Some Dream For Fools by Faïza Guène; trans. by Jennifer L. Johnson

Part of a growing body of work by a growing population of French-speaking Arabs, le roman arabe addresses the twisted experience of the immigrant in a sometimes inhospitable new home. Some Dream for Fools is just that: the dreams of the displaced. In this novella translated from French by Jennifer L. Johnson, Faïza Guène relays a story to her reader that resonates strongly here and elsewhere: the joblessness, cultural differences, integration, and changing gender roles of a family in a new place.

Ahlème, meaning “Dream” in Arabic, narrates her story of cultural integration as her family moves from Algeria to France. She tells herself:

“. . . I’m not living in the right place, that the climate around here isn’t for me, because in the end, climate’s the only thing that counts and this morning the crazy French cold paralyzes me.”

The Boss, Ahlème’s father, has suffered an on-the-job accident and spends his days watching TV. As he slowly slips away from reality, Alhème is left to assume more and more responsibility for the well-being of her family. Making things even worse, she lost her mother to a massacre in Algeria. Foued, Ahlème’s brother, is on the verge of getting involved with “the wrong crowd.” He describes them as “big dogs” and “a family,” a group selling knock-off goods and leaving Foued responsible for watching over the money. This path Foued is following breaks Alhème’s heart because she has put so much effort into taking care of her little brother.

We follow Ahlème also through the difficulties of finding employment. She is a young woman with little direction that perhaps grew up too quickly:

“Obviously I aspired to be better, but a person has to live. People who fill their refrigerators with whatever they like are very lucky. If that were the case for me, I would give thanks to God more than five times a day, it would deserve at least that much.”

Cultural identity is, necessarily, an important theme woven throughout the novel—how do we define who we are if nothing around us is familiar? Can we identify ourselves through our geographical location? How desirable or necessary is cultural integration?

Ahlème answers these questions and more, though not always satisfactorily. She finally returns to Algeria with The Boss and Foued for a much anticipated visit, but it is difficult to reconcile this difference between geographical location and cultural identification and where the heart lies and Alhème must learn that a place remains what you left, just as you’re no longer the person who left it. It is clear that her bled, her village, is no longer hers.

“I spend my days listening to people, trying to remember who I come from. I have a hard time admitting it, but the truth is that my place is no longer here.”

Even if she can no longer identify with her former Algerian life, there will always be something special about her life there:

“There are things in this bled that I wouldn’t find anywhere else. The atmosphere is strange, the odor is too and it’s especially hot, maybe too hot. After all, it’s only a question of climate and the Algerian heat anesthetized me.”

Throughout the novel the reader is presented with a glossary of terms in Arabic which Guène uses liberally throughout her prose. These words are very important because they reflect the character’s personal histories and the differences between life in the bled and life in the outskirts of Paris. In addition to placing this family, to making strangers of them, these words help make strangers of readers as we encounter the unknown and unexpected in our reading.

We are introduced to several characters throughout this story, but few of them reach the in-depth character development which makes readers yearn for more. The characters are relateable but we never get too far beneath the surface. Still, Guène’s writing is hip and witty, making for an appealing, if sometimes superficial read.

Reviewed by Danielle Dahlin

Some Dream For Fools by Faïza Guène; trans. by Jennifer L. Johnson
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.
Cloth, 176 pp, $20.00
ISBN-10: 1051014205