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The Happy Marriage

Tahar Ben Jelloun,

Andre Nafis-Sahely (Translator)

3.27 · Rating details · 1,281 ratings · 142 reviews

“Ben Jelloun is arguably Morocco’s greatest living author, whose impressive body of work combines intellect and imagination in magical fusion.” —The Guardian

In The Happy Marriage, the internationally acclaimed Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun tells the story of one couple—first from the husband’s point of view, then from the wife’s—just as legal reforms are about to ch ...more

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Hardcover, 320 pages

Published January 12th 2016 by Melville House (first published 2012)

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Dec 16, 2015 Maxwell marked it as dnf

Shelves: translated, arc

I read half of this book, and while it definitely wasn't bad, it didn't do much for me. The narrative keeps you at a distance from the characters, so I felt no sympathy for or interest in what was happening. And with that lacking, I don't feel compelled to read on. I'm glad I gave it a try, and I'd be interested in reading something else by this author eventually. ...more

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Feb 28, 2016 Kamil rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned-read, owned-books, 2016

Tahar Ben Jelloun is a famous Moroccan writer, mulit awards winner, that writes in French. He lives in Paris and is often talked about as possible winner of Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Happy Marriage ,is his super fresh still wrarm novel, also just translated to English.

This new novel starts with a famous, celebrate painter turned invalid after severe stroke. Unable to move he starts his story of the years long marriage, his love life and artistic life.

I deliberately said that this is his s ...more

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Oct 16, 2020 Caroline marked it as couldn-t-finish

Bailed at 50%. The endless parade of his lovers was the final straw. No doubt his boundless self absorption and inability to conceive of his share of the blame were the point, but I just didn’t care any more.

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Jun 09, 2018 Renita D'Silva rated it really liked it

A brilliantly imagined portrayal of a marriage in all its convoluted glory.

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Mar 20, 2017 Monica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It reminded me a lot of Marquez and Rushdie. Brilliant story teller. Just brilliant. The style makes you feel in one of the Arabian Nights stories. Its hard to say anything about this book. You need to read it and love every word of it. If it wasn't for the obvious, right in your face preferred thesis, the book would have been perfect. Splendid characters (Lalla Fatma, my favourite), a way with words (one sentence, sometimes even one word tells an entire story), magic realism atmosphere... Simpl ...more

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Jun 04, 2016 Ibtissam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It was a good read, i enjoyed every page of the book, racism is something not really talked about or taken seriously in Morocco, and this book describes perfectly the struggle that sub-sahara Africans or even Moroccans with a dark skin have to deal with here, of course i am not saying all Moroccans are racist but racism does exist in Morocco.

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Jan 09, 2016 Judy rated it really liked it

Shelves: 21st-century-fiction, literature-in-translation

I have made a goal this year to read more literature written in countries outside the English speaking world. Tahar Ben Jelloun was born and raised in Morocco, then began to live and write in Paris after attending The Sorbonne. He is bilingual in Arabic and French but writes in French because to him Arabic “is a sacred language, given by God in the shape of the Koran, it is intimidating—one feels very small in front of this language.” (http://www.theparisreview.org/intervi...)

I had read his mos I have made a goal this year to read more literature written in countries outside the English speaking world. Tahar Ben Jelloun was born and raised in Morocco, then began to live and write in Paris after attending The Sorbonne. He is bilingual in Arabic and French but writes in French because to him Arabic “is a sacred language, given by God in the shape of the Koran, it is intimidating—one feels very small in front of this language.” (http://www.theparisreview.org/intervi...)

I had read his most well known novel, The Sand Child, some years ago and was struck by a style of story telling that felt foreign to me, but elicited a strong emotional reaction. I realized then how various are the ways stories are told in different cultures and thus how various are the ways life can be lived and approached, just on one little planet.

In The Happy Marriage, perhaps Ben Jelloun is giving us a look at marriage through Moroccan eyes, inclusive of both those who live in the country and those who emigrate to France, as many Moroccans have done. The marriage in his novel is in crisis due to patriarchal views held by the husband, the large difference in age and class between husband and wife, and the relentless encroaching of struggles by women the world over for equal rights.

The book opens a few months after the husband, a famous painter, has suffered a massive stroke. Mostly paralyzed and unable to speak, he is in despair over not having finished his life’s work. He blames the stroke on his wife and their increasingly violent arguments even though he is overweight and had been diagnosed with hypertension some years ago.

