Laila LalamiThe Other Americans

Abstract

go-round. The oddball professors roam the university halls, mutter their implausible interpretations of the historical record, and bitterly condemn other colleagues’ work. The feuds, as the old joke goes, are so bitter because there is nothing significant at risk. Solovyov’s mentor offers advice on academic gamesmanship. A panel session drones on with self-important pronouncements, long after it should close, with the audience impatiently longing for drinks and dinner. The landscape of academia is somewhat routine in its absurdity, and oh so easy to satirize, but Vodolazkin manages to convey the comedy of academia without turning satire into slapstick. The seeming silliness of scholarly pursuits is counterpointed with the serious intent of Solovyov’s research and with the emotional and intellectual satisfactions of discovery and insight that all genuine scholars feed upon. Vodolazkin himself is an expert on Old Russian literature and knows this landscape well but, even more to his credit, portrays the thinking processes that go into historical study brilliantly. There is, in many translated books, the scent, if not outright stench, of translation— crude attempts to approximate in one language the culture and thought processes of the other. It is therefore particularly delightful to read a novel that does not remind you on each page to make allowances for slightly awkward wording and quaint phrasing . Vodolazkin is particularly lucky. There is no need to make any allowances. Lisa C. Hayden’s translation is all but invisible. The writing comes across as extremely adept yet relaxed. Often, it can only be described as beautiful. It allows the reader to stay in the story, in the characters’ heads, and in the flow of ideas without the nagging distractions of strained equivalencies. From the first page, I knew this was going to be a very well-written book, and then, because it did not seem translated, had to remind myself that indeed it was. I cannot read Russian and have no idea if the original manuscript is as well written as the translation, but Solovyov and Larionov as I read it is one of the finest novels I have read in years. (Editorial note: Turn to page 6 to read Lisa Hayden’s note on translating Vodolazkin.) J. Madison Davis is the author of eight mystery novels, including The Murder of Frau Schütz, an Edgar nominee, and Law and Order: Dead Line. He has also published seven nonfiction books and dozens of short stories and articles, including his crime and mystery column in WLT since 2004. Laila Lalami The Other Americans New York. Pantheon. 2019. 320 pages. The Other Americans is Laila Lalami’s fourth full-length novel. Whereas her previous novels featured stories that unfolded at least partially in Morocco, The Other Americans follows members of the Moroccan diaspora as they make a home in California. The plot revolves around the family’s deceased patriarch , Driss, who was killed in a hit-andrun car accident on his way home from work one evening. Lalami’s prose picks up immediately following the accident. Driss’s daughter, Nora, is the novel’s protagonist and, arguably, the most likeable of its characters . She seeks to unravel the mystery surrounding Driss’s death while simultaneously falling for a childhood friend; the unusual combination renders the story part murder mystery and part romance. With regard to structure, the book presents the reader with a variety of perspectives , jostling from one point of view to another. To achieve this feat in narration, Lalami named her chapters using the first name of the character whose views are related through the text’s first-person narration. Those views even include those of Driss, flashing back in time to capture his portion of the story before the accident. This narrative style allows Lalami to underscore an invaluable human lesson: facts are often mediated by human perspective. Lalami’s elegant prose also engages a variety of pertinent themes relevant to the contemporary condition of average Americans . As the title of the novel suggests, each member of her cast of characters inhabits some othered position on the margins of mainstream society. The reader encounters veterans, Arab Americans, undocumented immigrants, and women in professional roles traditionally inhabited by...