Reviews with content warning for Death - The Art of Losing

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter

7 reviews

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Art of Losing follows three generations of a family from 1940s Algeria through France today. Zeniter’s writing is beautiful, though it feels like she’s trying too hard at times.

I loved the historical pieces depicting Ali as a powerful olive farmer in the period preceding the war for independence. This is a Kabyle community - a large Berber minority ethnic group with its own language and culture that I knew nothing about before reading this novel. As the war finds their small, remote community, Ali is forced to make a choice, which results in the family being forced to flee to France. The majority of the book seemed to focus on Ali’s son Hamid and his experiences growing up in France. This is where the book really shines. It’s a powerful depiction of the lives of immigrant families and communities, the hatred they face, the in-between-ness that children especially feel. Eventually the narrative shifts to Hamid’s daughter Naïma, who feels adrift in life, working at an art gallery in Paris and unaware of the specifics of her family’s history or why they fled Algeria.

I found the first two generations far more interesting than the third, but the story certainly benefits from seeing the impact of colonization, war, and immigration on another generation. (It should be said that Zeniter herself went to Algeria as an adult to find out more about her family, just as Naima does in the novel.) This book was a hit in France, winning two major awards, which I find fascinating as France still has an extremely fraught relationship with Algeria 👀

Ultimately an important story that I’m glad I read, especially prior to my trip to Algeria. While there, it was very clear that the emphasis is on the revolution and the glorification of those who fought to free the country from French colonization. What I appreciated about The Art of Losing is that it opens up history to be much longer than that and complicates the narrative of the war. No one is glamorous or righteous. People are complicated and, when forced to make decisions, are just trying to protect their families.

One pet peeve: the origin of the title was way too *hit you over the head.* I loved the title before we came to this part near the end of the book. As a reader I want to be trusted more to understand it on my own.

Content Warnings

rieviolet's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective 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? Yes

4.0

I actually enjoyed the book much more than I had expected going into it. I really liked the first section set in Algeria and I got to experience a place and time that I'm not at all familiar with.
I found the second and third sections less compelling (maybe because they veer towards a more "literary ficton-y" style that is not entirely my cup of tea) but I still appreciated a lot the nuanced reflections on the immigrant experience and the connected themes of assimilation, integration, and self-identity.

Overall I liked the writing style, but at times it was a bit too much convoluted and there were some more experimental bits that I did not particularly care for.
In the first section, there are some episodes that are already quite gruesome as it is, where I felt like the very specific details were added a bit unnecessarily, sort of like throwaway specifications just for shock value. I could also have done without a very explicit circumcision scene.

Content Warnings

lynaach's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

serendipitysbooks's review

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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.

Content Warnings

mephistofelix's review against another edition

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informative reflective tense 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? Yes

5.0

vraiment un très bon livre, j’ai appris plein de choses sur la guerre d’indépendance de l’Algérie et les conséquences sur les gens que ça a touchés.

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the_literarylinguist's review against another edition

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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

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astridrv's review against another edition

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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.

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