Watch Us Dance by Leïla Slimani, received from Jonathan Ball Publishers and translated from French by Sam Taylor, is set in the 1960s in newly independent Morocco. Born in Morocco in 1981, the author draws on her own French-Moroccan ancestry to deliver a tense, provocative, and interesting novel based on a family’s — and country’s — coming of age in the face of the seductions of power and privilege.
When I picked this novel, I did not realise that it was the second book in a historical fiction trilogy (following The Country of Others) about a French Catholic woman and a Moroccan Muslim soldier who found each other during the Second World War. It is a pity I skipped the first book as it might have given valuable context to the narrative regarding this tumultuous period in the history of Morocco.
In Watch Us Dance, Mathilde Belhaj and her husband Amine live on his inherited Meknes farm. Their biracial children, Aicha, a strong-willed and academic young woman who aspires to become a doctor, and her free-spirited brother, Selim, who joins the American and European hippies descending on Tangier and Casablanca to do drugs and practice free love, are both on the cusp of their adulthood. The siblings try to find their place in a fast-changing milieu as the newly acquired independence of Morocco inevitably gives rise to conflict, racism and corruption.
Both children of the revolution, the pair dreams of a radiant future in a free country. But what they experience are both the challenges of adolescence as well as coping with the complex social and political situation of post-independence Morocco. Where their country was once united against their coloniser, divisions erupt as Moroccans become divided in their race for wealth and influence.
In Slimani’s telling, the turmoil in the family reflects what is playing out in their country. It is a complex novel that touches on racism, colonial baggage and patriarchy, to name but a few. I found myself somewhat distanced from the characters themselves, almost remaining a spectator, but I did enjoy seeing the country through the author’s loving eyes. The beauty of both the people and of Morocco, its coastline and beaches, vegetation and cities are vividly depicted. It was a valuable and enriching read, especially for someone like me who has never but always wanted to visit Morocco.
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