The first section is called “The Man Who Loved Women Too Much” and is the painter’s account of his life as told to and recorded by a close friend. This man has had much success as a painter and has been a continuous womanizer since even before his marriage. He thinks quite highly of himself and relates his amorous liaisons contrasted with the recriminations his wife pours on his head.

As I read I began to realize that the painter is both an unreliable narrator as well as a man who feels it is his privilege to live as he pleases, have affairs, travel the world and hoard his money, as long as he gives his wife enough to run the household. They have children whom she is tasked with raising. All he wants from them is their love and adoration.

Also, though the marriage was not arranged and supposedly entered into with love on both sides, the wife is much younger and comes from a small, impoverished Moroccan village. The painter wanted a woman to give him children and the wife wanted to move up in class and affluence. Their two families have never gotten along and this class conflict is a virulent source of trouble for the couple.

One of my favorite novels of 2015 was Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies. Ben Jelloun has used a similar structure for his book with a section from the husband’s viewpoint followed by the wife’s. Also similar are the husband’s obliviousness to the plight of his wife and the wife’s anger over that plight. Different here is the anger exhibited by the wife. Shortly after the birth of their first child she became aware of his infidelities and his stinginess with money and made no secret about her fury. Also different is how entertaining Ben Jelloun manages to be even while the couple wage their battles.

In the second section called ‘My Version of Events,” the wife has discovered and read the manuscript of her husband’s life story. She states, “Before giving you my version of events, I must warn you that I’m nasty. I wasn’t born that way, but when people attack me, I defend myself by any and all means.” Her rage and her willingness to spy on the painter, even to picking the lock to his safe, are beyond bounds. Surely all women get mad at their husbands and dream of ways to retaliate but this one goes ahead and does it! Even so, the husband holds most of the power except for one crucial point.

Though he has told her he wants to end the marriage, she refuses to agree and manages to outwit him with his lawyers. A stalemate of almost a year ensues. Then comes an unexpected ending, so unexpected that my admiration for the author’s insight and sense of irony felt betrayed. On rereading the ends of both partners’ stories though, the admiration returned and increased. Marriage is as fluid as any other aspect of life. It succeeds or fails due to the personalities involved no matter the society or culture. If there is any hope in the novel, it is that a woman empowered has options, even in a fundamentalist country. ...more

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Feb 12, 2017 Anya rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I had for some time wanted to read a work by famed Moroccan/French author Tahar Ben Jelloun. On a whim, I picked up "Le Bonheur conjugal", having heard about it on several book blogging sites.
This novel is about the break up of an 'unequal' marriage, between a intellectual, bourgeois Moroccan painter, and his much younger Berber wife of humble origins. The first three quarters of the novel are an account of the events from the husband's point of view. The final part of the novel is told from the ...more

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Sep 21, 2020 Tamara Agha-Jaffar rated it really liked it

Shelves: middle-east-and-africa, 2020-mena-challenge, books-in-translation, books-i-ve-reviewed, fiction, 2020-reading-challenge

The Happy Marriage by Tahar Ben Jelloun, translated from the French by André Naffis-Sahely is in two parts. Part 1 unfolds from the perspective of a highly successful Moroccan Artist from an upper-class family in Fez. Part 2 unfolds in the first-person point of view of his wife, a young woman from a poor village in Morocco. The narrative chronicles the deterioration of their marriage from two entirely different perspectives.

The novel opens in the year 2000 in Casablanca with the artist having su The Happy Marriage by Tahar Ben Jelloun, translated from the French by André Naffis-Sahely is in two parts. Part 1 unfolds from the perspective of a highly successful Moroccan Artist from an upper-class family in Fez. Part 2 unfolds in the first-person point of view of his wife, a young woman from a poor village in Morocco. The narrative chronicles the deterioration of their marriage from two entirely different perspectives.

The novel opens in the year 2000 in Casablanca with the artist having suffered a severe stroke leaving him semi-paralyzed and speechless. He is helpless, frustrated, and embarrassed by his condition. His narrative alternates between Morocco and France at different time periods. He recalls his life and the early days of his marriage in France when both he and his wife were initially very happy and very much in love. He flashes back to describing his affairs with a parade of women before and during his marriage, expressing no remorse for his philandering. He depicts his wife as totally irrational, borderline insane, and prone to bouts of physical and verbal abuse. As he regains movement and speech, he dictates his version of events to a writer friend.

