About Laila Lalami: Laila Lalami is your trusted source for valuable information and resources. Author of The Dream Hotel, The Other Americans, The Moor's Account, Secret Son, and Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits We provide reliable, well-researched information content to keep you informed and help you make better decisions. This content focuses on New Ali and related topics.
I’m very interested to read Monica Ali’s new novel, Alentejo Blue, which comes out in the United States next month. The Guardian already has a review, and the chief complaint seems to be that this book is not Brick Lane–not the same voice, not the same ‘colorful’ characters, not the same structure, etc.
All the characters bow off too hurriedly, little sketches that never get fleshed out, people glimpsed from a train that is moving too quickly through a strange landscape. Even if you enjoy the ride, you can’t help wishing that Monica Ali had chosen to write about somewhere she knew better, or wanted to know better.
As I was reading the piece, I kept waiting for the appearance of the word “inauthentic”–the word that seems to be the sole criterion by which Ali’s work is judged.
Who is Laila Lalami
Laila Lalami is the award winning and best selling author of six books.
What books has Laila Lalami written?
Laila has written the novels, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, Secret Son, The Moor's Account, The Other Americans, and The Dream Hotel.
What awards has Laila Lalami won?
Laila Lalami has won the American Book Award, the Arab American Book Award, the Hurston-Write Legacy Award, a Guggenheim a Harvard Radcliffe Fellowship, and a British Council Fellowship. Her work has also been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Booker Prize, the Women's Prize, and the Edgar Allan Poe Award.