The Art of Losing

A Novel

By: Alice Zeniter, Frank Wynne - translator

Narrated by: Jeed Saddy

Naïma knows Algeria only by the artifacts she encounters in her grandparents' tiny apartment in Normandy: the language her grandmother speaks but Naïma can't understand, the food her grandmother cooks, and the precious things her grandmother carried when they fled. But now Naïma will travel to Algeria to see for herself what was left behind—including their secrets.

The Algerian War for Independence sent Naïma's grandfather on a journey of his own, from wealthy olive grove owner and respected veteran of the First World War, to refugee spurned as a harki by his fellow Algerians in the transit camps of southern France, to immigrant barely scratching out a living in the north. The battle against colonial rule broke apart communities, opened deep rifts within families, and saw the whims of those in even temporary power instantly overturn the lives of ordinary people. Where does Naïma's family fit into this history? How do they fit into France's future?

Alice Zeniter's The Art of Losing is a powerful, moving family novel that spans three generations across seventy years and two shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a story of how we carry on in the face of loss: loss of country, identity, language, connection. Most of all, it is an immersive, riveting excavation of the inescapable legacies of colonialism, immigration, family, and war.

©2017 Flammarion / Albin Michel; Translation copyright 2021 by Frank Wynne (P)2022 Tantor

Unnecessarily long; but fascinating cultural history.

I was intrigued with history’s impact on the culture of 3 different generations. Nonetheless, I thought it not particularly well written, too wordy and repetitive in places. My biggest complaint; however, is the narrator. She has a shrill voice and did not particularly read the novel well.