I am of the belief that it is more difficult for a person to rise from poverty to a good lifestyle in the west than it is in India. Being the son of illiterate Algerian immigrants and living in a shantytown would make it all the more tougher, but that didn't stop Azouz Begag from rising all the way from a Lyon slum to the French Prime Minister's Cabinet.
Begag, who was the minister for equal opportunities in Dominique de Villepin's government, writes this autobiography of his childhood in a slum near Lyon in the 1960s. Conditions in the slum were actually worse than in present-day Dharavi, which has electricity. Begag grew up in the company of other children who were in limbo between North Africa and France. But his resolve and ambition along with a few inspiring school-teachers helped him reach great heights, against the odds.
This beautiful coming-of-age book describes life in the Chaâba, a slum with Algerian immigrants. After Algerian independance, many impoverished men came in search of a better life in the former coloniser's country. While they stuck to their traditions in many aspects, this proved detrimental to a generation of confused children who weren't French enough.
I particulalry enjoyed the description of community life in the Chaâba, complete with fights between the womenfolk, when their husbands were at the construction sites. The book is a frank account of life in the slums but a positive one, none the less. Some might it find too hard to read the passage about circumcision, using common scissors or other details of the hygiene habits in the Chaâba, but I think this is a wonderful book to understand the questions of multi-culturalism, immigration and class divisions, issues that occupy centre-stage in many parts of the world.
Begag, who was the minister for equal opportunities in Dominique de Villepin's government, writes this autobiography of his childhood in a slum near Lyon in the 1960s. Conditions in the slum were actually worse than in present-day Dharavi, which has electricity. Begag grew up in the company of other children who were in limbo between North Africa and France. But his resolve and ambition along with a few inspiring school-teachers helped him reach great heights, against the odds.
This beautiful coming-of-age book describes life in the Chaâba, a slum with Algerian immigrants. After Algerian independance, many impoverished men came in search of a better life in the former coloniser's country. While they stuck to their traditions in many aspects, this proved detrimental to a generation of confused children who weren't French enough.
I particulalry enjoyed the description of community life in the Chaâba, complete with fights between the womenfolk, when their husbands were at the construction sites. The book is a frank account of life in the slums but a positive one, none the less. Some might it find too hard to read the passage about circumcision, using common scissors or other details of the hygiene habits in the Chaâba, but I think this is a wonderful book to understand the questions of multi-culturalism, immigration and class divisions, issues that occupy centre-stage in many parts of the world.
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