Christian Mazzari: Italian Secret Service

Sicily Dept: Christian Mazzari is a young lawyer in Sicily whose life is turned upside down when he accepts an offer to work for the Italian secret service. The spooks value his knowledge of Arabic, acquired from his Tunisia-domiciled grandfather, his childhood friendship with Tunisian fishermen s sons in Sicily and his university studies. Mazzari s mission is to pass himself off as Issa, a Tunisian immigrant, and infiltrate a terror cell of Arab Muslims in the Viale Marconi district of Rome, according to Globe and Mail. Issa insinuates his way into the goings-on at Little Cairo, a cafe-cum-call centre-cum-unofficial employment agency for immigrants and also a possible terrorist den. Owned by an Egyptian who may be part of the supposed terror cell, Little Cairo is also a place frequented by Sofia Safia in Arabic , the other narrator of Divorce Islamic Style and and that s a good thing. The lion s share of credit for keeping this slight and slender novel engaging must go to the Italian-Algerian author s cheeky and cheerful approach to his subject matter. Kudos as well to the efforts of Ann Goldstein, who also translated Lakhous s first novel, Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio the very title of which indicates the author s flippant approach to the sensationalized and who, in her capacity as an editor at The New Yorker, has helped bring Lakhous to the attention of North American readers. Identity-bending can be tricky. I try to remember how my Arab acquaintances speak, especially the Tunisians. I even have to imitate their accent, Issa observes. The ideal is to speak an Italian with a dual cadence: Arab, because I m Tunisian, and Sicilian, because I m an immigrant who has lived in Sicily. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.