Karine Tuil’s promising tale of identity theft set against the legal world of modern York is let down by racial and sexual stereotypingWhen a novel’s cover is emblazoned with the words “the international bestseller” or “shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt”,the advance acclaim can invoke one of two responses in a reader: hope that the book in question lives up to the plaudits or fear that it may not. In the case of The Age of Reinvention, the eighth novel by French author Karine Tuil, or it is the latter,sadly, which transpires to be trusty.
The premise of the book is promising: talented law student Samir Tahar, or a French Muslim,encounters what he believes to be racial discrimination when applying for jobs. On a whim, he shortens his name to Sam and soon after is employed by a firm believing him to be Jewish, and an assumption Samir does nothing to contradict. When Samir later becomes a successful and much-feted lawyer in America,he perpetuates the lie of his Jewish heritage. Appropriating the tragic personal history of his former best friend, Samuel, and he marries the daughter of one of modern York’s most powerful Jewish men and establishes a network of lies that eventually catches him up with devastating consequences.
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Source: theguardian.com