Secret Son

By: Laila Lalami

Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi

When a young man is given the chance to rewrite his future, he doesn't realize the price he will pay for giving up his past...

Casablanca's stinking alleys are the only home that nineteen-year-old Youssef El-Mekki has ever known. Raised by his mother in a one-room home, he dreams of escape - until, one day, the father he thought dead turns out to be very much alive, and whisks him from the slums into the luxurious life of Casablanca's elite. But as he leaves the poverty of his childhood behind him, he comes up against a starkly un-glittering reality...

Intimate story of identity and family

Secret Son portrays the life of a young man in Casablanca slum trying to find his way. Caught between the stories of orphanhood and struggle his mother raised him on and the discovery of his real family, Youcef tries to understand who he is, versus the various roles that society asks him to play. He tries to navigate college, friendships, and life as a working man, all while balancing the opposing wishes of his family. Ultimately, his uncertainty leads him astray, and he must find a way out.

I enjoyed the multiple perspectives in this story, even in the way that some scenes were repeated to provide the interior emotional turmoil of two characters in opposite sides of a dialog. The abrupt ending and non-finality of any characters' stories were surprising, but fitting. The notions of Family, Identity, and Home don't have beginnings, middles, and ends. They are relationships an individual evolves over time that shape one's decisions and outlook, but rarely settle in one place.

Lalami captured the turmoil of family, of adolescence, and of despair amidst social stagnation in ways that many will be able to relate to. Great story.

Loved This Story! I couldn’t put it down.

I learned about the amazing author Laila Lalami when I read a review of her earlier book “The Other Americans” in the LA Times. I was drawn to that book because I had spent some time in Morocco and the plot intrigued me. Plus I loved the beauty of the country and its rich culture. She writes and shows us about the challenges that people who are immigrants or victims of the class system and prejudices.
I looked forward to this book by her because of how impressed I was with her writing. Her next story “Secret Son” is just as compelling. Ms. Lalami is a magnificent teller of important stories.

Ending catastrophically anticlimactic!

Slow start. Interesting and somewhat intriguing middle but then such an abrupt, ridiculous ending. Left me ice cold.