International Literature

The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris by Leïla Marouane A Review by Olivia Letts

The premise of The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris is simple: a forty-year-old virgin from Algeria who has succeeded in capitalist French society wants to throw his pious Muslim roots aside, detach from his overbearing mother, and live the life of debauchery he believes will exemplify the Western image of success.  The good-looking Mohamed Ben Mokhtar changes his name to the more French-sounding Basile Tocquard, straightens his hair, and whitens his skin–all to avoid being met with condescension and prejudice while clamoring up the ladder of success in Paris.  Materialistically, he consummates this success with the purchase of a fancy apartment, which he calls his “petit Versailles.”  However, 40 years of conservative Islamic living has left him utterly unequipped to deal with the string of women with whom he seeks to have his way.

The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris is replete with humor, as much of Mohamed’s train of thought and his opinions about women are certainly cringe-worthy. But via this particular male perspective, Leïla Marouane critiques both patriarchal expectations of Algerian society and also the expectations of French society for total assimilation of African immigrants. The divide between the French of France and “the Other” of France is clearly marked and the discrimination exists.  It’s likely that Marouane’s own background as an Algerian immigrant to Paris inspired her observations of divisions between Muslims’ culture and secular French culture as well as the intriguing paradoxes of masculinity.

The book is pervaded by a dark tone and Mohamed is an unreliable narrator–a puppet of the plot who Marouane seems to delight in disconcerting and thwarting.  She cleverly inserts herself into the novel as a fictional author with the same initials, a “Loubna Minbar” with whom Mohamed becomes increasingly preoccupied as the story goes on, as her books seem to uncannily and coincidentally match up with his own life.

Mohamed is not a heroic protagonist by any means, and while we root for him and sympathize with him at times, we are also not surprised by his shortcomings and lack of fulfillment in life.  In this saucily-titled novel, the female characters who appear in Mohamed’s life all happen to be main characters of Marouane’s previous works, and all are educated Algerian women (despite his dreams of finding a voluptuous blonde) with interesting pasts.  The author weaves a vivid and interconnected portrait based on these womens’ lives and Mohamed’s life, which delves into aspects of Algerian history and culture.  Importantly, it also unravels the theme of the dichotomy between two different worlds–that of Mohamed’s past and that of the future he obsessively fantasizes about but which always seems out of reach.  It creates a schizophrenic alternation within the book that visibly drives the storyline to its climax.

I wouldn’t call the ending the most graceful conclusion to the protagonist’s struggles, but this perhaps simply owes to a lack of creativity of interpretation on my own part, as The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris is undoubtedly an entertaining and intellectual piece of literature.  I recommend reading it in French if possible, but it is equally thought-provoking and satisfying to read in both tongues.