Monday 6 August 2007

Le Gone du Chaâba by Azouz Begag


I picked this one up because I rather like the little boy on the front, and also because someone told me it was her favourite book.

It’s the semi-autobiographical story of Azouz Begag who was the son of Algerian immigrants living in a shanty town, the Chaâba, near Lyon. Set in the sixties, it’s fairly horrifying to read of the conditions they lived in but it’s a fascinating insight into immigrant life and culture. No electricity, a single source of water, very questionable sanitation. The highlight of the week was the arrival of the dustbin lorry – when it emptied its contents there was an opportunity to find treasure.

Azouz worked hard at primary school and succeeded in rising to the top of the class but it brought him into conflict with his friends from the Chaâba. They were all at the bottom and accused him of betraying them by working so hard and becoming French. When he went on to the “big school”, he pretended to be Jewish in an attempt to fit in.

In the meantime his parents had moved, like all the other immigrant families around them, into a flat in town. The book ends with another move imminent, clearly signalling a sequel, which I’d like to find.

It’s written with quite a sense of humour. The French was not too difficult but some of the words were distortions of French used by the immigrants such as l’bomba for la pompe, and tababrisi for tabac à priser, and interspersed with a little Arabic. That did complicate things for a while until I got used to it. Still, it’s worth a read, and at 240 pages it’s fairly rapid.

12 comments:

  1. hi.. I'm studying this book for my A-level and was wondering whether you could help me understand the key events in the novel e.g. the role of the character La Louise, Azouz'z schooling and the incident with the bike... if you could get back to me as soon as possible I would be very grateful. Thankyou X georgia

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  2. Hi Georgia, I'm afraid I'm really not qualified to answer your questions. I read the book about a year ago and only for fun.

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  3. Georgia, you're screwed

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  4. Did you ever get help?

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  5. I'm doing it for a level aswell, get the english copy off amazon cos otherwise theres not much to help you with it

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  6. i like the movie

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  7. There are three sequels, I've only read one of them but I would definately recommend it. It is called 'Béni ou le Paradis Privé...'

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  8. Thank you, latest Anon, I must get hold of a copy. It might be a good idea if I tried reading the first one seriously and answering a few of these questions.

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  9. I too am studying this . The english version is very useful.

    Also try to feel in the spirit of the book. I think when Moussaoui gets expelled & the circumcion are key parts - it is personal opinion though.

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  10. A very good book.

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