Thieves Street

Frenchman Mathias Inar in his novel "Street of Thieves" offers a close look at the global scene, colored by the raging fires in more than one spot in the East and West, focusing on the Arab region, examining the reality of Arab revolutions and their outcomes, monitoring scenes of escalating extremism and terrorism, and revealing the plots being woven and the tricks in which innocents are involved to serve certain policies. "Street of Thieves," which won the Goncourt-Choice of the East Award in 2012, was published by Dar Al-Jamal with a translation by Mari Tawk, revealing the confusion that envelops Arab youth in their homeland and in the diaspora, which they take refuge in, believing it to be unique paradises. It describes scenes of passage and successive tragedies of violence, and vivid snapshots from behind the curtain of the Arab Spring, which the "Green" — the hero of the novel — thought was a way to salvation. Inar chooses his realistic model from the city of Tangier in Morocco, which serves as the starting point in the novel toward the East and West. His hero, "Al-Akhdar," is a young Muslim in his twenties, originating from a popular environment, who loves reading, especially detective novels. He is forced to leave his family home at seventeen after his father expels him upon discovering his sinful relationship with his cousin Maryam.