“The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris” by Leïla Marouane

As first lines go, that of Leïla Marouane’s second novel and debut in English, The Abductor (2000, translated by Felicity McNab), is a masterpiece of concision and intrigue: “My father lay helpless on the sofa while my mother was being joined to Youssef Allouchi in lawful wedlock.” Why, we wonder, is this man helpless while the mother of his children is being joined—the passive construction implying a lack of agency on her part—to another man, especially since “the sofa” conjures a family home? And what’s with the antiquated phrase “lawful wedlock” when “marriage” could presumably suffice?  Read the rest @ Words Without Borders