Bøker av Alice Zeniter

Across three generations, three wars, two continents, and the mythic waters of the Mediterranean, one family's history leads to an inevitable question: What price do our descendants pay for the choices that we make? Naïma knows Algeria only by the artifacts she encounters in her grandparents' tiny apartment in Normandy: the language her grandmother speaks but Naïma can't understand, the food her grandmother cooks, and the precious things her grandmother carried when they fled. Naïma's father claims to remember nothing; he has made himself French. Her grandfather died before he could tell her his side of the story. But now Naïma will travel to Algeria to see for herself what was left behind-including their secrets. The Algerian War for Independence sent Naïma's grandfather on a journey of his own, from wealthy olive grove owner and respected veteran of the First World War, to refugee spurned as a harki by his fellow Algerians in the transit camps of southern France, to immigrant barely scratching out a living in the north. The long battle against colonial rule broke apart communities, opened deep rifts within families, and saw the whims of those in even temporary power instantly overturn the lives of ordinary people. Where does Naïma's family fit into this history? How do they fit into France's future?Alice Zeniter's The Art of Losing is a powerful, moving family novel that spans three generations across seventy years and two shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a resonant people's history of Algeria and its diaspora. It is a story of how we carry on in the face of loss: loss of country, identity, language, connection. Most of all, it is an immersive, riveting excavation of the inescapable legacies of colonialism, immigration, family, and war.

Naïma arbeider på et fint galleri i Paris og lever stort sett et spennende liv. En dag ber sjefen hennes henne om å reise til Algérie. Plutselig går det opp for henne hvor lite hun vet om familiens historie og landet de en gang forlot. Det har aldri vært noe annet enn et bakgrunnsteppe uten betydning.Bestfar Ali var fjellbonde i Algerie, og ble tvunget ut av landet da franskmennene tapte krigen. Slik var det for mange algeriere, som hadde samarbeidet med okkupantene. De ble kalt harkier.I Frankrike ble de satt i leire, før de befolket de nybygde drabantbyene og måtte ta til takke med de dårligste jobbene. Tre generasjoner senere er alt endret, men hvordan skal man kunne forstå sin egen historie når ingenting er blitt fortalt.Alice Zeniter har skrevet en kraftfull og modig fortelling som er mer aktuell enn noen gang. Den handler om å være fengslet av sin fortid. Men også om friheten til å være seg selv, utover både sosiale og private stengsler.

A powerful and moving family story about history, immigration and identity, spanning three generations and some seventy years across the two shores of the Mediterranean Sea.