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Today, "Balak" by Chawki Amari, published on March 9, 2022 by Éditions de l'Observatoire.
Alain Raimbault, writer, blogger and contributor to the 20 Minutes
Books reading group
, recommends
Balak
by Chawki Amari, published on March 9, 2022 by Éditions de l'Observatoire.
His favorite quote:
“Balak hesitated.
He wants to tell her the truth.
But he doubts, he who doubted nothing.
Because of love, of course, a rearrangement of molecules that can turn everything upside down.
By giving his black die, symbol of the sect, to Lydia, he had already made a mistake.
The Great Zahir would have known, it wouldn't have been very good for him.
Should we go further?
Why this book?
Because this novel, between thriller and anticipation, puts in opposition
on one side the division of the Sects in the Ministry of the Interior (a kind of Great Inquisition of State), with a really mysterious character who is The follower, the king spinning, and on the other a completely eccentric sect which is preparing a coup, a Revolution whose originality I loved.
Because the reader discovers life in Algiers today,
which inherited a space shaped in part by French colonization, and whose society is torn between modernity, symbolized by the radiant character of freedom that is Lydia, and by his sister Manal who follows a tidy and rigorous life on the family and religious level.
But the author still asks the question: is this external rigidity sincere or is it only a facade?
Because this work addresses many philosophical concepts
such as determinism, is our life written before we are even born?
Chance, its semantic origin, its philosophers.
What is its fundamental importance?
Are we really free?
Quantum reality, where any observed object changes its nature because of our observation.
Finally string theory and what the real world is.
In short, many concepts to think about.
Because this novel is an original critique of a society
in which any non-conformist thought becomes a danger for the state ready to spy on and lock up everyone without warning.
One will think of Kafka, and of Orwell.
And also to the authors of the Latin American boom who denounced the dictatorships of their time.
The essentials in 2 minutes
The plot.
Balak meets by chance, but is it a chance?, the beautiful Lydia.
He seduces her.
He hesitates to tell her about the rationalist sect of the Zahiroune to which he belongs.
For his part, the director of sects spies on all the sects in the city, including that of Balak.
Characters.
Balak, who meets Lydia, sister of Manal, both daughters of the director of the Sects.
The follower.
The Great Zahir.
Places.
Alger.
The time.
Today.
The author.
Chawki Amari, born in 1964 in Algiers, is a journalist, geologist, caricaturist and author of several novels.
He is also an actor.
This book was read amused
by the sect and especially by the Revolution that Balak and the Great Zahir are preparing.
Discourses on chance, fate, reality and prime numbers intelligently combine detective storytelling, love story and philosophy.
This novel of a false lightness is exciting.
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Book sheet 20 Minutes
Books
Novel
Polar
Algeria
Sect