Quick review: L'armee Du Salut - Abdellah Taïa

Title: L'armee Du Salut (Broederliefde) Literally: The Salvation Army.
Author: Abdellah Taïa
Genre: Autobiographical novel
Pages: Paperback 143
Language: French. Read in Dutch.
Rating: 7,5/10
Short summary and opinion: The third novel of the first openly gay writer published in Morocco, tells the story of young Abdellah, who grew up in a very close family living in a tiny house. Abdellah looks up to his -much- older brother Abdelkébir, but when he gets married, Abdellah feels like his brother is not the same anymore: Abdelkébir seems to have changed to please his new wife. After college Abdellah leaves Morrocco to study in Switzerland and meet up with his boyfriend, whom his family know nothing about. Because of the limited communication about love and relationships in his past, Abdellah has trouble understanding other people's intentions.

This is quite an intimate story: Abdellah talks about how he used to hear his parents having sex and he also doesn't censor his very personal feelings for his brother. I had to get used to that amount of honesty. I liked his story even though I couldn't really relate to his thought proces. For me it was a valuable lesson to realize life can be experienced very differently for other people.
Curious? So far his books are translated in Dutch and Spanish only, but if you are interested in his background, you might want to read this article: Morocco, male love and modernity.