A review by frasersimons
The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter

5.0

This was a perfect read for me. It is great with its information design, characterization, premise, description, overall prose, and how it handles time--everything about it was catnip to me. I imagine if you know quite a bit about the Algerian-Franch conflict and fallout the bark in this bite might be tempered, but I really only knew the broad strokes. There's a mystery placed at the heart of the narration which was really engaging to me, and that was Who is the narrator and why is it a duel timeline? Both questions were highly effective and came with some payoff. It doesn't feel like it's trying to provide catharsis, talk down to the reader, or exist to educate. It is really hard to pull off this kind of book, and this makes it look absolutely effortless. A standard to which I will measure books like it and a favorite of the year, hands down.

I did not want it to end and will reread it in the future. I am already anticipating it.