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More copies of this ISBNThis title in other editionsThe Last Friendby Tahar Ben Jelloun
Review-A-Day"Male friendship in the Maghreb, with its 'platonic' kisses and hand-holding, is seen in the West as an exotic near-homosexuality. Ben Jelloun shows that these happy, innocent images conceal a dangerous underside that can swallow men and their families whole." LA Weekly (read the entire LA Weekly review) Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:The Last Friend, the new novel from internationally acclaimed author Tahar Ben Jelloun, winner of the 2004 International Dublin/IMPAC award, is a Rashamon-like tale of friendship and betrayal set in twentieth century Tangier. Written in Ben Jelloun's inimitable and powerfully direct style, the novel explores the twists and turns of an intense thirty-year friendship between two young men struggling to find their identities and sexual fulfillment in Morocco in the late 1950s, a complex and contradictory society both modern and archaic.
From their carefree university days through their brutal imprisonment and ultimate release, the two rely on each other for physical and psychological survival, forging bonds not easily broken. Each narrator tells his version of the story, painting a vivid portrait of life lived within and in opposition to the moral strictures of North Africa. Set against a backdrop of repression and disillusionment, The Last Friend is a tale of loss of innocence and a nation's coming of age. Review:"In his affecting new novel, Moroccan-French novelist Ben Jalloun (This Blinding Absence of Light) eloquently portrays postcolonial political unrest in Morocco through the long, ultimately ruptured friendship between two men. The novel is set over 40 years of Moroccan history, beginning in 1960 (a few years after Moroccan independence from France), when the two friends, Ali and Mamed, attend a French school in Tangier. The story tracks their joint political activism and imprisonment in the mid-'60s, professional and romantic successes, and marital disappointment. The two voices share the narrative evenly: first, Ali, an academic, tells his side of their falling-out. Mamed, a doctor who in later years moves with his family to Sweden, ails from a 'strange, neurotic relationship with [his] homeland' and, eventually, from lung cancer. Mamed precipitates a self-protective rift with Ali before dying. A long posthumous letter to Ali explains that Mamed had hoped to spare their friendship from the ravages of death — and yet, has Mamed acted finally from jealousy and spite? Their friendship becomes a journey through their Moroccan heritage, skillfully navigated by Ben Jalloun." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:"A profound and moving novel." Le Monde
Review:"A seductive, lyrical novel exploring the seeming betrayal of a lifelong friendship." French Book News
Review:"In making that relationship humdrum, passionless and lacking in substance, the author has produced a work that may be likened to a long, disappointed sigh. A gentle, intelligent exercise in nihilism: Life, Jelloun seems to say with a pained smile, is hardly worth discussing." Kirkus Reviews
Review:"Ben Jelloun's spellbinding fourth novel..." Booklist
Review:"This novel...is sterling in both language and presentation....Ben Jelloun's laserlike focus on the male relationship as it survives teen heartaches, prison, jealous wives and physical separation is a compelling story with universal appeal." Seattle Times
Review:"This is a sexy, racy novel....With this sour, sweet tale of two men looking at each other across this divide, Tahar Ben Jelloun shows how what tumbles into the breach is sometimes our closest friendships." San Francisco Chronicle
Review:"What Ben Jelloun does brilliantly is write with a kind of refreshing candor that demystifies the Arab world." Paris Voice
Review:"Perfectly captures and explains the human condition." Le Nouvel Observateur
Synopsis:Renowned for his compeling , humane portraits of everyday Arab lives, Tahar Ben Jelloun has affirmed his place in the literary world by winning such awards as the Prix Goncourt and Prix Maghreb. In The Last Friend, Ben Jelloun presents a spellbinding coming-of-age story and a dazzling portrait of Morocco in an era of repression and disillusionment. In Tangiers in the late 1950s, two teenagers, Mamed and Ali, strike up an intense friendship that will last a lifetime. But lurking just beneath the surface is a deep, unspoken jealousy in danger of destroying them both. About the AuthorWinner of the 2004 Impac Prize, the 1994 Prix Maghreb, and the 1987 Prix Goncourt, Moroccan-born Tahar Ben Jelloun emigrated to France in 1961. A novelist, essayist, critic, and poet, he is a regular contributor to Le Monde, La Repubblica, El País, and Panorama. His novels include the Prix Goncourt?winning The Sacred Night, Corruption, and This Blinding Absence of Light (Impac Prize, 2004). He lives in Paris, France.
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