Welcome to Paradise

March 15, 2012
A life suddenly collapses and existences are turned upside down, and no one can do a thing about it. So says the young narrator of Binebine's frank and disturbing tale of a group of harragas, the term those who are stateless use to identify themselves. Some harragas have identity papers; others are without, and that is better. If you have them, burn them, because it is harder to repatriate the unidentified, undocumented person. Binebine, a Moroccan educated in France, made his name as a painter before turning to writing. His piercing novel is told in a series of flashbacks. Having paid a fortune, the motley harragas, virtual prisoners of a gruff and silent guide, wait through a cold night for the sign to push a rowboat into the sea to row across the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain, then to travel on to France. Their stories are grim, making for a strong, unsparing novel in which Binebine examines the difference between the fatal and the fateful.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)