I still have very conflicting feelings about this book and will try my best to form my thoughts into words.
This is the story of an interracial French-Moroccan family. They’re based in Meknes, an important (rural) city in Morocco, which makes a good base of the story — it's in the centre of Morocco, 'urbanised enough' yet somehow almost blind to the cultural, political and social changes in the country, touching everything from poverty to female rights to the rise of a new cultural elite, set against the backdrop of a society that is used to a strict authoritarian monarchist leadership. Living in the late 1960s/early 1970s is a constant paradox and I think that Slimani did a fantastic job showing the reader the beautiful yet difficult and ugly sides of Morocco during that time. I love how she leads the characters through cultural and political Morocco, bringing the reader to Rabat, Casablanca, Essaouira, poor people’s villages and many more places. Slimani’s writing is bold, determined and apologetic, poetic and crushing at the same time.

Yet I found it hard to fully like this book. I haven't read the first book of the series, which might be one of the reasons I found it hard to really like any of the characters of the book - not just the main ones, but also the side characters. We’re constantly watching streams of thoughts, with little dialogue and a lot of time jumps further into the future. Every time I was starting to understand a character, we’re immediately pulled from the POV again, making it hard to picture what must’ve happened to the characters during the years that made them change so drastically. This again made the story appear as if it didn’t have a real plot to follow at all, leaving the reader a lot to imagine to fill in the blanks.

This story had a lot to tell and sometimes it felt as if Slimani didn’t have enough paper to write down all of her thoughts. I’m curious about the next instalment of the series, yet I didn’t feel 100% satisfied with how the reader is expected to accept everything that happens in the story.

'Watch Us Dance' dives deep into the human experience, a hallmark of Slimani's writing. The novel, set in mid 20th century Morocco, hits you with a range of emotions— from joy to heartache. I love how she makes her characters feel like real people, people you get invested in and are rooting for. The narrative pulls you right in and keeps you hooked. And it's not just entertaining—it makes you think about life and the choices we make.

"Watch Us Dance" by Leïla Slimani is a striking book that read like a collection of short stories that explores the nuances of human connection. Slimani's prose is elegant and haunting, delving into the complexities of desire, power, and vulnerability. Each narrative is a poignant dance through the intricacies of contemporary relationships.

This marks the second installment of Leila Slimani’s multi-generational family trilogy, deeply influenced by her own family’s history. It offers readers, perhaps unfamiliar with Morocco and French history, an enlightening and educational glimpse into the nation’s culture, history, traditions, and the intersecting pressures, repression, and turmoil faced by the country and its people in a changing world.

In the preceding volume, we witnessed the union of Amine and Mathilde in France, their relocation to Morocco, the challenging years of tending to the farm, and the birth of their biracial children, Aicha and Selim. Now, the focus shifts to the next generation, with the introspective yet strong-willed Aicha pursuing a medical education in France, growing increasingly aware of her uniqueness and opening up emotionally.

Amidst a backdrop of ambition, idealism, and rebellion, traditional gender roles, family expectations, and conservatism still loom large.

The author masterfully paints a vivid, intricate, and alluring portrait of transition—across generations and perspectives, filled with conflicts, evolving identities, and the internal struggles each family member faces against the backdrop of their country.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I liked that we get an overview of the characters and some background info of things that happens in book 1. It’s especially helpful for anyone who didn’t read it or DNFd like I did. The writing style is slightly better than book 1 in that I’m not constantly bored but there’s so much switching between EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER that I’m getting whiplash and it feels more like vignettes than a cohesive narrative.

Also There’s no chapters? It tells the story in third person POV, giving us a look at each character without warning, switching from paragraph to paragraph, and no chapter breaks. I think it could’ve been better if we get to know a smaller cast of characters instead of hearing from every character, because now it feels as if we don’t really get to know anyone.

What we do see from the characters, makes them unlikeable; there I are no redeemable qualities about any of them.

The way the incest is described 🙃 disgusting….it’s what ultimately made me DNF after pushing through to finish this one, I couldn’t get past this.

The book "Watch us Dance" narrates the tale of Mathilde, Armine, and their three children. As you progress through the story, you come across snippets of their lives intertwined with other family members and their relationships. The writing is vivid and descriptive, allowing you to picture the scenes effortlessly. It has a certain hazy quality that adds to its charm.

Although it is a sequel to "In the Country of Others," which I haven't read, I don't believe it is necessary to be familiar with the characters to enjoy the book.

Watch us Dance tells the story of Mathilde and Armine and their three children. Throughout the story you gain little pockets of their lives, intertwined with other members of their family, and their relationships.

It was well written and descriptive so you could really imagine the scenery and I felt it had a hazy feel to it - in a good way!

