Divorce Islamic Style

By Amara Lakhous

It’s 2005. The Italian secret service has received intel that a group of Muslim immigrants based in Rome’s Viale Marconi neighborhood is planning a terrorist attack. Christian Mazzari, a young Sicilian court translator who speaks perfect Arabic, goes undercover to infiltrate the group and learn who its leaders are. Christian poses as Issa, a recently arrived Tunisian in search of looking for a place to sleep and a job. He soon meets Sofia, a young Egyptian immigrant whose life with her husband, Said a.k.a. Felice, an architect who has reinvented himself as a pizza cook, is anything but fulfilling.

In alternating voices, with an anthropologist’s keen eye and sparkling wit Lakhous examines the commonplaces and stereotypes typical of life in multicultural societies. Divorce Islamic Style mixes the rational and the absurd as it describes the conflicts and contradictions of today’s world. Marvelous set pieces, episodes rich in pathos, brilliant dialogue, and mordant folk proverbs combine as the novel moves towards an unforgettable and surprising finale that will have readers turning back to the first page of Lakhous’s stunning novel to begin the ride all over again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Europa Editions
• Release date: Apr 30, 2012
• ISBN: 9781787701243

Amara Lakhous

Amara Lakhous was born in Algiers in 1970. He has a degree in philosophy from the University of Algiers and another in cultural anthropology from the University la Sapienza, Rome. He recently completed a Ph.D. thesis entitled “Living Islam as a Minority.” His first novel, Le cimici e il pirata (Bedbugs and the Pirate), was published in 1999. Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, winner of Italy’s prestigious Flaiano prize, is his second novel. He currently resides in New York.

Reviews for Divorce Islamic Style

[eenerd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great read about a immigrant enclave in Rome and the nuances of modern Muslim culture, through the eyes of an Italian "Orientalist" spy disguised as a non-observant Tunisian immigrant (phew!)

[tadad_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Those who enjoyed Lakhous' previous Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio can cheer over the fact that he wasn't a one-book-and-out author. Divorce Islamic Style—the title is a clear play on Divorce, Italian Style, the '60s Mastroianni film—has the same underlying theme of ethnic and religious prejudice as its predecessor, and wraps it in the same laugh-out-loud humor.In fact, it goes one better in giving us Safia (or Sofia if, as most people, you don't bother to listen to her pronunciation) who is one of the most engaging characters I've encountered in a while. She's a young Egyptian woman who has come to Italy with her husband, a man she doesn't particularly love or even care for. She wants some independence, but her husband wants her to wear the veil. She wants money to help out a sister who is suffering, but her husband doesn't want her to work. She wants a better life for her daughter, but her husband just wants a son...and Italians just seem to want immigrants to go home. She meets all of this with a combination of intelligence, pluck and good nature that won me over from her first chapter.Safia both articulates and embodies the immigrant problem, the absolute requirement to be successful so as not to fail all those who sacrificed to get you into the new country. Pitted against this are prejudices, both in the host country and the culture you've brought with you, that make this difficult. She's framed in by a cast of colorful characters, ranging from young, illegal immigrant men who are hanging on by their fingernails to the other major character of the novel: Christian, a young Italian of Tunisian descent who is asked by the Italian police to infiltrate the Muslim community in search of terrorists. I liked Christian, but I didn't love him the way I did Safia; there's a little too much weakness in his character. However, his newcomer perspective allows us to meet the various characters and his adventures, which border on the bizarre at certain moments, serve as the glue to bind together the plot lines.Lakhous' second book was better than his first, the right direction to go. I look forward to his third.