animal death and Panic attacks/disorders
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