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Laila Lalami

Forfatter af The Moor's Account

8+ Works 2,479 Members 151 Reviews 1 Favorited

Om forfatteren

Laila Lalami was born and raised in Morocco. She is the author of the short story collection Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits and the novels Secret Son and The Moor's Account. Her essays and opinion pieces have appeared in several publications including the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, vis mere The Nation, The Guardian, and The New York Times. She is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of California at Riverside. (Bowker Author Biography) vis mindre

Omfatter også følgende navne: Laila Lalami, [Laila Lalami]

Image credit: Author Laila Lalami at the 2015 Texas Book Festival. By Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44626510

Værker af Laila Lalami

The Moor's Account (2014) 932 eksemplarer
The Other Americans: A Novel (2019) 637 eksemplarer
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (2005) 418 eksemplarer
Secret Son (2009) 263 eksemplarer
Gli altri americani (2022) 1 eksemplar
A Esperança É Uma Travessia (2007) 1 eksemplar

Associated Works

Season of Migration to the North (1966) — Introduktion, nogle udgaver1,653 eksemplarer
The Decameron Project: 29 New Stories from the Pandemic (2020) — Bidragyder — 109 eksemplarer
The Granta Book of the African Short Story (2011) — Bidragyder — 93 eksemplarer
Dinarzad's Children: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Fiction (2004) — Bidragyder, nogle udgaver26 eksemplarer
x-24: unclassified (2007) — Bidragyder — 6 eksemplarer

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she manages to speak about so much in such a few number of words and pages, and to to it so well. not comprehensively, obviously, but with depth and nuance. it's impressive. her writing is excellent, the topics are interesting, and it's all handled deftly. this is really well done.

"Naturalization would only become available to nonwhite immigrants, regardless of national origin, after the Immigration Act of 1965."

"The settlers [of the United States] didn't assimilate to indigenous tribes, learn their languages, and adapt to their cultural customs. It was the Natives who were assimilated, coercively and violently, into the settler's culture."

"If there was any instruction, it was restricted to religion and circumscribed in ways that did not threaten the existing social and political order. A special edition of the Bible, printed in 1807 for use by plantation owners to preach to their slaves, omitted mention of the Israelites' flight from slavery in Egypt as well as other references to freedom. The book - Parts of the Holy Bible, Selected for the Use of Negro Slaves in the British West India Islands - had only 232 verses, compared with 1,189 for a standard Protestant Bible. Assimilation of the races was never the objective of a system that was designed to maintain one race in absolute and hereditary servitude to another."

"White is a category that has afforded them an evasion from race, rather than an opportunity to confront it. To talk about white historical figures critically in schools - figures such as Christopher Columbus, Thomas Jefferson, or Andrew Jackson - is to saddle white children with the knowledge that their ancestors did not merely participate in the exploration, establishment, and expansion of the United States, but also in the genocide, enslavement, and subjugation of tens of millions of people, a process that accrued social, political, and economic benefits for the white majority. This knowledge is considered too heavy a burden. Instead, during the month of February, American children are taught inspirational stories about black historical figures - Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, or Martin Luther King, Jr. - who triumphed over injustice. The perpetrators and beneficiaries of that injustice remain largely unnamed. Whiteness is therefore perceived, experienced, and passed down as silence."

"But white privilege doesn't mean that white people have easy lives - it simply means that whiteness does not make their lives harder."

"...part of what makes the conversations on racial identity uncomfortable for so many people is the fact that transparency leads to accountability."

"...in 1898 the Supreme Court ruled...any person born in the United States was a citizen, regardless of the ethnic origin or legal status of the parents. However, indigenous people were still members of sovereign nations and remained ineligible for citizenship. Natives who were taxed, served in the military, or married white people could apply for citizenship, but this was only granted on an individual basis. It was not until 1924, through an act of Congress, that Native citizenship in the United States was established."

"But despair is never without consequence. It is a gift to the status quo."
… (mere)
½
 
Markeret
overlycriticalelisa | 7 andre anmeldelser | Feb 1, 2024 |
I had been curious to read this book as I had heard the author speak at a book festival some years ago. I knew she was a native Moroccan, and I knew this book was about immigrants.

I had a very hard time getting into this story, though. Each short chapter was narrated by a different character. I much dislike this form of novel and did not know this about it until after I started reading it. Though this story concentrated mostly on Nora, a young woman whose family is from Morocco and her adjustment to the sudden death of her father by what she felt was premeditated murder, I could not get interested in it they way I had hoped to. I simply read it to get through to the end so I could then read another book.

I found the ending of the book very unsatisfying as well. I really could tell what happened with Nora and Jeremy as Jeremy was nowhere in the last chapter. Why did the subject of Driss’s affair with Beatrice have to be brought up after his death? That affair was then moot. I totally hated A.J. and his dad. I could have cared less what happened to them.

Last, what was the purpose of having Efraín in the story? We learned very little of him. Why try to handle racism against Moroccans, American blacks, and Hispanics in one novel? It waters down racism too much and eliminates the deeper experience of just one person.


I must say that this author has the ability to express herself well. It’s just that I hated this story. I will read another of her novels (because I bought one after I heard her speak). I’ll give her another chance. :)
… (mere)
 
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SqueakyChu | 37 andre anmeldelser | Jan 27, 2024 |
This is a fabulous, unputdownable book about the experience of a slave who gets sent along on the Spanish colonization of Florida.
It doesn't make you feel good about humanity, but it will teach you about the tough travels, the kindness and savagery of all involved.
I'm so very glad I read it.
 
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Dabble58 | 54 andre anmeldelser | Nov 11, 2023 |
I enjoyed the book as well as the plot but my god did I get mad at Nora's mom for constantly comparing her two daughters and then leaving some open ended question such as did Salma get help in the end? Did Nora actually end up with Jeremy? What happened to Efrian? Just wish these questions could've been answered
 
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florrrrr12 | 37 andre anmeldelser | Aug 31, 2023 |

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Værker
8
Also by
6
Medlemmer
2,479
Popularitet
#10,345
Vurdering
3.8
Anmeldelser
151
ISBN
60
Sprog
6
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1

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