Leïla Slimani’s new novel ranges from France to Morocco
“Watch Us Dance” is a tale of rebellion and repression, love and its betrayal
STUDIOUS and shy, Aïcha leaves the mandarin and olive groves of her parents’ farm in Morocco for medical school under the “ashen skies” of eastern France. There, on the cusp of the student rebellion of 1968, she finds friendship as well as prejudice. “We don’t do this kind of hair usually,” the coiffeuse in Strasbourg says when Aïcha has her hair straightened so as to look like Françoise Hardy, a French star.
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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Between two worlds”
Culture June 10th 2023
- Two alarming books on the power of America’s Supreme Court
- A museum in Albania aims to commemorate a painful past
- A raptor’s mystique inspires “What an Owl Knows”
- Leïla Slimani’s new novel ranges from France to Morocco
- “Amongst the Ruins” explores the collapse of civilisations
- Gestures are a subtle and vital form of communication
From the June 10th 2023 edition
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