The Life Before Us

This boisterous 1975 novel from Gary (Promise at Dawn), vivaciously translated by Manheim in 1977, follows the picaresque adventures of a precocious Muslim child in Paris’s poor Belleville neighborhood. Mohammed’s caretaker, Madame Rosa, is an Auschwitz survivor who runs a boarding house for Mohammed and other children of sex workers. The whereabouts of Mohammed’s parents are unclear, but for a while, a money order arrives once a month to maintain his stay. Much of the narrative revolves around the wild episodes that define Mohammed’s abject environment, ranging from darkly funny to grim. In one scene, Madame Rosa, who has diabetes and buys insulin on the black market, accidentally receives a shot of heroin. Later, another character dies after somehow shooting excrement into their vein. There’s also Madame Lola, a trans Senegalese sex worker and former boxing champion who still packs a heavy punch. Despite the bleak setting and narrative, Gary (1914–1980) musters a convincing celebration of life. His characters, no matter how forgotten or disenfranchised, burst with humanity and joie de vivre. This will transport readers. (Nov.)