Divorce Islamic Style

Not well written, story not interesting, too much dialogue, too many foreign names to remember, I stopped reading it after about 15%.

A hilarious yet thoughtful, multi-voiced novel about the paradoxes of immigration and Islamophobia in today's Italy. The translation is very good, with very few flaws.

A muslim man is allowed to divorce a wife by uttering a word 3 times, either on different occasions or all at once. This practice is permitted under Indian law. Once had a cliet who divorced in this manner and moved to the US and married one of our girls. Years later his "ex" Muslim wife sued him in Texas asking the court not to recognize the divorce. After a long battle the my client prevailed. A muslim is permitted to remarry his divorced wife ONLY after she remarries and consumates the marriage sexually. Bizarre, but the reason is to punish the husband for divorcing her in the first place by forcing him to contemplate his wife in bed with another man. Funny and authentically informative with an unsatisfactory ending but I loved it on the whole

Amara Lakhous is a wonderful, 'new' Italian author who approaches topics of Italian culture in a 'comedic' way following a stylistic tradition initiated in Italian cinema. Through the use of the thriller/detective novel, he invites the reader to participate fully into the novel and in essence the world/culture he creates. Everyone should pick up one of his works!

I admire Amar Lakhous for presenting a view of the Moslem immigrant's daily life. His sardonic look at immigrants and the intelligence organizations that hunt terrorists is refreshing and perhaps more true than one would suspect.

This book describes the live of an Arab-Italian, working as a court interpreter who somehow gets approached by government officials to go undercover in Rome to spy on suspected Muslim terrorists. It's a bit far-fetched as story goes, but presents insights into Muslim immigrant living in Italy.The chapters alternate between two main characters, a structure that is "arty" yet ineffective and annoying preventing any flow of story to deveolp. Each chapter is essentially a monologue like reading someone's rambling diary. This unfortunate structure weighs down what little action there is.People have described it as "hilarious." Although it has a few amusing lines. It's not a comedy.

Here's what I liked about this book:1) It taught me a lot of details about how Islam is practiced today, describing many of the disagreements and regional differences between Muslims, and also had a few interesting things to say about life in modern Italy;2) It's humorous, and has sharply observed commentary on the society the characters live in;3) The author writes convincingly from the female point of view;4) The author created a lively, believable community in his portrayal of the immigrants' world within Rome;5) The chapters are told by alternating characters, and the author took some pains to make their voices sound different.But here's what I didn't like1) The ending is a complete cop-out, in my opinion;2) The author did try to give his characters different voices, which I commend, but his way of doing that could be improved: one of his tricks is to give the narrators standard catch phrases, which are repeated ad nauseum;3) A few minor fixes should have been proposed by the editor. For example, the main narrator has an offstage girlfriend, but often completely forgets she exists, and she adds nothing to the story--I would have cut this character.So I would read this book if you're interested in the topic of the intersection of modern Islamic and European societies, but don't expect to get a satisfying plot, or a high-end literary experience.

A caper that examines how the fear of Islamist terror affects ordinary Muslims living in Italy, and the Italian government's attempt to infiltrate cells that perpetuate terror. The reality is always different. This novel looks at the complexities, and kept me captivated, as Christian/Issa kept tabs on potential plots, but often encountering ordinary people, an unhappy marriage, and the desire to live quietly in a developed country where financial security, love, and family push people to survive. In some ways, this novel reminded me of Graham Greene's Our Man From Havana, a tragicomedy that slants to the comic, where the intelligence gatherers have no idea what their minions are doing.

it is an interesting read but weak in ending

Quelle que soit la langue ds laquelle on lit ce roman, c'est un chef d'oeuvre d'humour & de finesse qui décrit l'Italie d'aujourd'hui et ses problèmes d'immigration, de manière, à la fois, réaliste & bienveillante...Le meilleur livre que j'ai lu depuis 5 ans au moins !