Part 2 is in the first-person voice of his wife. She discovers the manuscript of her husband’s version of events and presents her side of the story which, not surprisingly, does not correspond with his version. She is a poor Berber village girl who endures both classism and racism from her husband’s family. After their first couple of years of marital bliss, her husband turns into an ogre. She describes him as controlling her with money, demeaning her in public, embarrassing her, flaunting his infidelities, and abandoning her with their children while he gallivants all over the world exhibiting his paintings.

Ben Jelloun captures a marriage in crisis through the contrasting views of his characters who reveal as much about themselves as they do about each other. Although he projects himself as the hapless victim of a tyrannical wife, the artist emerges as selfish, egotistical, and self-absorbed. He is oblivious to his wife’s needs, justifies his infidelities and secrets, and harbors patriarchal views of marriage. The wife, on the other hand, has a modern approach to marriage. Her expectations for loyalty, fidelity, honesty, equality, and mutual respect are thwarted by her husband’s behavior until, by her own admission, she turns into a nasty, vengeful, embittered, and vindictive human being. The children barely receive a mention in either version as if their welfare is incidental to the marital feud.

His exposure of the marriage through contradictory lenses enables Ben Jelloun to illustrate the conflicting tensions within race, class, and age disparity. But the fundamental conflict that undergirds all others is the clash between a traditional, patriarchal view of marriage with a modern view of marriage. The couple inhabit two different worlds. Ben Jelloun skillfully interrogates both perspectives leaving the reader to reflect on whether either perspective is reliable—if at all.

A thought-provoking novel. Recommended

You can find more of my book reviews at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com ...more

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Feb 22, 2016 Lynn rated it it was ok

Shelves: literary-wives-theme, literary-wives-online-book-discussi

Full review at Smoke & Mirrors: http://books-n-music.blogspot.com/201.... I thought I would never get through this one. When I originally read about this one, I had not added it to my TBR list. It just didn't seem like one I would like. Then the other co-hosting bloggers for the Literary Wives book club wanted to read it and the publisher very kindly provided us with free review copies. But, unfortunately, this one just did not gel for me. It was a bit similar to Fates and Furies, but not much. ...more

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Mar 12, 2016 Rebecca rated it it was ok

2.5 and maybe actually a 3. This was a weird one. I couldn't put it down the first 130 pages or so - literally couldn't tear myself from the book.

Then it was like falling off a cliff. The narrator's syntax is SO odd and I got to a point where I couldn't think of anything else - the plot was completely subsumed by the voice. (Anyone else remember that HIMYM episode with the shattering glass effect? Yeah, it was that.) Entire paragraphs would be character lectures that followed the same structure: ...more

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Dec 30, 2019 Mybookmark Gr rated it liked it · review of another edition

"Le mariage de plaisir" is NOT "The Happy Marriage". Just wanted to share this info, as I was a bit confused reading the reviews here in the first place. "Le mariage de plaisir" is not yet available in English.

"Le mariage de plaisir" is about Amir, a wealthy merchant of Fes, who contracts a "marriage of pleasure" with Nabou, a young Fulani. This is a very well written tale about Marocco, racism, and immigration. I couldn't help but feel shocked when the narrator revealed huge events, in such a ...more

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Jan 20, 2017 Elisa rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017

I enjoyed this book I think because I have been married for a long time. It is a satire of each stage best summarized in the following quote:

"Marriage is nothing but a declaration of war celebrated with music, good food, perfumes, incense, pretty clothes, promises, songs, and so forth." ...more

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Mar 06, 2018 Katie rated it it was amazing

“But romantic love is in fact a fiction invented by novelists.” The same failed marriage is reviewed by the husband and wife, who have incredibly different points of view. I felt a deep sympathy for both characters, yet also believed that both were vile creatures who didn’t deserve to be in a relationship (depending on which point of view I was reading!) very well written with plenty of noteworthy quotes.

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Feb 19, 2017 Moushine Zahr rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I've read several of Tahar Ben Jelloun fiction and non fiction novels alike and I find this particular novel to be one of the best of his fiction novels sa far, but again I haven't real all his books.

