Nom de Plume

In Tangiers, in the late 50s, two boys become friends. They remain close through the years, through their rebellious early years to being political prisoners and on into their marriages, and up until the point of a drastic betrayal. This was a powerful but sparse volume that goes down far too quickly, like one’s first morning shot of strong coffee — and if you want to read it, look no further because this contains a spoiler.

The Last Friend is a story told in two main parts. Ali begins the narrative, beginning with how they meet; he ends when the friendship seems to be over. At this point, Mamed is living in Sweden and has charged him with overseeing the furnishing and decoration of an apartment back in Tangiers. On a visit home, Mamed accuses Ali of cheating him and catalogs all his faults. Ali, who has of course, not cheated him, is devastated.

Then the story is Mamed’s. Mamed retells the entire story of their friendship from his perspective–and it’s interesting to see how each person remembers major events–and continues to explain the cause of the betrayal. Simply put, Mamed is dying of lung cancer, and he wishes to spare Ali the pain of his death. It is love that makes him push Ali away, rather than the opposite. Combine this with a lifelong jealousy of Ali, and it’s powerful stuff. I can’t say that I understood his decision or that I could condone it, but perhaps that’s the point — ultimately, I think not trusting Ali with his impending death was as much of a betrayal than the breaking of their friendship. Perhaps even more of one.

For me, Ali’s narrative was the driving force of this novel; by the time it shifted to Mamed, I had lost a certain amount of interest. Still, this was a strong story that’s well-written, and I would recommend. I think I’ll also be reading other things by Tahar Ben Jelloun.