Author
Alice Zeniter
Back Cover
Naïma has always known that her family came from Algeria, but beyond that her family remained relatively silent. Born and raised in France along with her three other sisters, Algeria was a foreign country associated with her grandparents’ tiny apartment and the food prepared by her grandmother. Questions on why and how her family came to France were never fully and openly discussed. The story spans three generations across seventy years and provides the perspective of her grandfather and father as each member of the family copes with the lived reality and traumatic experiences they have lived. The book speaks of the art of losing throughout as each character faces the loss of a country, home, identity, customs and so much more. Discussions on colonization and immigration are the heartbeat of the novel and how everyone’s identity is truly the product of all the things we’ve left behind or artfully lost.
Our Thoughts
The Art of Losing Review | I read this in French, but it is also available in English. While it may seem daunting to take on such a long novel 512 pages for the French edition and 448 pages for the English, I can’t recommend this book enough. I almost felt like I read three stories as the narrative shifted between sections from one generation to the next. I slightly preferred the first section with the grandfather Ali because I learned so much more about the complicated history between France and Algeria.
The title really encapsulates the core theme of the book with loss and silence being extremely prevalent throughout. I had never read the poem « One Art » by Elizabeth Bishop which inspired the title and appears towards the end of the novel. Wow! An incredibly powerful poem placed extremely well within an equally moving text brought me to a stop. I read the passage in French before searching for the English version and sitting with it for a few minutes. It begins with the line « The art of losing isn’t hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. » Loss can be forgotten or clung on to and appears sometimes in small ways or leaves large gaping holes. This book focuses on the loss of homes, cities, countries, cultures and identities – how they linger in some ways and are completely lost in others. I don’t want to spoil the book in anyway, but Zeniter eloquently shows the art of losing throughout the story.
I could go on about the incredible detail, the emotions that bubble up, the eloquent side plots and the heartbreaking realization of how hard life can be. This is an incredible piece of literature that is wonderfully written. It’s easily one of my favorites so far this year!
Genre:
Fiction, Inter-generational
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