This novel is about a Moroccan painter, who after suffering an AVC and being paralyzed, analyzes his life and especially his failed marriage and the reasons to its failure. The two main characters are very well developed. The story of a famous painter being successful professionally and having mult ...more

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Dec 27, 2015 K.W. Colyard rated it liked it

Shelves: reviews

When a stroke leaves a painter incapacitated, he endeavors to write the history of his marriage to his much-younger wife. She finds the manuscript, written by a friend with literary aspirations, and composes her own response to it. These two parts make up The Happy Marriage, the newest novel from Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun.

The Painter's account makes up roughly three-quarters of The Happy Marriage. He discusses his numerous affairs --- including one with a caregiver, post-stroke --- and a

...more

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Feb 21, 2017 Gina rated it did not like it

Shelves: read-in-2017

Two probably awful people rant about how awful the other is. Everything is extreme, none of it is interesting.

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Feb 22, 2016 Patricia rated it it was ok

I read 1/3 of this book and gave up. I understand the book is 2/3 from the husband's, Foulane, perspective and the last third his wife's, Amina Wakrine, rebuttal. The husband, an unnamed painter, is having multiple affairs. He and his wife have an unhappy marriage. They are from different social classes and under Moroccan cultural and religious values.
The reason I gave up on the novel after slightly over 100 pages is because the plot from the painter's perspective was very repetitive with his mu ...more

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Nov 21, 2017 Zaynäb Book Minimalist rated it liked it

This book tells the story of a painter who was confined to a wheelchair after suffering from a stroke allegedly caused by his wife. As his wife reads his version of the event. She gives her own version of the story.

It’s unusual to find a book at once freewheeling, controlled, and startlingly observant. The writing is clear; we were allowed to sympathize with both sides.

Although this is a translated work, it is written in bare, straightforward, almost skeletal prose.

I feel so bad for just discove ...more

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Mar 30, 2016 Sharon rated it liked it

Shelves: about-france, about-africa

This novel is mostly set in Morocco, and gives a good picture of the differences between rural and city living there. The first two thirds are written from the husband's point of view, and the last third is the wife's story. I liked how they both seemed to have the same sort of grievances against one another, but that they used different incidents to make their points. I fel t the translation was somewhat intrusive. The dialog, especially, was sometimes awkward in English and I kept trying to fi ...more

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Nov 14, 2016 Rachel rated it it was ok

I nearly ditched this two thirds if the way through (very unusual for me), I was so sick of the nameless artist and his self-pitying rant. The book was somewhat redeemed by the fact that the wife then got to have her say. (Much more succinctly, as she points out.) What an awful couple, though. The blurb was quite misleading - it said this was about women's rights in marriage. It's not. It's about whether a wife should put up with her husband's infidelity. ...more

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May 26, 2016 Victoria Shepherd rated it really liked it

Meticulously crafted, without a word our of place, and an unexpected, unsettling conclusion.

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Nov 01, 2020 Besma Dziri rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Impressions on The Happy Marriage by Tahar Ben Jelloun

The painter, that’s how the leading character is identified.. named.. valued and recognized by the writer, not just to render his worth, but also to introduce the reader to a world of dimensions.. of passions.. of art.. of pigments, shades, thoughts, imaginations, inspiration..
It is the world of an Artist who “didn’t belong to any movement or school”.. rather to a whole world of Art and creativity..
Bearing this in mind, as readers, we can c Impressions on The Happy Marriage by Tahar Ben Jelloun

