A review by chrilaura
Regardez-nous danser by Leïla Slimani

informative reflective fast-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

4.75

Although I don't feel I have a good enough grasp on French to comment on the quality of her writing, Slimani's books are always engaging page-turners for me. (This book is no exception.) In the second book of Slimani’s "Pays des Autres" series, her protagonists have multiplied. Whereas (to me) the first book offered an in-depth character study of Mathilde and Amine set against the backdrop of Moroccan history, this novel seems to do the opposite. Regardez-Nous Danser brings history to the forefront, and, at times, I had the impression that the protagonists’ main purpose was to animate and illustrate the many faces of post-colonial Morocco. This is not really a complaint as Slimani does this wonderfully and I appreciated learning about Moroccan history through personal stories.

 

This instalment of the “Pays des Autres” series continues to engage with the rich ambiguity of its title, showing (some of the many) competing interpretations of who the country might belong to now – hippies, royalists, intellectuals, Europeans, revolutionaries, etc. On a more personal scale, the novel also examines the different ways in which its protagonists feel ‘other’ in their own countries, families, and homes. Their storylines develop in ways that (as always) allow Slimani to play with themes of identity, class, and gender, and raise the question of what it really means to have freedom and power.