I spent my childhood in Algeria and went back there with my husband (German) in the context of his profession for a major German steel company in the late 70s, late Boumedienne era. I find the comments of many witnesses of the book very watered about life in Algeria at that time. It was the USSR worse in the "Souk El Fellah" (local supermarkets) all the rays were empty apart whole shelves full of chickpeas boxes. If you wanted milk for the children, it was with the help of knowledge, make for kilometers under the coat a liter of milk. For eggs, some cheese, etc ... it took an arrival in Europe and to queue for hours to buy an authorized amount of these products while having the tail you see passing those with right pass and went away loaded .... But maybe in the case of witnesses called, they had knowledge that helped them avoid all these inconveniences. I'm not talking about the state of hospitals (especially Mustapha) that I had to attend my son and I came away so shocked that I promised myself to fly from Marseille suitedirection if it still happened some something my children.
I have personally known a control person in this book. On the other hand I drew a parallel between the case of the old lady of the Golf with my neighbor Tagarins the district, which also very old remained in Algiers in his little house and was the whipping boy of the neighborhood (I will not mention his name by espect for her, although in the meantime it must be deceased).
When Chadli came to power, he blew an air of freedom again in Algiers although this did not last long and that the clerics took over ... We left Algiers in August 1982 after 5 years of happiness and well filled .
Still, I liked the book because everything about the Algeria interests me street names, places, always arouse strong emotions in me and bring out buried memories in my memory.
