Montecore

December 6, 2010
Khemiri's inventive, tricky tale charts a Tunisian immigrant's rise from poor orphan to world-famous photographer. The hero, it's suggested, is actually Khemiri's father—and the author seems to know little about the man's life, despite his father's fame. Alongside (intentionally and comically) poorly translated letters to the author from Kadir, the father's childhood best friend, the author rifles through a catalogue of uncertain memories. We soon learn that the father worked his way out of poverty by apprenticing with a Tunisian photographer and later running off with a Swedish flight attendant, the author's mother. But as more becomes apparent about the strange life of the author's father, the stories shared don't always match up—and the reader begins to question Kadir's motives. Each passage varies linguistically, tonally, and stylistically, coalescing to create a vibrant story of culture, class, and family history enlivened by Khemiri's subtle wit and voice. And though the overly elaborate structure can grow tiresome, Willson-Broyles's masterful translation and the energy and freshness of Khemiri's voice make this imaginative book a worthwhile read.

Starred review from December 15, 2010

A distinguished, linguistically complex narrative that examines the ordeals of a Tunisian immigrant to Sweden.

Swedish author Khemiri focuses on issues of racism and adjustment to a new life in the putatively progressive atmosphere of Sweden. The narrative structure is both amusing and multilayered, for one of the narrators is named Khemiri, who like the author is the son of a Tunisian immigrant. Another narrative aspect of the novel involves a hilarious commentary on the story of this immigrant, Abbas Khemiri, by his supposed best friend Kadir, who protests mightily against the son's hostility toward his father. Kadir writes in a fractured English (or Swedish in the original) that the translator has captured brilliantly. Jonas, the estranged son (not to be too confused with the author), is alienated from his father's affection and chronicles the downfall of this relationship with keen and sensitive observations. On moving from Tunisia to Stockholm, the father sets up a business of photographing pets, but to try to "pass" in Swedish society he changes his name to Krister Holmström. His embittered son considers his father a "Swediot" for even trying to blend in with Scandinavian society, and Kadir desperately tries to rescue Abbas' reputation—not a particularly easy task, especially when Abbas eventually moves back to Tunisia and becomes a photographer of Tunisian exoticism, convincing women to pose for the "humoristically erotic" Aladdin and His Magic Tramp and 1,000 and One Tights, a shoot in which Mr. Bedouin, the character they make up to compete with Mr. Bean, "is welcomed extra generously in an oasis by seven sex-starved Saudi aerobics instructors." While the novel is at times genuinely amusing, it also explores serious themes of cultural homogeneity, as Abbas eventually feels his son has become "nothing"—neither Tunisian nor Swedish.

Khemiri adds a distinctive and quirky voice—actually several of them—to contemporary literature.

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January 1, 2011

Award-winning Swedish author Khemiri's novel contains such complex layers that at first it is confusing and off-putting. But patient readers will be rewarded. The main character, who shares the author's name, is the increasingly rebellious son of a Tunisian immigrant in Sweden, known here as Abbas. Abbas, a well-known photographer, has disappeared, and his best friend, Kadir, has initiated a correspondence with Abbas's son. Kadir, whose language is stilted and pretentious, wants to write a book in praise of Abbas and enlists Jonas, who is a writer. But their views of Abbas are quite different, and Kadir constantly berates Jonas for his warts-and-all portrayal of his father. Some of the book is amusing, such as the way that Abbas's struggles to succeed as a photographer finally pay off when he decides to specialize in portraits of dogs. Some is inflammatory, especially the depiction of racism regarding immigrants and those of mixed race. The ending is a stunner. VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoy novels about the struggles of immigrants such as those by Zadie Smith and Monica Ali.--Evelyn Beck, Piedmont Technical Coll., Greenwood, SC

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