Salvation Army

Abdellah Taïa is a brilliant young Moroccan who writes in French. In this novel, appropriately, he talks about his first contacts with Europeans. We learn about the traditional Moroccan family, about Swiss sex tourists, about the Salvation Army in Geneva, about the first burgeoning of desire in a young Arab, about family love and carnal love. Taïa has a captivating way of taking us into his confidence and telling us essential truths.

Edmund White

Here in the United States, it's easy to become jaded about the coming out narrative. It can feel like a story we've read one time too many, one that has somehow become commodified, fraught with predictability. But every once in a while a novel comes along that shatters our jaded state and renews our faith in the queer coming of age genre. Abdellah Taïa's Salvation Army is one such book.

Lambda Report

In a simple and straightforward language, the author leads the reader through a journey of uncertainty and self-discovery, beyond the nuanced resonance of words and emotions. Writing, which he discovers at an early age, involves for him a courageous and unprecedented act of exposing his country's taboos and prohibitions.

Tingus Magazine

Just when you thought you'd read every coming out story imaginable, a book as fresh and original as this one enlivens the genre.

Frontiers in LA

The novel is richly layered yet impressively lean, and as easily enjoyed by the pool as at a university library.

Glen Helfand

Bay Area Reporter

This straightforward story about self-discovery is a reminder that coming-of-age tales still need to be told.

Richard Labonte