The painter, that’s how the leading character is identified.. named.. valued and recognized by the writer, not just to render his worth, but also to introduce the reader to a world of dimensions.. of passions.. of art.. of pigments, shades, thoughts, imaginations, inspiration..
It is the world of an Artist who “didn’t belong to any movement or school”.. rather to a whole world of Art and creativity..
Bearing this in mind, as readers, we can comprehend and we learn to understand the painter’s joys and pains.. his visions on life.. his whims.. his connection to the world of the mundane..
The painter walks on paths of life with the heart and mind of an artist speaking the language of his very world.. a free spirit that does what he feels like, no time and space could confine him..
The painter, a free spirit who longed to be always fully immersed in his passion, his paintings.. seizing every single chance to nourish his creativity and fuel his energy with the pleasures offered by Life..
The painter, as an attentive caring husband, so much in love with his wife.. so much infatuated that he failed to acknowledge the huge differences that would set them apart..
Love brought the painter and his wife together but couldn’t resist the wide gap between them.. It was neither social status not age that justified the areas of misunderstanding and their failure to remain happily and harmoniously wedded.. The painter and his wife didn’t share a life, a passion, a vision, a whim, a language of a fulfilling connection..
The painter has a full life of devotion to his passion of painting, climbing the ladder of achievements and success.. at the same time feeling weighed down by his conjugal bonds.. His wife who hadn’t been able both to understand, appreciate and share his world and to create a world of her own where she could feel her self worth and fulfillment..
The painter, overwhelmed by his alluring journeys and Art, didn’t spare enough time to understand his wife, a girl who “was born in an arid Land, devoid of all water and shade”.. a girl who “endured hunger, endured thirst, endured cold”.. a girl who “belonged to the night, to a cruel unforgiving world”..
“My name is Amina.. I lived in Bled el Fna, village of nothingness.. I’m violent, my father forbade me from going to school..”..
That was the gap, the clash, the differences, the misunderstandings of a couple once fell fervently into love..
Love, as the writer put it in the painter’s words, “whether blind or levelheaded, couldn’t be held accountable for people’s actions”..
The painter, now in the hands of fate, out of love.. couldn’t regain his priceless freedom, his free spirit.. no longer enabled to have his soul nurtured as he is confined to his wheelchair with half of his body paralyzed.. He is now safe.. in the hands of Amina..
Tahar Ben Jelloun, the writer, the poet and the Artist ; has taken the reader, with impressive style and mastery of pen and brush, not only to the life of the painter but also to his very thirsty soul who needs to fill his well with Love, care, share, support and understanding from the world of the mundane..
Tahar Ben Jelloun has a profound flair and affinity for beauty, artistry and insight.. an adept power at having the reader not just read his words of many a layer and shade but get immersed heart and mind to feel, see and live in the world he brilliantly crafted..
Tahar Ben Jelloun has a thrilling artistic liberty and a real knowledge of the realm of Art and Creativity, was able in ‘The Happy Marriage' to depict a bare and genuine the life.. the marriage of two beings who belonged to different worlds.. He had tried to bridge the gap between these two worlds through love and a masterpiece was created..
Tahar Ben Jelloun has exceeded my expectations as a reader.. so much enjoyed reading and tempted by the whole aura imagining myself in their worlds..
Tahar Ben Jelloun has answered so many questions of a world that resonates with my soul..
‘The Happy Marriage', 'Le Bonheur Conjugal’, a journey to embark on.. a Beauty to unveil.. an immense pleasure to revel in..
...more

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Feb 21, 2019 Jakub Marek rated it it was ok · review of another edition

First of all, I think someone at Goodreads messed up and linked two different books into one. Most reviews written in English seem to be referring to a different book as The Happy Marriage is probably the translation of "Le Bonheur conjugal", while this profile is supposed to be for "Le mariage du plaisir". The books seem to have similar plots and even to share some characters so it's fairly confusing.

In any case, this book really didn't work for me. The first part is great, it focuses on Nabou, First of all, I think someone at Goodreads messed up and linked two different books into one. Most reviews written in English seem to be referring to a different book as The Happy Marriage is probably the translation of "Le Bonheur conjugal", while this profile is supposed to be for "Le mariage du plaisir". The books seem to have similar plots and even to share some characters so it's fairly confusing.

In any case, this book really didn't work for me. The first part is great, it focuses on Nabou, a black Senegalese woman, and Amir, an Arabian man who travels to her town every year for trade and has a "marriage of pleasure" with her, a fairly weird concept where they enter into an actual temporary marriage (which is supposed to be better a better option than prostitution). Amir decides to bring her home to Morocco, which send his first wife Lalla Fatma ballistic. This part is great, Nabou is a very enjoyable character, there is some sublime magical realism brought through Amir's autistic (?) son Karim and the story explores its main point - Arabic racism against "Africans" - very well.
And then Lalla Fatma just dies, out of the blue. This is where the story goes off the rails. Nabou has two sons - one white (meaning Arabic) and one black. While the white twin leads a fairly standard life, the black one suffers all degrees of racism. Than the black twin has his own son who... has the same problem. Frankly, the scenes of racism are so over the top it's hard to take it seriously. For example, most characters can't just yell a slur (which is what would probably satisfy most racists), they have to go on a cartoonishly detailed tirade how they hate all those dirty black people just because they are black.
The end of the book focuses on Salim, Nabou's black grand-child, and this part is completely ridiculous and rage-inducing. Frankly, everything the kid does is beyond dumb but I will just avoid spoilers.
It seems like the author just wanted to say "racism is bad" but you kinda don't need to cover 260 pages with it. I felt mostly detached from the characters, there is a lot of description of what they feel and think but it still felt like the story just glosses over it. I think several shifts between characters in the second part of the book was a mistake. There were many themes that would deserve more attention, the annotation for example plays up the difference in how society treats the two twins but it doesn't go much beyond what you immediately expect (one is doing fine, the other not). The white twin shows up in just a few scenes and the two barely interact at all, the book then quickly shifts to Salim. I think it's a bit of a lost opportunity.
Anyway, I liked the style of the first part but I think the second half falls into clichés and exaggerations. The reviews of "The Happy Marriage" sound very positive so I might give it a try sometime. ...more

