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    Lulu in Marrakech: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Lulu in Marrakech: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Lulu in Marrakech: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    Lulu in Marrakech: A Novel

    Written by Diane Johnson

    Narrated by Justine Eyre

    2.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "Like Jane Austen [Diane Johnston] steps out of the frame to anatomize her characters with sudden insight; like Virginia Woolf she creeps back in to record their inappropriate thoughts-and their consternation at having them." -Newsweek

    Lulu Sawyer arrives in Marrakech, Morocco, hoping to rekindle her romance with a worldly Englishman, Ian Drumm. It's the perfect cover for her assignment with the American CIA: tracing the flow of money from well-heeled donors to radical Islamic groups. While spending her days poolside and her nights at lively dinner parties, Lulu observes the fragile coexistence of two cultures that, if not clashing yet, have begun to show signs of fracture. Beneath the surface of this polite expatriate community lies a more sinister world laced not only with double standards, but with double agents. The more Lulu immerses herself in the workings of Marrakech, the more questions emerge; when bombs explode, the danger is palpable.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 7, 2008
    ISBN9780739307984
    Unavailable
    Lulu in Marrakech: A Novel

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    Reviews for Lulu in Marrakech

    2.5/5

    64 ratings8 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I'd have given this a 2.5 if half stars were possible.
      It wasn't awful, but wasn't great. The story seemed strained, and it never really got exciting for me.
      I wouldn't bother to read any more by this author.
    • 4/5
      Diane Johnson's novels are, unfortunately, a long time coming. But when they arrive they're worth the wait: little gems of simple, beautifully wrought language, domestic comedies that study the lives of American ex-pats abroad. Having chosen to live their lives outside the United States, still, Johnson's heroines must figure out how to muddle through each day--even after years in their adopted countries--as fish out of water...or, at least, as fish in a new bowl with very different water indeed.Lulu Sawyer is a spy. She's not a very good spy, swept up as she is by both her own personal drama and those of the people she's living among. At the opening of Lulu in Marrakech Lulu (her chosen, spy name, although it seems to suit her well) is just moving to North Africa on a new assignment. Information coming to her on a need-to-know basis as it does, and Lulu being an extremely junior member of the agency, she doesn't really know what her assignment is. However, she does get to move in with her new British boyfriend Ian and preside over his English country house in the desert where visiting poets, artists, and assorted eccentrics come and go.A classic unreliable narrator--and a charming and engaging one, at that--Lulu is forever muddling her assignment, forgetting her tradecraft, and blurring the lines--or erasing them altogether--between work and personal life. We never really do find out exactly what Lulu's assignment is, but it's fun being along for the ride. She paints a vivid picture, through American eyes long accustomed to a European lens, of life in a culture so foreign as to be incomprehensible at times. In the end, Lulu moves on to a new assignment, in a more familiar milieu: England.Let's hope Diane Johnson doesn't make us wait another eight or ten years for her next novel, and let's hope, as well, that it follows the further adventures of Lulu Sawyer.
    • 3/5
      A fun book. But definitely light reading. Just missed really being good; the biggest problem for me was that so much hinged on the narrator, Lulu's, feelings for Ian, which were supposed to be those of love, and which I could never quite feel/believe. So I had to wade through several passages about how much she loved him without actually believe it, making it a little... tedious.

      A very interesting book for its perspective on Muslim and Moroccan culture, something I know/have read very little about.

      The ending certainly leaves space for a sequel - I would probably read a sequel to this book.

      I did enjoy this as a spy book - I haven't read many books like this, and definitely like the intrigue of it, without the flat out mystery that you find in mystery novels.
    • 1/5
      It is really unfair the way islam is treated in this book. It stroke me that this was accepted by a main publishing house such as Penguin. The author, through the main character, presents only the worst of the islamic culture in Morocco . Some comments are racist and offensive (all women are mistreated, all islamists are terrorists...).The spy story itself is not credible, it is more about gossiping than spying. Despite all this, the plot is engaging and sometimes humorous.
    • 3/5
      I like Johnson's writing, but this book couldn't quite decide what it wanted to be. The beginning was quite promising: heroine works undercover for the CIA and is sent to Marrakech, ostensibly to reunite with her lover, to ferret out sources of terrorist group financing. Her lover has other affairs, she meets clandestinely with her handler and her contact, they end up torturing and mistakenly killing a suspect - but neither the emotion of a love story or the spycraft of a good spy novel are there. Plus she's the most inept unbelievable spy I've ever encountered.
    • 3/5
      I really liked both the style and the premise of this book. Particularly, I enjoyed a spy novel that also took into account the constant ambiguity of living a double life and seemed vaguely realistic about the emotions that lifestyle engenders. Lulu is a fairly believable and likeable character, and supporting characters like the very pregnant Posy make the story enjoyable.However, I found this book incredibly frustrating. The story ends with almost nothing resolved, in fact, with more ambiguity than when it started. This, too, may be more like real-life espionage, but it makes the book seem pointless. Perhaps Johnson is setting herself up for a sequel, in which all is revealed. In which case, I would skip reading this book altogether until you could read the entire set.
    • 2/5
      Disappointing, Diane Johnson's L'Divorce was a spot on comedy of manners. Lulu was over her head as an intelligence operative in Marrakech, she didn't grow as a character.
    • 3/5
      This was well-written, but not the bubbly, feel-good concoction I'd been expecting. As always, Johnson has interesting views on cultural differences, gender roles and human nature, but the book was also a bit of a downer, with important questions left unanswered (though perhaps this was realistic).