Bientôt les vivants by Amina Damerdji

Selma is a teenager, passionate about horseback riding. She belongs to a middle-class Algerian family, living with her parents, her grand-mother and uncle in a neighbourhood of the capital city of Alger. But the country is on the verge of changes: first, the delimitation from the French - although when the civil war starts many families may run to France - then the raise of the islamists and ongoing violence. She is growing up under the impact of those changes: she sees betrayal, corruption, how her crushes are taking wrong sides and got involved in nasty political conspiracies.

Bientôt les vivants - it is very hard to give a word-by-word translation into English, so I will rather abstain myself from doing it - by French-Algerian writer Amina Damerdji is built around Selma´s side of the story. Through her eyes we seize the day and her growing up and the constantly damaging dynamics in her family. 

The book brings into the forefront terrible political events Selma is becoming aware through her connections with her jockey club and her journalist cousin. She doesn´t judge, but typical for this age, she is learning by observing and noticing the behaviors and the facts, the cruel entanglement of politics and crime.

I did not know what to expect from this book, as I was interested in continuing my exploration of Algerian authors and literary topics (there is definitely more to come soon). I definitely loved the writing and how the reality and hard political topics are approached. I would have expect more depth into some of the characters, but it probably has to do with the exclusive reliance on Selma as the main storyteller.

Both Amina Damerdji and the Algerian-related topics will continue to preoccupy me, and I am definitely interested in more renditions of the political realms and ongoing conflicts in the literary register.

Rating: 4 stars