Yamina Taleb is approaching her seventieth birthday.Alternating fragments from Yamina's Algerian past with those of her Paris present,Discretion spans the history of colonial conflict from the Second World War to the present day. A tribute to mothers everywhere,it is also the story of a modern French family feeling their way through the puzzle of their history - and finding one another as they go along.
MEDIA REVIEWS
Publisher: Saqi BooksISBN: 9780863569760Weight: 250 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 20 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Faiza Guene is an important voice in French literature,rebelliously dissecting ideas of home,identity and belonging with a universally accessible intimacy and power.'"Haunting .. Clear-eyed but tender,every page is filled with insight. ""Guene is a masterful storyteller who can say so much in just a few sentences"'It's not an exaggeration to suggest that Guéne is doing for the people,especially the youth,of the banlieu what James Kelman and Agnes Owens have done for the deprived of Glasgow's housing schemes: that is,give a voice to those who have been excluded from literature...Guéne is very evidently a natural novelist,a young writer of real talent''She writes her novel like one might narrate a film,with a poetic prose that reveals detailed glimpses into the generations of the Taleb family,hardened and shaped by war,immigration and racism.''This is a rich novel,full of insight into cultural tropes,racial prejudice,consumerism,shameful colonial history but also infused with sheer human warmth and humour. It is a tightrope walk that Faza Guène carries off with grace.''Guène has a fine eye for the contradictions,agonies and delights of life at the intersection of Algeria,contemporary Paris,and its banlieue. Discretion...takes in dispossession,belonging,memory and the intergenerational conflict over silence and discretion in the face of pain or injustice. A short bitter-sweet read with a light touch,Guène captures many of the tensions that tug at second-generation immigrant families in France today with honesty,humour and warmth.''One of the hottest literary talents of multicultural Europe.''Guène is too important a writer to dismiss...she deserves to be heard.'
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