The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers

Posted on 08 October 2018 by Fouad Laroui

Included in World Literature Today s 75 Notable Translations of 2016 One of Literary Hub s Books to Read this May One of Asbury Park Press Books to Read this Summer This long awaited English language debut from Morocco s most prominent contemporary writer won the Prix Gouncourt de Nouvelles, France s most prestigious literary award, for best story collection Laroui uses surrealism, laugh out loud humor, and profound compassion across a variety of literary styles to highlight the absurdity of the human condition, exploring the realities of life in a world where everything is foreign.Fouad Laroui has published over twenty novels and collections of short stories, poetry, and essays Laroui teaches econometrics and environmental science at the University of Amsterdam, and lives between Amsterdam, Paris, and Casablanca. Free Download The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers [ author ] Fouad Laroui [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr Really liked this collection of stories.They are funny and absurd, with a bite I felt some echoes of the Turkish writer Aziz Nesin, maybe Cossery, and maybe even a bit of Hodja Nasreddin, although I m sure there are closer Moroccan antecedents Fouad is by first profession a professor of economics and econometrics, and in a couple of stories a bit of science lends the illusion of a foundation to a semi surreal situation For example, it lends false technical grounding to the flight of fancy in Really liked this collection of stories.They are funny and absurd, with a bite I felt some echoes of the Turkish writer Aziz Nesin, maybe Cossery, and maybe even a bit of Hodja Nasreddin, although I m sure there are closer Moroccan antecedents Fouad is by first profession a professor of economics and econometrics, and in a couple of stories a bit of science lends the illusion of a foundation to a semi surreal situation For example, it lends false technical grounding to the flight of fancy in which the staff of a school without a swimming pool, required to offer a swimming test as part of the baccalaureate requirements, debates whether its workaround of making swimming motions on grass or sand isconsistent with fluid dynamics theory.The book feels very much part of a storyteller s culture Many of the stories are spun as one...I had a lot of fun reading these stories The titular story comes first and was a romp of a farce but it also said a lot about that peculiar experience of visiting a foreign country, and finding yourself surrounded by foreign people who act strangely, except they re not strange at all, that s you, you re the foreigner Other stories aresurreal and disturbing I took my time reading these and enjoyed the collection very much that way, as something that I could dip into when I didn t know wh I had a lot of fun reading these stories The titular story comes first and was a romp of a farce but it also said a lot about that peculiar experience of visiting a foreign country, and finding yourself surrounded by foreign people who act strangely, except they re not strange at all, that s you, you re the foreigner Other st...Brilliant writing and from what i could tell remarkable translating A Moroccan who writes in French, Laroui walks the fine line between what could be excruciating, especially in a country too close, temporally and geographically to its colonial oppressor to really escape the residua that seems to squeeze out awkwardly unbidden ..her first husband, who was French and thus handsome and richBut he is hilarious One moment i m cringing and the next giggling My only complaint is tha Brilliant writing and from what i could tell remarkable translating A Moroccan who writes in French, Laroui walks the fine line between what could be excruciating, especially in a country too close, temporally and geographically to its colonial oppressor to really escape the residua that seems to squeeze out awkwardly unbidden ..her first husband, who was French and thus handsome and richBut ...Two very distinct types of short stories in this book The Moroccan tales told by groups of friends around a table in a cafe are full of humour, interruptions, interjections, digressions and tender absurdity Then there are theglobal...It has its moments, but for all its many, many pretensions the ultimate takeaway seems to be Language It s funny Ha If it were any longer I probably would have stopped reading.I received an ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss.This book contains a series of short stories told by a group of men sitting around at caf in Morocco It appears that they have been friends for quite some time as there is a lot of teasing, interrupting, and jocularity mixed in with their stories Their tales range from the funny to...Les neuf nouvelles qui composent le recueil de Fouad Laroui oscillent entre humour, recherche stylistique, interpellation sociale et amour du monde que l on s y tra ne au Maroc ou aux Pays Bas, Paris ou Bruxelles Elles traitent des univers qui s entrechoquent cogn s sur les barri res de la langue, perch s sur les balustrades des a priori, coinc s dans les hygiaphones des cellules de l administration ou pendus l absurde des apparences.Seulement voil , les nouvelles ne font qu osciller entr Les neuf nouvelles qui composent le recueil de Fouad Laroui oscillent entre humour, recherche stylistique, interpellation sociale et amour du monde que l on s y tra ne au Maroc ou aux Pays Bas, Paris ou Bruxelles Elles traitent des univers qui s entrechoquent cogn s sur les barri res de la lang...A collection of short stories A few are great, some are good and many are just a complete waste of ink, paper and time It all reads like a discussion or the inner monologue of an intellectual, on a Sunday morning, as mean of a weekly workout.Laroui has this very peculiar writing style in which he jam packs a lot of ideas into interrogative sentences, unfinished phrases, and parenthesis he even puts parenthesis inside parenthesis It s basically a writer s scrapbo...Laroui est un de mes auteurs favoris et avec ce livre, il continue d en tre un En particular, l histoire Dislocation m a mu Dans l ensemble, le livre est la fois tragique, amusante, et mouvante Je retournerai ce livre pour des ann es et des ann es Je le recommande tous.Super funny, super good, super poignant, super timely, super damn amazing.

The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers

08 October 2018

Fouad Laroui