When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or so the saying goes. Faïza Guène knows all about making lemonade out of lemons. Raised in the rough suburbs of Paris – the same ones where rioting erupted last fall – Guène shows that the projects are not full of violence as often depicted. In her fictional but somewhat autobiographical book, “Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow” (rough translation: “more of the same tomorrow”), Guène shows what daily life looks like in the suburban Paris projects.
Guène was only 15 years old when she wrote “Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow” and 17 when she got the book deal. The novel was originally written in French spiced with Arabic slang. With its street talk, it obviously wasn’t an easy book to translate but it has been translated into 20-some languages so far. “Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow” is a translation marvel. It doesn’t feel translated except for the colloquialisms that are obviously not French, but American equivalents.
Doria is a 15-year-old Arab French girl living in the Paradise projects that circle Paris. Although she is presumed to be Muslim, religion is not really a part of her life. In fact, she calls the television her “poor man’s Koran.” Pop culture seems to be her creed.
After Doria’s father returns to his native Morocco to marry another woman – one who can produce a son for him – Doria and her mother live alone. Embittered by her father’s departure, Doria calls him “the Beard.”
Assuming the woman he married is pregnant by now, Doria says: “I know exactly how it will all go down: Seven days after the birth they’ll hold the baptism ceremony and invite the whole village…. It’s going to cost him a real fortune – all his pension from the Renault factory. And then they’ll slit the throat of a giant sheep to give the baby its first name. It’ll be Mohammed. Ten to one.”
Meanwhile, her mom forgets Doria’s 16th birthday and Doria imagines if she had been a boy there would have been a big production because her dad would still be there. She then says: “But fine, I’m a girl. A broad. A chick. A babe, even. I’ll get used to it eventually.”
These patriarchal issues come up throughout the book but Doria is still optimistic. She hopes her mom will marry someone nice. Aziz, the stingy grocer, is Doria’s first choice after Tony Danza from the TV show “Who’s the Boss?” That is until Doria gets wind that her mom “kiffes” (likes a lot) Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris.
She believes love is a way out of the projects – even for her. She dreams of meeting a MacGyver – “a man who can unclog your toilet with a can of Coke, fix the TV with a Bic pen, and give your hair a perfect blowout with his breath. A human Swiss Army Knife.” Instead, she gets her first kiss from a pimply but smart classmate named Nabil.
There are only three people of any relevance to Doria – Mamoudi, a drug dealer whom she has a crush on; her school-appointed shrink, Madame Burlaud; and her mom, whom she is fiercely protective of. When her mother isn’t invited to a wedding everyone else in the projects is, Doria says it’s OK because she and her mother don’t care much about being part of the “jet set.” It’s this kind of biting humor, anger dressed up as a joke, that makes the book so good.
“Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow” isn’t about futility of life in the ghetto, nor is it a sob story of how life isn’t fair. It simply tells of the daily goings-on of 15-year-old Doria. It’s filled with wry sarcasm and street charm. But there is nothing sad about the story. It’s all matter-of- fact. Doria, early in the book, says, “Fate is all trial and misery and you can’t do anything about it.” Guène obviously feels the same about the neighborhood she grew up in. For her, and her character, the projects are not a prison sentence, they are an opportunity. In fact, Guène still lives there in the same two-bedroom apartment she shares with her parents and siblings, and where she wrote the book.
Guène has a voice that amazingly didn’t get lost in translation. It’s powerful, urban, filled with disdain, but most important – it’s full of optimism about the future.
Renee Warner is a freelance writer in Atlanta.
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Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow
By Faïza Guène, translated by Sara Adams
Harcourt, 179 pages, $13, paperback
