Reads like loosely linked stories in its first half ... Themes emerge gracefully in Slimani's languid, atmospheric prose, translated from French by Sam Taylor.
It is the claustrophobia and restriction of the family structure that Slimani’s narrative dissects with expert precision and perceptiveness, the characters’ trajectories in the outer world largely defined by their positions within the fold, and vice versa. She is particularly good at charting the experiences of women in a way that is both expansive and intimate ... Slimani’s writing is beautifully atmospheric and has a panoramic, classic quality, excellently translated here by Sam Taylor.
I had hoped Slimani would have found her rhythm ... The first chapters open on to a rich world, and Slimani’s bold perspective switches seem to promise an intricately choreographed saga ... You need to be a better writer than the overrated Slimani to make such a random stream of events interesting. Watch Us Dance suffers from a lack of focus and consistently weak prose ... Reading this trilogy is like listening to a mediocre radio play where you keep missing bits because you have to go and answer the door. But it’s not you who’s missing bits, it’s Slimani. With this second volume, her ambitious subject has proved too much for her to handle.
This is a novel that glides along with swan-like grace thanks to Slimani’s skilful use of the third person as she slips in and out of disparate perspectives while keeping her authorial presence to an absolute minimum. Like trespassers we bear witness to her characters’ many flaws and eavesdrop on their most private thoughts ... This novel wears its state-of-the-nation status with a light touch. There are no pompous declamations here.
Sprawling ... Though the surfeit of characters and vertiginous plot points tend to throttle the momentum, Slimani continues to prove herself a powerful writer by delivering a convicing and immersive depiction of a complicated era in Morocco’s history. It’s an accomplished portrait of a time and place, though it comes at the expense of a fully realized family saga.
