The Age of Reinvention
It was originally published as L'Invention de Nos Vies by Editions Grasset & Fasquelle on August 21, 2013, and was later translated to English by Sam Taylor on December 1, 2015.
In his anger, he leaves his parents to attend college in France, where he meets his girlfriend Nina, a beautiful girl born to a broken military family.
While at college, he and Nina meet the ambitious, seductive Sam Tahar—not to be confused with Samuel Baron.
At the end of the school year, Samuel senses their relationship and gives Nina an ultimatum: him or Sam.
Years later, Sam has become one of America's top lawyers and is married to one of the most prestigious families in New York.
When Sam's half-brother Francois appears in his office one day, his mysterious past begins to unravel.
In an attempt to make his half-brother disappear, he creates a foreign bank account to support him.
The United States of America is pressing charges against Samir for funding terrorist activity.
Nina, unaware of his imprisonment, believes that he has lost interest in her, and she returns home to France.
Once Nina arrives back in France, she is shocked to find a new family in Samuel's old apartment, unaware of his newfound success.
She has gained weight and stopped caring for her appearance, but she finds comfort in letting go of what she used to hold on to so dearly.
Samuel no longer has the girl he loved, and Nina has left the life she's always known for where she feels like she truly belongs.
The theme "Emptiness of Obtaining False Dream" is most prevalent in The Age of Reinvention's conclusion.
Samir, Samuel, and Nina each discover that what they had planned for their lives is not what made them the happiest, and therefore "Emptiness of Obtaining False Dream" is one of the novels overarching themes.
In his childhood, he fights against his family's poverty by buying nice clothes secondhand from the rich kids at his school.
One of whom intervenes when Samir is arrested, lies to Nina, and tells her she should head back to France.
Many of Samir's problems are caused by his own actions, mainly as a result of his lust: for power and for women.
When his roots are discovered and he is arrested for being suspect of terrorism, it causes great upheaval in his life.
Among positive things, the book was a finalist for the Prix Goncourt in 2013, one of the most prestigious French literary awards.
[2][3] In a review from The Washington Post, Ron Charles simply notes the Gatsby-like qualities of Samir Tahar.
[2] Heidi Warneke, however, describes the whole novel as "Gatsby-esque" with the added themes of "prejudice, politics, and racism.
[5][6] Carmela Ciuraru of The New York Times describes it as a "synonym buffet" and critiques Tuil's use of footnotes.
[4][7] Hannah Beckerman, in a review for The Observer, criticizes the dichotomy between Jews and Muslims in The Age of Reinvention.
However other articles,[3][8] discuss The Age of Reinvention as a timely novel that addresses these subjects, not as Islamophobic itself.
[4][5] This view for Beckerman is a result of how racism is portrayed in the novel,[4] but for Ciuraru it was due to its themes.
Each time a character has a brief interaction with a passerby, a footnote is provided explaining some additional detail or motive.
