The Doors - by Gauz' (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Everything leads to doors that lead to doors that lead to doors that open onto doors that lead to doors . . . everything! This is what makes us a species in perpetual migration."

Paris, summer 1996. A procession of Africans are in search of a place to defend their rights. When their Senegalese spokesperson suggests they occupy Saint-Bernard de la Chapelle, the fight can begin.

Daily life is recounted from inside, where the occupation leads to a hunger strike, seizing the attention of an entire country and placing a new category of citizens--the undocumented (les sans-papiers)--at the heart of the national debate.

Written as an oral history, and attuned to the musicality of diverse languages and dialects, GauZ' reanimates this powerful story based on true events, paying homage to a mosaic of immigrants who believed, despite everything they endured, in the promise and potential of France.

Review Quotes

Praise for Comrade Papa

"Only a bold writer in command of their talent could take on such a perilous and vast subject and come out, with laughter and love, on top . . . If you are foolish enough to open this book with a set of assumptions about where it will go, prepare to be wrong-footed . . . Expect to see GauZ' back on the shortlists with this superlative work of fiction."
--Lara Pawson, Times Literary Supplement

"A funny, ebullient, often chaotic tale of French colonial exploitation of Ivory Coast . . . author Gauz' was shortlisted for the International Booker prize for his [first] novel Standing Heavy. Comrade Papa is even better."
--John Self, The Guardian

"In Wynne's nimble, playful translation . . . Comrade Papa incorporates many small shards of history and storytelling into an overall gleaming mosaic"
--Nadifa Mohamed, New York Times

"GauZ' avoids moralizing and is always alive to the humor and peculiarity of his stories. There are very funny scenes of the young Marxist speechifying to his unimpressed elders about the class struggle and the "retching of the earth." (Frank Wynne's translation from the French shows a deft touch with Anouman's malapropisms.)"
--Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

"Mainly, the plot is a vehicle for the characters' distinct voices . . . The result is a fresh and witty portrait of colonial and postcolonial Africa."
--David Varno, Publishers Weekly

"Comrade Papa is a fine, lively novel. GauZ' writes well, in both the voices of the more adult and insightful Dabilly as well as that of the confident indoctrinated youngster . . . [T]he stories are very engaging, and engagingly told, with translator Wynne doing well in matching GauZ' creative word- and language-play."
--M.A. Orthofer, The Complete Review

"Gauz' juggles words and uses language brilliantly . . . this historical novel paints an epic fresco of the people who faced the French colonizers who came to conquer their lands."
--Séverine Kodjo-Grandvaux, Le Monde

"The point of view transcends racial essentialisms to instead tell the story of people . . . An expansive novel that is political without being self-righteous."
--Laurence Houot, Culturebox

"A novel about the clash between cultures and languages . . . Gauz's prose is intoxicating."
--Sean J. Rose, Livres Hebdo

"Audacious and inventive."
--Baptiste Liger, Lire

"A funhouse mirror version of the colonial adventure story, Comrade Papa pokes, prods, & mocks a whole suite of ideologies & assumptions. GauZ' has an exuberant, nimble style & an off-center imagination that will keep readers on their toes."
--Josh Cook, Electric Lit

Praise for Standing Heavy

"This book is about the anti-flâneurs: not the rich white men who roam the boulevards of Paris but poorly paid Black men whose jobs require them to stand still. As a security guard, the protagonist of Standing Heavy is invisible but sees everything. Told in a fragmentary style--as if from different camera angles--this is the story of colonialism and consumerism, of the specifics of power, and of the hope of the sixties diminishing as society turns cynical and corrupt."
--Booker Prize citation

"This shrewd, episodic novel stars the security guards of Paris . . . undocumented Ivorian immigrants whose watchful eyes examine Parisian turmoil over two generations."
--New York Times

"This compact, humane satire, deftly translated by Frank Wynne, entertains as much as it informs."
--Lucy Popescu, Financial Times

"A spry volume that manages to trade heavily in politics while also sneaking up on your sympathy. The end startled me in its poignancy."
--Dafna Izenberg, The Walrus (a Best Book of 2023)

"A cunning observer and a disenchanted protestor, Gauz' makes shopping an ethnological mine, a priceless sketch and a combat sport."
--Elle

"This combines some of my favorite things: a solid one-sit read, an elegant translation, and an author willing to play with form."
--Publisher's Weekly

"An incisive . . . meaningful document chronicling the humanity of undocumented workers."
--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

GauZ' is an Ivoirian author, journalist and screenwriter. After studying biochemistry, he moved to Paris as an undocumented student, working as a security guard before returning to the Côte d'Ivoire. His debut novel, Standing Heavy, was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and won the Prix des libraires Gibert Joseph, and was followed by Comrade Papa, which won the 2019 Prix Éthiophile, and Black Manoo. GauZ' is the editor-in-chief of the satirical economic newspaper News & co, and has written screenplays and documentary films.