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About My Mother

About My Mother

A Novel
Literary FictionBiography & Memoir
Pages
288
Published
2016
Language
English

Synopsis

Lalla Fatma believes she is in Fez in 1944 - where she grew up - not in Tangier in 2000, where the story begins. Guided by her fragmented memories, Ben Jelloun reimagines his mother's life in Fez at the end of the war, in the heavily ritualised world of custom and tradition that saw her married, pregnant, and widowed by sixteen. He gains privileged, painful access to her lives as daughter, sister, thrice-widowed wife - lives in which she had little say, mostly spent working in kitchens, marked by a deep religious faith and love for her family - as Alzheimer's rips them all away.

Prose complexity
6/10

Vibe

SadMelancholicEmotionalReflective
Family SagaDual TimelineComing of Age

Genres

Literary Fiction Biography & Memoir Historical Fiction

Authors

R
Ros Schwartz

Ros Schwartz is a translator who brings French literature to English-speaking readers. She is best known for her work on the dystopian novel I Who Have Never Known Men. Her career spans decades

T
Tahar Ben Jelloun

Tahar Ben Jelloun (en arabe : الطاهر بن جلون) est un écrivain, poète et peintre franco-marocain né le 1er décembre 1944 à Fès (Maroc). Auteur de nouvelles, romans, poèmes et essais, il est lauréat du prix Goncourt pour son roman La Nuit sacrée. Bien que sa langue maternelle soit l'arabe, il écrit en français. En 2004, il a reçu le prix littéraire international IMPAC Dublin pour Cette aveuglante absence de lumière. En 2008, il a été décoré de la Croix de Grand Officier de la Légion d'honneur....

Characters

Lalla FatmaProtagonist

The author's mother, who believes she is in Fez in 1944 due to Alzheimer's, and whose fragmented memories guide the reimagining of her life.

Tahar Ben JellounSupporting

The author and narrator, who reimagines his mother's life based on her fragmented memories, gaining access to her past experiences.

All characters in About My Mother