Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami

The four main characters in Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits all narrowly survive the ten-mile trip on a flimsy life boat from Tangiers, Morocco, to Spain. Laila Lalami based her novel on a news story about fifteen Moroccans who drowned attempting to reach Spain. The characters she focuses on are two men, Murad and Aziz; and two women, Halima and Faten.

Murad

Murad is an educated man who studied English in college. He is in his twenties and works, when he can, as a tour guide. As someone who is underemployed, he does not see a clear path to success for himself in his homeland of Morocco. After crossing into Spain, he decides to return to Morocco and finds work in a gift shop that caters to tourists. Murad discovers his gift for storytelling and finds a purpose in telling tourists meaningful tales of his Moroccan culture and history. Murad proves himself adaptable and resilient, as he creates a new life for himself in Morocco when he discovers that Spain isn’t what he thought it would be.

Aziz

Aziz has mechanical skills, but like Murad, he is underemployed in Morocco. He is married, and his in-laws nag him about his inability to provide well for their daughter. Tired of their haranguing, he sets out on the dangerous crossing to try to prove himself worthy of his wife. Aziz ends up staying in Spain, earning money as a busboy. A few years later, he visits his wife and her mother in Morocco, but he finds that he has to push away memories of the past in order to keep working in the present. Despite his dedication to finding a better life for himself, Aziz is left unsatisfied by what seems to have been a pointless move to Spain.

Halima

Halima is a homemaker who sets off on the journey with her three children in order to escape a violent husband and the slums of Casablanca. She has already tried to use a love potion to get her husband to treat her more kindly, but it proved unsuccessful. She also attempted...