Tea in the Harem - Softcover

Charef, Mehdi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852421517 ISBN 13: 9781852421519

Publisher: Serpent's Tail, 1989

Synopsis

A housing estate in the Paris suburbs. Madjid is growing up caught between two cultures. At home, he listens to his mother's constant invective in Arabic as she attempts to make sense of her unfamiliar surroundings; at school, he tries to be part of French culture, a culture that rejects and insults Arabs. In a direct language, punctuated by moments of poetic beauty, Mehdi Charef portrays a reality only too rarely the subject of fiction. An immediate success upon publication in France in 1983, Tea in the Harem became the rallying-point for second-generation Algerians and Moroccans, who gave themselves the name 'beur': slang for 'Arab'.

About this title

Review:

Charef describes everyday hurts and bruises as if they were distinctive characteristics of the human condition. This unadorned voice goes straight to the heart. Listen to it! (Le Monde)

Tea in the Harem does not wallow in the world it depicts, it expresses the urge to get out. It is a dry, fast and ferocious book. (Figaro Magazine)

Grabbed me from page one and never let go! (Hanif Kureishi)

Synopsis:

This novel describes the plight of Madjid, a second-generation Algerian growing up in Paris, who is caught between two cultures. In his desperate attempts to make sense of unfamiliar surroundings, Madjid enters into French life, despite his feelings that the culture rejects and insults Arabs.

About this edition

• Publisher: Serpent's Tail
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 1852421517
• ISBN 13: 9781852421519
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160