Salvation Army

Taïa's slim and disjointed autobiographical coming-of-age story begins in poverty in Salé, Morocco, where young Abdellah reports on the impoverished town's doings. As a young adult, he falls for an older man who introduces him to Europe and the possibility of leaving home and its repressive social mores behind. But the story feels haphazard, and the narrative hinges on a string of taboo-breaking accounts of Taïa's amorous encounters, from his incestuous desire for his older brother to his troubled first love, then a threesome, then a random encounter in a public toilet. For all its frank sexuality and candor, the novel feels canned and unconvincing. (Mar.)