Laila Lalami

Over at the San Francisco Chronicle, John Freeman reviews Tahar Ben Jelloun’s The Last Friend. ” Readers who come to this novel under the impression that stories from the Muslim world will be prudish or full of allusion are in for a surprise,” Freeman warns. “This is a sexy, racy novel, energized — for a long stretch — by its two protagonists’ frantic search for a girl who doesn’t prefer sodomy to vaginal intercourse. None of their prospects wants to break her hymen.” And in this, the characters of Ali and Mamed are no different than many of the boys in my high school. I could tell you stories that would make you question what you think you know about sexuality in Morocco.

Andie Miller interviews Athol Fugard about Tsotsi for the Mail and Guardian. They discuss the writing of the book, how it was set aside for years, and then revived and edited, the film adaptation, the way in which Fugard writes about black experience, etc. Worth a look.

Over at the Guardian, Brian Whitaker wonders about the bizarre and continuing appeal of “desert sheikh” romance novels:

She is a slender blonde from a western country, with long, flowing hair. He is a mysterious dark-eyed sheikh from the east – and fabulously rich. When their paths cross he is smitten by her beauty, and by fate or trickery she is whisked off to his desert kingdom, with little prospect of escape.

While he declares his undying love for her, she remains unsure about him. In the end, though, he proves his worth by fending off his jealous brothers and other foes. After surviving a few terrorist attacks, robberies, kidnappings and that sort of thing, the couple finally turn their attention to perfumed baths and nights of unbridled passion.

Excuse me while I go barf.

The Center Against Racism based in Haifa released results of a recent survey, which found that:

68 percent of Israeli Jews surveyed were unwilling to live next to an Arab neighbor, compared with 26 percent who said that they would agree. Forty-six percent of respondents also said that they would refuse to allow an Arab to visit their home although 50 percent said that they had no such qualms.

In this context, it’s not hard to imagine why poor Amir Peretz doesn’t stand a chance in Tuesday’s election.

Related: Moroccans Pulling for Native Son in Israel.

U.S Government: Do you want American funding for your local media?
Morocco: No, thanks.

An essay of mine appears in The May Queen, an anthology by thirty-something women reflecting on life, work, and “pulling it together.” The essays are written by a diverse group of women, including Samina Ali, Jennifer Weiner, Meghan Daum, Tanya Donelly, Heather Jurgensen and Erin Ergenbright.

The May Queen was recently reviewed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Check it out.

Although I keep a close eye on literary news, I had no idea that Leila Abouzeid had a new book out in the United States. Released in January, the book is a collection of stories, titled The Director. Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

The stories in this volume deal with issues both traditional and modern-relations between parents and children, between husbands and wives, and between citizens of newly independent Morocco and its new nationalist representative government.

Independence from French colonial rule has brought many changes to Morocco–some more beneficial than others. Women have entered the work force in great numbers, a development which has brought them new freedoms, but which has also caused problems within the traditional family. Abouzeid shows us how these changes have affected ordinary men and women, how small everyday events loom large in individual lives.

If you are new to Abouzeid’s work, you may want to start with Year of The Elephant (‘am al-feel).

Stephen has posted the impressions of Heather Rogers, a lawyer who just got back from Yemen, where she met with some of the families of people who have been detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba by U.S. forces. Take a look.

The Border Film Project is an interesting art experiment started by three filmmakers. They gave disposable cameras to two large groups on different sides of the U.S.-Mexico border: undocumented migrants crossing the desert into the U.S., and the American Minutemen trying to stop them. Some of the photos are interesting, not because they show different experiences, but because they show similar ones in fact. (Warning: The site is poorly designed. Click on the individual letters in “Border” to navigate)

Link via Metafilter.

I’m intrigued by Lisa Fugard’s debut novel, Skinner’s Drift. It’s set in the Limpopo River Valley, and it’s about a woman who returns to South Africa after ten years to see her dying father, a man “whose terrible secret [she] has kept since she was a child.” Alan Cheuse reviews it for NPR.