John Freeman

Fifteen is a tough age to begin with, but it is especially so for Doria, the sassy-mouthed heroine of Faïza Guène's debut novel, "Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow," which was published in the author's native Paris in 2004 and has now been brought out in a crisp new English translation.

As the book opens, Doria's father has scuttled off to Morocco in search of a second wife and--he hopes--a male heir. Meanwhile, she and her mother are left behind in a tower block apartment called Paradise in the suburbs of Paris.

Welcome to the mostly Arab, largely Muslim outer suburbs of Paris, the neighborhoods you saw burning during the recent student worker riots. Doria's local heartthrob is a young man named Hamoudi, a hashish dealer who stands around quoting Rimbaud poems all day. Her mother struggles to make ends meet by working a nearby motel with "made-in-Chernobyl cleaning products," getting the rooms nice and tidy.

Hope is a knife's edge in this environment, something suggested by the book's title--a hybridization of the Arabic phrase "kif-kif" (same old, same old) and the French verb "kiffer" (to really like something). For the most part, the Arabic part of this definition wins out in Doria's worldview.

But don't think Doria wants your sympathy. Guène grew up in the housing projects of Pantin and now studies sociology at the University of Paris. She gives Doria a voice that feels slightly more knowing than is believable, but mesmerizing nonetheless. Doria can be nasty, but soft, foul-mouthed but sharply astute to the subtleties of class that humiliate her mother.

And she ladles out her sourest sarcasm upon those who flaunt their "spesh" face at her, like the social worker, who "makes out like she gives a damn about our lives," or women from the neighborhood, who ridicule her mother for using their welfare stamps to buy clothes at the local charity shop.

"It's like a film script and we're the actors," Doria complains about this life. "Trouble is our scriptwriter's got no talent. And he's never heard of happily ever after."

The only things that pierce through Doria's gloom are the movie-made images that remind her that life is better elsewhere. Naturally, she gravitates to heroes who refuse to accept their victimhood, like Al

Pacino in "Scarface." "I'll bet you nobody could take his snacks," she says. "Straight up, he'd take out his semi-automatic and blow your thumb off, so you couldn't suck it at night before you fell asleep."

Gradually, things do get better for Doria and her family--just not in the way she expected. The plot points that affect this change may thud to the earth heavily, but Guène keeps her narrative plunging onward, one amusing observation from Doria at a time. At first, it seems Doria's bad attitude is among the biggest barriers to her happiness. By the end of this promising debut, its true purpose is clear: it has protected her from the knowledge that for some people, happiness, like tomorrow, never comes.

"Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow"

By Faïza Guène

Harcourt, $13, 179 pages

(2006-07-11)

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