This is a follow up to ‘In the country of others’ which I have not read but I don’t think you need to follow the characters (although I have added this and Lullaby to my ever growing to be read pile!)

Overall I really enjoyed it and was really absorbed by their lives.

Thank you to Netgalley and Faber and Faber for my ARC.

Another fascinating page-turner from Leila Slimani. Based on her family's own experiences, it's a seductive and provocative story primarily from a mother and daughter's own very different experiences in newly independent 1960's Morocco and how they come to terms with their life expectations against the backdrop of privilege, corruption and rebellion.

This is the second installment in Leïla Slimani’s trilogy focused on several generations of a family in Morocco during the '60s. Both this novel and the previous have a distinctly different style from Slimani's previous ones: more broad and wandering, a river that meanders rather than cuts. It is just as effective, even more so when considering the scope of this book--a family, a country.

We follow Mathilde, a woman eager to change with her country and bright in her hope for both their futures. Morocco, family and destiny all come undone and take new forms in the course of this novel: fate here is no strange, wild force but a clearly delineated presence: small motions in time throw others into existance and we must watch on, tense, glad, afraid as history happens. There's a really emotional insensity within the text even as it shifts rapidly between perspectives. Many glittering lives appear and then dissolve just a few pages later without ceremony. A story that encompasses many stories demands this economy and makes sure that the reader understands the scope of the world that exists here, even if we never properly leave Mathilde's side.

However, the variable narrative distance within the text can disrupt immersion in the story and make it harder to follow the plot, even as it constructs a broader vision for the world. This is my only complaint as at times I wished for there to be a little more stillness so that the focus could rest for longer on certain characters and scenes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Faber Books for an ARC for an honest review.

Watch Us Dance is the second instalment of Slimani's ambitious trilogy depicting Moroccan life from WWII onwards and is inspired by her own family history. In the first volume, The Country of Others, we met the Belhaj family and we now follow their fortunes in a rapidly changing country. Set mostly between 1968 and 1974, the novel chronicles the reign of Hassan II (1961-1999) as he leads his newly independent nation through economic reforms and infrastructure development accompanied by authoritarianism, oppression, state-sponsored violence, protests and attempted coups. Society becomes increasingly divided between rich and poor, whilst American and European hippies flood in. Initial optimism gives way to anger and discontent. All this is reflected in the lives of the Belhaj family, in particular the younger generation. It’s a multigenerational saga, with the more conservative parents whose goal is to work and find financial stability set against their offspring who want simply to “dance”. I enjoyed the book, more so than I did the first volume, which I found too predictable. This one is more nuanced and with its large cast of characters set against an increasingly turbulent and complicated political and social background, it’s an evocative and atmospheric portrait of a family and a society in flux. I look forward to the final part of the trilogy.

This book is about a interracial family who live in Morocco in the 70s and 80s, and about their lives living and working on a farm.

It shows you their lives, the political tensions, the way lives were led the things they had to face extra of living in these times.

It read a little like short stories within a story which all sort of kind of linked together. But I felt it was a little bit lacking, lacking in atmosphere about the place, as I didn't feel like I was withing the story, I also felt like it was lacking character development and the general feeling of the book left me disengaged as a whole.

I also didnt think that the ending of the book linked well to the characters or the storyline.

This is Leïla Slimani's second instalment in what will be a trilogy family saga set in Morocco spanning across the second half of the 20th century. In the first instalment, The Country of Others, we read about Mathilde and Amin and follow them as they build their family and farm accompanied by a secondary set of characters.
In Watch Us Dance, both their children, Aïcha and Selim, play a more central role along with a secondary set of characters who come into the orbit of this generation. We also find out more about Morocco in the 60s politically and culturally. The book closes with hints of what is to come in the third instalments.

Slimani is a very good writer and Sam Taylor's translation is flawless. I absolutely loved the first instalment therefore perhaps it was inevitable that Watch Us Dance would struggle to fully match that first success with me. In a way the book tries to cover too many characters making the narration a little too distant and fragmented, whereas in the first one was more clearly focused on the parents. Had I come to the trilogy with this second book, I am not so sure I would have been as invested in following the trilogy. Having said that, it certainly is a good read, I would recommend it as even if you loved the first one because you get to follow the story and the writing is still of a high standard. And I am looking forward to book three.


Many thanks to Faber & Faber and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love Leïla Slimani's style of writing and liked this book even if it's not a favorite of mine as I found it quite slow.
The style of writing is luscious as usual and the characters are fleshed.
The plot is a bit too slow and I look forward to the next story.
3.5 upped to 4
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The book is about an interracial family living in Morocco is the 70s & 80s. The parents, father Moroccan & mother Alsatian, live and work on a farm.

