Un travail plein d’humour qu’il discute bien des questions sociales aussi dans un sens très impressionnant.

Une histoire très mignonne mais complexe qui vous invite à réfléchir !

Una storia per ragazzi che racconta la vita adolescenziale di Doria, la quale vive insieme alla mamma nella banlieue parigina. Entrambe sono state abbandonate dal padre, che è ritornato in Marocco, e si trovano a vivere dei momenti di difficoltà. Tra assistenti sociali, psicologi, personaggi del quartiere e compagni di scuola, si attraversa questo momento molto delicato della protagonista, fatto di delusioni, illusioni, rabbia e risentimento. Non mancano però la speranza, i sogni, il riscatto, tutti elementi che si fanno strada man mano che la storia si dispiega. La scrittura risulta semplice e scorrevole, con alcuni termini tipici sia degli adolescenti francesi sia della cultura araba di origine dei genitori di Doria. Una storia carina e di compagnia, in grado comunque di far riflettere sulla situazione di queste periferie difficili e apparentemente senza futuro.

Est-ce que j’ai compris ce roman? Peut-être.

was okay

I honestly don't know what to think about this book. It's French (thus the title) but I mean I read it and understood it (I'm doing A-Level French and I'm going to be studying French at Cardiff Uni this year) but the main character was so hard to wrap my head around. Her entire perception of the world was full of complaints about everything, it's not until we're over halfway through the book that she begins to show real emotion and it just made me so angry.
It was readable but frustrating - in a nutshell.

رواية لذيذة. وهل تملك إلا أن تشغف بصوت الفتاة ذات الخمسة عشر ربيعاً .. والتي تسخر من العالم وتتهكم على غبائه طوال الوقت؟

لذييييذة تذوب في دمك بسهولة :)

Great! Not technically published as YA, apparently, but I will be assigning it to my class for its hella resonance.

“I wonder why they call them wisdom teeth… The more they grow, the more you understand stuff? Personally, I’ve learned that learning hurts.”

It’s an understandable sentiment. Fifteen year old Doria’s life is far from perfect. She lives with her mother in a tower block on the outskirts of Paris.

Her father has returned to his Moroccan birthplace to find a new wife who will provide him with the son he so badly wants. And so mother and daughter are left to subsist on the meagre wages that a woman who doesn’t speak the language can earn as an office cleaner.

Understandably Doria is angry. With her father’s abandonment. With the casual racism that she and her mother regularly encounter. And with all the people who say they understand when they clearly don’t.

But this isn’t an angry book. It’s a slice of the life of a fifteen year old girl who doen’t stop for too long to think about hows and whys. She just gets on with things.

There are dark theme: poverty, opression, racism. But they are balanced by humour, emotional ties, and a wonderful sense of community.

Doria holds it all together. She has a black sense of humour, a strong moral compass, and wonderful powers of observation. I loved her and I believed in her completely.

I loved watching her interact with a broad cast. Mrs Burland, a counsellor who clearly cares but doesn’t quite understand. Hamoudi, her closest friend, Their lives are moving in different directions, but the bond between them remains. Shopkeepers, neighbours, aunties …

Yes, community is so important.

And there was plenty going on. This is one of those books you can open to any page and find a great one liner, a perfect observation or a memorable incident. Sometimes you’d find all three!

A little more plot, a little more structure wouldn’t have gone amiss though. The story dropped into Doria’s and Yasmina’s lives, and then it dropped out again with a little progress but no real conclusion.

But the rich content, beautifully balanced with a great authorial touch, did balance that.

And it was lovely to meet Doria and Yasmina. Their relationship was the best thing of all. Doria’s pride in her mother and how she was working to support them both. Yasmina’s confidence in her daughter, tempered with concern and uncertainly about what the future might hold.

That’s what is staying with me, and making me smile when I think about the book.

read it for class and didn’t feel like reading it so yk
it was good but nothing special

Relu pour pouvoir lire « Kiffe kiffe hier? » et c’est toujours aussi cool de retrouver la star Doria

The author wrote this when she was 19 years old and it definitely has a YA simplicity and feel to it. I saw some comparisons to The Catcher in the Rye but I think it may more closely align with S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, both from the standpoint of a young author and for characters who are existing on the margins of society.

My daughter read this early on in college, having a professor for a core class (where the book was read in English) who also happened to be a French professor for my daughter. The professor told my daughter that the French version is definitely better, there is quite a bit of slang and plays on words that just didn't come through very well in the English translation.

While the story is pretty simple and moves quickly (I easily read it in one sitting), it definitely touches on a lot of themes that could be more deeply explored: the plight of immigrants, especially of the youth that often serve as the divide/bridge for their parents and the new country, racism, low-income housing especially for immigrant groups, clashes between social/cultural/religious mores, classism, etc. So, it felt like a surface-level scratching of some deeper issues, which fits well with the 15-year-old protagonist, her teenage cynicism, and general comments about her life.

France prides itself on "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité", but this book punches some holes in that old facade.

I can't say it's a favorite, but I appreciated the fresh voice and a look at lives not normally examined (especially in French literature).

For a french book this really wasn’t bad at all but i still hate reading in french so 3 stars it is