Don’t Play it again Sam

Read by: Mozhan Marnò, P.J. Ochlan, Adenrele Ojo, Ozzie Rodriguez, Susan Nezami, Ali Nasser, Mark Bramhall, Max Adler, Meera Simhan
Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins

I had such high hopes for this book, having read some earlier novels by Laila Lalami that had shown promise. I have had good experiences with writers from Morocco and neighboring Algeria, as well as with Western writers’s books set in those countries. I’ve been to both and left a little bit of my heart in Morocco, a country I’ve always been drawn to since I read A Sheltering Sky in my youth.

Drinking mint tea, sitting around cafés French style, exploring medinas, waking to the call for prayer, meeting eccentric Westerners, Morocco has a certain je ne sais pas magic.

Sadly I was disappointed when I read The Other Americans. There’s not much of Morocco in the book, whose central characters come from Casablanca but live permanently in America. The prose too often reaches clichéd and banal lows. Take the Iraquí vet character Jeremy, musing over his Marine buddy Efraín, who he’s recently fallen out with and beaten to a pulp. I’m just looking after you, baby, he’d called to the horrified Nora as he stood over Efrain with his knuckles bloodied.

“The Marines had brought us together, two dumb kids from the desert. And although we’d fought side by side for years, in the end we’d come out just as we’d gone in, two different people. Now it was time for us to go our separate ways.”

But it’s not the patchy quality of the writing that’s the problem. Although there’s a central incident that the novel resolves around, the cast of characters is huge - just look above at the number of narrators - each one representing a different fully-fleshed-out character, each with their own story. Each chapter is devoted to a different character, and the novels cycles through the list on repeat until a conclusion is reached.

Jeremy, Anderson, Nora, Driss, Coleman, Maryam, Efrain, A.J., Selma and Anderson. They are all directly or indirectly linked to the “incident “ and each had their own story taking one or three dedicated chapters. Plus most of them had wives, mistresses and/or children who also tell their stories, most of which have little or no relation to the “incident” or to each other.

It was all a bit much. I’d be following Nora and her affairs and problems and then A.J would make a chapter appearance Then Maryam. And then back to Nora and so on and on and on. Many of the characters didn’t know each other though some did.

Then there were the multiple themes. Illegal immigration, the Iraq War, the fall of King Hassan II of Morocco and subsequent reforms there, Blacks in America. Muslims in America. Adultery, school bullying, the recession, police conduct and drug addiction.

Still I feel Lalami is a promising writer. I read the book through to the end; it managed to hold my interest. So it had something though I can’t quite work out what that something was.

I gave The Other Americans a 3.5 rating. I feel the writer took on too much for one novel. If she cut out the clichéd parts and a couple of the characters, and tightened the plot up a little, I’m sure it would have made a better read. ( )

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. :) ( )

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 ( )

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami is a superlative expose of widespread racism brilliantly injected into a hit and run mystery. Told from the view point of delectable and repulsive set of characters, Laila shows us a brittle Americana fabric that is searching for answers. Loneliness, love, immigration and the definition of home percolate this gorgeous novel. The metaphors come fast and furious. ( )

excellent writing and well developed characters ( )