The Italian

Two fundamentally opposed brothers circumnavigate each other during Tunisia’s political turmoil in the 1980s in Mabkhout’s powerful and layered debut, which won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2015. Once a restless youth, Abdel Nasser helms his law school’s secret Marxist-Leninist organization while his older brother, Salah Eddine, excels in academic and political circles in Switzerland. Described by the narrator as “a swift, unstoppable river,” Abdel Nasser rises in the ranks of the student communist “syndicate” while entertaining his fascination for the fiercely independent Zeina, a fellow comrade of staggering intelligence. A brutal opening features Abdel Nasser, dubbed “El-Talyani” because of his mysterious Italian good looks, viciously attacking an imam at the funeral of his father, initiating a series of flashbacks involving his sexual awakening, trauma, and self-pedagogy in French and German philosophy, as well as violent protests where Abdel Nasser and Zeina’s affection becomes “the opium of the sleeping animal in the human heart.” Barreling forward at an urgent pace, the narrative chronicles the revolutionary spirit of Tunis, where communist ideals clash with the Islamist movements (though both are in staunch rebellion to state power), and Mabkhout heightens the drama with the accompanying love story and its parallel emotional collision. Sprawling and memorable, this is one well-written story. (Oct.)