Growing up in this town, I had long ago learned that the savagery of a man named Mohamed was rarely questioned but his humanity always had to be proven.

I had very high expectations for this book, partly due to the radiant reviews prominently displayed on the front and back covers, and partly because it was one of my partner's favourite books of last year. I wasn't wholly disappointed but I didn't fall in love with it either.

The Other Americans follows a variety of different characters in the wake of the death of a Moroccan immigrant named Driss, a husband, father and owner of a business. As the story unfolds, we learn more about that night and how it has impacted the community and those closest to him, including his daughter, Nora, who the novel opens with.

Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character, some voices appearing numerous times throughout the book, others a mere once or twice. When this method of storytelling is employed, it is vital that each character has a distinctive voice and, unfortunately, I found the majority of them indistinguishable from one another. All, save one, are written in the first person and the tone is extremely similar, although the occasional 'dude' or racist reference is supposed to be a distinctive feature of some of the characters, and, for me, I found it distracting. Nora's perspective was easily the most compelling, and I would've enjoyed the book far more if it was told solely from her point of view. I understand that in writing the book in this way, Lalami is giving the story a collage effect; you get a fragment of information with each chapter and when you put it all together you get one large picture, and I think that can sometimes work but, for me, it wasn't entirely successful here.

There were so many gaps in the book left unfilled, and not in a way that lends itself to ambiguity, the most frustrating example of this being the situation with Nora's sister, Salma. We get a really beautiful chapter from her perspective, written in the second person, and it's easily one of the best moments in the book. Her story is given to us, another layer revealed, and it's never touched on again in the book. Without spoiling anything, something is revealed about Salma that is quite heartbreaking, and in another chapter, Nora notices that something is wrong with her sister - but it is never mentioned again. In doing this, it makes this revelation feel pointless and yes, it adds to our understanding of Salma, but it's disappointing to see it get swept to the side to give more attention to duller characters.

However, I didn't dislike this book. I enjoyed it for the most part, in spite of all of the negative opinions I have just expressed. When I wasn't distracted by the shifting perspectives, I liked Lalami's writing, I cared about some of her characters, and I loved how she depicted and spoke about immigrant families and their experiences in the US. I cared about Driss, I wanted to know what had led up to the moment of his death, and what would subsequently happen to his family, but I didn't love the execution of this story.