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May 10, 2019 Natasha rated it really liked it

Shelves: comtemporary-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I am torn as to how to review this book. It was interesting - a tale of a marriage told from two different perspectives, husband and wife. Morocco, Paris, art, a clash of cultures and class. Interesting. I want to like the book more than I did. I liked the first part: the husband is depicted as multi-dimensional, complex, and despite some questionable choices and behaviors, he is sympathetic. But, I am not thrilled with how the wife is written: her entire existence, every emotion, every thought, ...more

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Dec 29, 2020 Gina rated it liked it · review of another edition

I just wished Goodreads had more than 5 stars to rate a book. This book is between 3 and 4 stars for me.

I think Jelloun is a very good writer, expressing clearly his thoughts and using very accessible wording. He has a good potential as a writer as he touches on world popular inequality subjects, this time racism in the Moroccan society, but also discrepancies between men and woman behavior, as accepted by the Coran. For Amir, cheating on his wife is accepted by his religion as long as he is doi ...more

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Jul 06, 2018 Preethi rated it liked it

Shelves: wanderlust-or-about-a-country, can-do-without-reading-this

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 16, 2017 Halool Angela rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

One weekend easy to read novel but with a story that makes you think twice if anything in our behavior and mentality has changed in the last 200 years. A real social novel that bears you on the wings of time from the late thirties until 2010. A story of three generations that combines Islamic thoughts, African believes, racism and social class discrepancy. It is shown the tragedy of the unstable roots of the younger generation that is raised at the confluence of two or more cultures and do not ...more

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Oct 26, 2018 Debbie rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: all

Recommended to Debbie by: Good reads

This was a well written book from the perspective of a privileged entitled moroccan who gets it all taken away. it starts when he has had A STROKE THAT HAS TAKEN AWAY SPEECH and mobility. Bravely he uses the time to think and review and does not lose hope that he will be a painter again. the stroke occured right after an extremely stressful fight with his wife of 20 years. after a while he begins to tell us his perspective of their marriage. There is no denying that he has often been a philander ...more

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Aug 27, 2018 Carol rated it it was ok

Artist who "loves" his innocent wife until he hates her, story drags horribly with exception of inner stories by his nurse that are wicked and foreboding. He has lots of sex that seems vanilla. His descriptions of art are horrible (unreliable narrator). Shrew wife gets the last third of the book to tell her story....doesn't really make it better. Book cover claims this is about changing divorce laws in Morocco. Others see this as a story about class and gender power dynamics, but the whole thing ...more

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About Tahar Ben Jelloun

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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الطاهر بن جلون
Tahar Ben Jelloun (Arabic: الطاهر بن جلون‎‎) is a Moroccan writer. The entirety of his work is written in French, although his first language is Arabic. He became known for his 1985 novel L’Enfant de Sable (The Sand Child). Today he lives in Paris and continues to write. He has been short-listed for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
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Quotes from The Happy Marriage

“Whenever you’re struck by misfortune, either through an illness or an accident, the people around you suddenly change. There are those who scurry off the sinking ship, like rats, those who wait to see how the situation develops before making their next move, and finally those who remain loyal to their feelings and whose behavior doesn’t change. Those friends are both rare and precious. He” — 0 likes

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Preview — The Happy Marriage by Tahar Ben Jelloun

The Happy Marriage

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Tahar Ben Jelloun

Books by Tahar Ben Jelloun

Related Articles

Trivia About The Happy Marriage

Quotes from The Happy Marriage

new topic
Discuss This Book