In Anya Nousri’s first novel, They looked at me, the young protagonist who grows up between Montreal and Algeria seems to be the victim of a curse that constantly fills her with hatred. In order to ward off bad luck, his aunt multiplies the rituals for him. However, these incantations will not be enough to protect the heroine, who suffers multiple forms of violence because she is a woman. Depressed, she confides to her mother that she no longer wants to live. “Die if you want, but don’t fornicate,” his father retorts. Through short, destabilizing chapters in which French, Kabyle and English intertwine, the Montreal author of Algerian origin also exposes the protagonist’s tension between several communities. She also begs Allah to “give her a Quebec accent”, while making her “an irreproachable Muslim”. A book that is both funny and sad, where the girls use a dance that has “nothing aesthetic” to revolt against those who lock them up.
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