Men Don't Cry

Men Don't Cry

Faïza Guène

Faïza Guène

Men Don't Cry invites us into the home of Mourad Chennoun in Nice, where his father spends his days fixing things in the backyard, his mother bemoans the loss of her natal village in Algeria, and the name Dounia is taboo.When his father has a stroke, Mourad is forced to rise above his fear of becoming an overweight bachelor, tied down to home by his mother's cooking, and take steps to bridge the gulf between his family and estranged sister Dounia.This quest takes him to the Paris suburbs where he starts his teaching career, falls into the world of undocumented Algerian toyboys and discovers that Dounia has become a staunch feminist, aspiring politician and fierce assimilationist. Can Mourad adapt to his new, fast-paced Parisian life and uphold his family's values?A poignant coming-of-age story from the widely-acclaimed author of Just Like Tomorrow.
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Discretion

Discretion

Faïza Guène

Faïza Guène

Yamina Taleb is approaching her seventieth birthday. These days, she strives for a quiet life, grateful to the country that hosts her and her adored family. The closest she gets to drama is scooping 'revolutionary' bargains in the form of plastic kitchenware gadgets.But Yamina's children feel differently about life in Paris. They don't always fit in, and it hurts. Omar wonders whether it's too late to change course as he watches the world pass him by from the driver's seat of his Uber. His sisters are tired of having to prove themselves and their allegiance to a place that is at once home, and not. When the Talebs go away together on holiday – not to the motherland, but to a villa-with-pool rental near the Atlantic coast – they come to realise just how strongly family defines our sense of belonging.Moving between Algeria and Paris, Discretion touchingly evokes the realities of a first- and second-generation family as they carve out a future for...
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Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow

Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow

Faïza Guène

Faïza Guène

He thought I'd forged my mom's name on the slip. How stupid is that? On this thing Mom just made a kind of squiggly shape on the page. That jerk didn't even think about what he was saying, didn't even ask himself why her signature might be weird. He's one of those people who think illiteracy is like AIDS. It only exists in Africa.—from Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow"A tale for anyone who has ever lived outside looking in, especially from that alien country called adolescence. A funny, heartfelt story from a wise guy who happens to be a girl. If you've ever fallen in love, if you've ever had your heart broken, this story is your story." — Sandra Cisneros, author of THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREETThe Paradise projects are only a few metro stops from Paris, but here it's a whole different kind of France. Doria's father, the Beard, has headed back to their hometown in Morocco, leaving her and her mom to cope with their mektoub—their destiny—alone....
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Some Dream for Fools

Some Dream for Fools

Faïza Guène

Faïza Guène

A novel of a twentysomething, Algerian-born woman living on the edge in France, from "one of the hottest literary talents of multicultural Europe" (Sunday Telegraph). When Ahlème's mother was killed in a village massacre, she left Algeria for France with her father and brother and never returned. Now, more than a decade later, she is practically French, yet in many ways she remains an outsider. Her dreams for a better life have been displaced by the harsh realities she faces every day. Her father is unable to work after an accident at his construction site. Her brother boils over with adolescent energy and teeters dangerously close to choosing a life of crime. And as a temporary resident, Ahlème could at any moment be sent back to a village and a life that are now more foreign than Paris. In Some Dream for Fools, Faïza Guène explores the disparity between the expectations and limitations of immigrant life in the West...
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