The Saint

Issue date: 9/11/09 Section: Opinion

The book's cover

The negative POV by Christina Hollar:

Let's be honest, shall we? "Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits" was a substandard riot of complaints. How so? Well, read on.

Laila Lalami lacks the ability to stay in the same tense. She begins in past tense (in an effort) to build a scene and then switches to present and trembles on the line between mediocrity and a hint of professionalism, failing to maintain control over when an event is taking place.

Creating a new sense of perspective and interest would have been more effective if she had developed her characters more. Because Lalami only offers brief glimpses into the characters, she is unsuccessful in developing her characters any further than stagnant impressions of the deceased in the news story that inspired her.

The story is comprised of an English major (Murad), a placement adviser at the Moroccan Ministry of Education (Larbi), an intelligent, religious fanatic (Faten), a mother taking English linguistics classes (Halima), and a mechanic from a trade school (Aziz).

These people didn't originate from the slums - their only fault was that the job market couldn't sustain them, so why does the vocabulary reflect such commonplace origins? This prevents the reader from gaining that necessary insight and differentiation in character voices and thereby disables the reader from connecting with them.

The most advanced vocabulary in the entire story was "motley." I only remember the two instances of that word because it was so vastly different than the rest of the book. The majority of it is a composite of single-syllable, elementary words which I found to be lacking the level of what a college student - or, graduate - deserves.

I can usually ignore flaws in grammar, vocabulary, or even in style and technique, if the plot is gripping - or at least informative. But, whereas Lalami had an ample amount of history, societal issues and a natural affinity for Morocco, she didn't grasp the potential of those aspects.

An undeveloped plot clouded the experience of her characters' endeavors - delving into a joke-like manner where the action consisted of pitiful existences and troublesome, yet uninspiring, events.

Lalami's tale had the possibility to be a moving piece, but she fell disturbingly short. "Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits" left me in a state of doldrums, aimlessly reaching for the story that it could have been.

The positive POV by Ren Jenkins:

What I'm about to say is shocking and controversial. I actually enjoyed the common book, "Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits" by Laila Lalami. It was a quick and easy read that contained merits similar to larger tales.

At first I thought that reading this book was going to be horrible. I read the first chapter in the middle of the summer, and then stopped out of boredom.

Then, being the good little student that I am, I picked the book back up a week before school started and tried again. To my surprise, I could not put it down after the second chapter.

I felt that the simple vocabulary made it seem more real. When I talk or write to my friends, I don't use long, drawn-out words. It made me feel like I was reading a real story not just a book.

I enjoyed how each chapter was a glimpse of each of the character's stories, before and after their attempt to escape Morocco. This allowed me to use my imagination.

The plot twists and turns in ways that I did not see coming. Usually, I'm good at predicting books' endings, but in this case, I stared in shock. The plot line was compelling. It started in the middle, moved to the beginning, and then showed how their voyage changed them.

Just because the story doesn't use complex sentences and dictionary-required words, doesn't mean "Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits" is a bad book. It has an interesting plot line and diverse, likable characters, which is all a book really needs to be enjoyable.

Don't judge it before you've tried it.

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