I loved this book! The Art of Losing is a family saga that follows Naima as she uncovers her family's history and the family secrets that have been carried for three generations.

Seventy years ago in Algeria when a decision made by her grandfather, Ali, began to have consequences that would reverberate through the generations. Once a wealthy landowner Ali and his family fled to France and we follow their journey from there to a refugee camp to a crumbling flat in a sink estate in France. Naima's father rejects his past and finds a way out through education bit still carries the scars of his childhood experiences. And Naima is finally heading back to Algeria.

I knew nothing about Algeria before reading this book and one of my favourite things about it was the beautiful descriptions of the places and the rich characters that were drawn through Zeniter's writing. I loved reading it and became really invested in the characters and the ways in which they chose to survive. It was also an eye opening description of the experiences of refugees and the struggles faced by those forced to flee their homelands.

There were some points where the narrative became a bit text booky but overall a beautiful, engaging story that I'm glad I read and would highly recommend.

"A country is never simply one thing at a time: it is both fond memories of childhood and bitter civil war, it is both people and tribes, countryside and cities, waves of immigration and emigration, it is its past, its present and its future, it is what has come to pass, and the sum of its possibilities."

This novel is an incredibly moving family story that spans 3 generations following the lives of Naima, her grandfather and father after they are forced out of Algeria. It explores what happens when you have to decide which side of revolution and war to be on and the lasting impacts of moving your family from their birth country. It discusses identity in a really beautiful way, how children test the waters of rebellion and what it means to feel disconnected from the country you come from. This book looks at the personal consequences of colonialism, immigration and war.

There are some breathtakingly poignant moments throughout this book, in which the author explores the sheer complexity of identity and the struggle for children of immigrants to understand what happened to their parents and grandparents. Zeniter really explores the personal effects of immigration, firstly though Ali - the grandfather who has to make the decision of 'which side of the revolution to be on' then through Hamid, the eldest son who rebels against his parents and forges himself a new French identity and then Naima, who picks up the pieces of regret and silence from her grandfather and father and tries to understand where she truly comes from. Thought provoking and beautifully written.

Thank you to Picador & Pan Macmillan for the ARC.

I was excited to read this from the cover and blurb but actually found it flat, dry, and unengaging, I'm afraid. The book follows a typical structure of a family saga as it explores three generations of an Algerian family who have a complicated relationship with France: themes of colonialism, immigration and integration make this timely but I don't feel that this says anything original, or says it in an imaginative way.

There's lots of flat 'telling', very little dramatic 'showing', and it's hard to feel anything for the characters as they're so distant - great chunks of exposition make this feel like a historical text rather than a novel. Sorry, but I wanted to engage with the characters face to face: in this book it's like they're behind triple screens of glass.

Verdict: interesting material but not a style of writing or storytelling that works for me.

This is a wonderful book. I had already read it in the original French but wanted to make sure I had grasped every nuance and so I was delighted when it became available on NetGalley.

Naima is half Algerian but fully Parisian. She lives a typical life of a millennial in a city, drinking, casual sex etc. She likes to think she is fully integrated. But various things happen and she starts to wonder about her heritage. This is the story of her family, of how Ali her grandfather came to France. He was a Harki (someone who fought on the side of the french during the Algerian war of independence and therefore despised in modern Algeria) and the first third of the book is his story. It is a harrowing story of war and very well told. We might not agree with Ali's choices but we understand why he took them. The second part of the story is Hamid's. Ali's son. Hamid never speaks of Algeria. He is frightened of what he might find out about his father. He wants an education, he ensures his four daughters are well educated. Naima, who is Hamid's daughter is the focus of the third part. This is an exploration of what it is to be an immigrant, whether you can ever be fully integrated, It is very poignant in parts. Naima has to face the unconscious prejudices of both the population in general and her friends when there are Islamist terrorist attacks in France.

A truly great book. I hope it is as successful here as it has been in France. And it's an excellent translation. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.