The prose is lovely and gives a good sense of the heat, dust & political tensions of the time in Morocco.
However the story reads like a serious of vignettes, sometimes linked, often less so. The reader is left needing more; more about the characters, more about the place and more about the consequences of their lives.

At the end of the novel there is a sense that the characters’ lives have moved on, but none of them have imprinted themselves on my heart.

The vignette towards the end which tells of the future of one of the characters is clumsy. It’s job appears to be to tell us of his love for his wife, that we are lead to think he has only just realised. But this does not chime with his character.

Thank you to Faber for my ARC

The story: Set in Morocco in 1968 at a time when the country was undergoing great change. Mathilde, as she tends her roses on the farm that her husband has built into a huge success, is confident that with her two children now grown up, there will be plenty of opportunities for them, and she and her husband Amine can look forward to retirement. But the changes are not always positive in this family saga.

My thoughts: Slimani writes beautifully (and the translation is wonderful) so I was keen to read this after reading one of her previous novels, Adele.

How evocatively she writes. I smell the roses, I press my nose to the window to look at the sweetmeats. Characters are often licking their fingers as they eat in a truly sensual experience.

The children, Aicha and Selim, are very different from each other. Selim is happy to "hang" with the hippies who arrive in Morocco in droves. Aicha is the first member of the family to go to university and medical school, but her chosen specialty of gynecologist is looked down upon by the largely patriarchal society. Men are happier in the old ways and we see toxic masculinity and a male dislike of women doing well in business or science, rather than traditional roles.

A rich and multi faceted read.

Slimani's writing is wonderfully evocative of Morocco, the country and its people in the turbulent late 1960s early 1970s period. This novel is also beautifully translated. Although I had not read "In the country of others", the first volume in the series, in what will eventually be a trilogy, my experience did not suffer as a result. Whilst I really enjoyed large parts of "Watch us Dance", overall it would have benefited from a smaller more focused cast of characters given the starring role of the setting and period. Special thank you to Faber & Faber and Netgalley for an advance review copy.

Although second book in a trilogy relatively straightforward to pick up the threads although regretted not reading the beginning of this saga of family life complicated by several unusual aspects. A couple living off the land in Morocco at a time of huge changes through modernisation and a very different political landscape are proud of their self made and comparatively wealthy position in life, they have not and cannot forget the difficulties and hardships of their early years. This complicates the relationship with their son and daughter, he more laid back and not ambitious whilst Aicha the daughter is conscientious and driven to succeed in the medical profession. Her studies in France distancing her from the customs and practices of her family. Societal upheaval see an ability for the younger generation to accept and embrace issues such as the changing role of women whilst for the previous generation believe old ways are sacrosanct and any change disturb the equilibrium of their life and sense of identity. As with any family, reaching adulthood brings a subtle change in dynamics, often controversy , notwithstanding the massive baggage inherited from a country such as Morocco transitioning during a time of seismic change. The writer draws a poetic and deeply moving portrait of an obviously much loved country tantalising in its unique beauty, shackled by politics and a misogynistic society. Not always easy reading particularly episodes of incest whilst producing believable characters , strengths and weaknesses. An enriching story bringing to life a country and period in history of which most people would be unaware whilst giving insight into a fictional family struggling to accept and survive in a changing world. Many thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for ARC.

At the beginning of the book, it was nice to be reacquanted with Mathilde and Amine from the previous book, the Country of Others. Their children Aicha and Selim are growing up, and the story tells or the next stage of their lives, moving between the different characters and other family members. I found it frustrating to read because important parts of the story were missing. One chapters started with Amine, then turned into Mehdi aged 60, which is a long time after the book ends.
The next time we meet a character, many chapters later, a lot has changed, and it would have been interesting to know how they got there, but, instead, the story focusses on the politics of the time, meetings, and how the patriarchal Moroccan society lets women down. Many of the characters were just left as loose ends. This family saga is a trilogy so I hope the last book wraps it up.

There were some vivid descriptions of Morocco in this novel, and I found some vignettes about specific characters memorable. However, overall this wasn't for me. I wasn't aware it was part of a trilogy, and maybe therein lies the problem. It was a setting I had not read about before, so I am glad I read it. The language was readable but the moving between character arcs was a bit clunky in places.



Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for this review.

Watch Us Dance is the second book in a trilogy following a French/Moroccan family in the turbulent post war years.
Having not read the first novel, I felt like I was missing an emotional connection to the characters that might have been present if I had been invested in the story from its origin. There are several different perspectives that the book is written from and a lot of characters who come and go in the early chapters - which sometimes makes it confusing to know whose viewpoint the central plot is following
.
The prose is very fluid and the descriptions of Morocco and Alsace are enjoyable but it wasn't a story I would read again.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.