| BASIC INFO | LANGUAGE LEVEL | COMPREHENSION-AIDING FEATURES |
|---|---|---|
| Book Title Ziemlich beste Freunde (Seemingly Best Friends) Author(s) Philippe Pozzo di Borgo Illustrator(s) n/a Other Contributors Sonja Markowski (rewriting into simplified language) Published by Spaß am Lesen Verlag Aktion Mensch Genre Non-Fiction Publication date 2020 #Ownvoices Yes | From the author/publisher’s website Level A2/B1 Adults Total Word Count (none given) | Illustrations NO Glossary YES Guiding Questions NO Context YES Other |
| IDENTITIES PRESENT IN THE TEXT | SYNOPSIS | |
|---|---|---|
| Races, Ethnicities, and Nationalities White Black French Algerian Moroccan Languages spoken German Sex and Genders Male Female Ages Child: 6-12 Young Adult: 18-35 Mid-life Adult: 35-65 Social classes Poor Working class Upper class | Sexual Orientation Heterosexual (Dis)Abilities and Neurotypes Disabled – paralyzed below the neck Religions, Syncretism, and Spirituality none referenced Family and Relationship Structures Heteroparental Body Descriptions Abdel is described as 1.70m tall and “uncannily/amazingly strong” (p. 16). | From the author/publisher’s website Philippe is rich and successful. One day, an accident changes his life – forever. Now, he is paralyzed, in a wheelchair, helpless. Philippe would rather not live anymore. Abdel has nothing. He lives in the worst neighborhood in the city. Without a job or a future. Philippe needs a caregiver who can help him 24/7. And Abdel could use a bit of money. What emerges is a very unusual friendship between the two. (This translation is from the original German by the LLLAB Team. The original is below.) Philippe ist reich und erfolgreich. Eines Tages verändert ein Unfall sein Leben – für immer. Nun ist er gelähmt, im Rollstuhl, hilflos. Philippe möchte am liebsten nicht mehr leben. Abdel hat nichts. Er wohnt im schlechtesten Viertel der Stadt. Ohne Job und ohne Zukunft. Philippe braucht einen Pfleger, der ihm Tag und Nacht helfen kann. Und Abdel kann ein wenig Geld gut gebrauchen. Zwischen den beiden entsteht eine ganz besondere Freundschaft. |
| ILLUSTRATIONS | STORY | SOCIAL JUSTICE |
|---|---|---|
| To what extent do the illustrations present positive and thoughtful representations of identities? There are no illustrations in the book. The cover depicts a young Black man pushing the wheelchair of a middle-aged white man, and both appear to be laughing. | We understand identities are complex and no single story represents the spectrum of identity-based experiences. Also, a text may address a stereotype, misrepresentation, or generalization without relying on it. Does any stereotype, misrepresentation, or generalization affect any positive and thoughtful representations of identities in the text? Problems faced by characters with an identity belonging to a marginalized group are resolved through the benevolent intervention of a white person, a male, a straight person, a body-abled person, etc. (saviorism) Characters of color are assumed to have low family wealth, low educational attainment and/or low income. Female characters are not in a variety of roles that could also be filled by a male character. Social situations and problems are seen as individual problems, not situated within a societal context. Characters of diverse backgrounds are represented stereotypically, or presented as foreign or exotic or are tokenized. (microaggressions) | This section is for teachers who are working towards sourcing more texts within the four domains of anti-bias education. We are excited about reading all books and we understand that not all books are written for this specific purpose. Does this text work toward goals within any of the four domains of anti-bias education as defined by Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance)? No |
| LLLAB’s REVIEW |
|---|
| Content warnings: This book thematizes suicidality, exploitation of women/femmes, violence, and drug usage. The reader Ziemlich Beste Freunde: In Einfacher Sprache (Rather Best Friends: Written in Easy Language) is based on the French novel Le Second Souffle (The Second Breath) and tells the autobiographical story of the wealthy Frenchman Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, who is paralyzed from the neck down after a paragliding accident. Pozzo di Borgo only regains his courage to face life through the special friendship with his caregiver Abdel Sellou, a friendship that helps both move forward and reshape their lives. There have been at least two film adaptations of this story (in French and in English). The two protagonists develop a strong and caring friendship across their differences. Philippe recognizes throughout the novel that Abdel is “always there for me” (pp. 17, 60) and Abdel is always willing to help Philippe, even when it is socially uncomfortable for others (p. 46). Abdel pays close attention to Philippe after Philippe’s wife dies (p. 21), and Abdel gives his employer a meaningful gift for his birthday (p. 30). Philippe, in turn, expresses that their relationship was always one of hope and belief, and pushes back against others who don’t understand their relationship (p. 60). He gives money to Abdel in support of his artistic talents, showing a belief in his potential (p. 50). Abdel’s friendship also helps Philippe process his traumatic injury. Early on in the book, Philippe is suicidal, but by the end of the book, he writes: “Ich habe meine Lebenslust wiedergefunden”/I found my lust for life once again. (p. 61) Philippe’s change in disposition is thanks to his positive, transformative relationship with Abdel, who does his best to bring exciting experiences to Philippe’s life throughout the book. Although the book contains an afterword advocating for accessibility, encouraging the reader to not have fear of “saying the wrong thing” or coming into contact with people with disabilities (pp. 64-65), Philippe’s thoughts about his own disability presented in the story may reinforce negative stereotypes about people with disabilities if readers do not read past the initial negative belief, which is influenced by his experience of being able-bodied his entire life up until that point. As Philippe is adjusting to his quadriplegia, he asks, “Was hat so ein Leben noch für einen Sinn?” / What sort of meaning does such a life even have? (p. 13). Though Philippe later finds sense through his family, friends, and Abdel (p. 61), he also seems preoccupied with no longer “being a beautiful man” because of his disability (p. 19). Skin tone is never mentioned throughout the novel, though the actor from the film version of the story pictured on the front of the book is a dark-skinned Black man. The LLLAB team searched the internet for pictures of the real-life Abdel Sellou and discovered that he is a light-skinned Algerian man, which calls into question the choice for the Abdel in the film to be a dark-skinned Black man, and to then reproduce this representation on the cover of this book. With the cover priming the reader for learning about Abdel, many remarks in the book seem to address Abdel stereotypically through the lens of his race as it is represented on the cover. When they meet, Philippe assumes that Abdel is “strong,” and that he has no experience in caregiving (p. 16). He has no information about Abdel at this point in the narrative other than seeing him suddenly appear for an interview while Philippe is in the process of interviewing candidates for the position of his personal caretaker. It is unclear why Philippe would immediately think that Abdel was inexperienced. Abdel discusses his previous employment and doesn’t like how previous bosses treated him (p. 21), which might be a commentary on racist or xenophobic treatment by his bosses, except for that his skin color is never mentioned in the book. Abdel is described as having lived in a Parisian suburb that was full of high rise apartment buildings and drug trafficking crime (p. 22), which again plays into stereotypes about his skin color and immigration status. A friend warns Philippe about Abdel, saying that Abdel had been to jail and that “Solche Typen haben kein Mitleid!” / Guys like him have no empathy! (p. 30). Instead of defending Abdel’s character, Philippe says that he doesn’t want empathy, but rather just Abdel’s strength. It is unclear why Philippe uses this argumentative tactic, as Abdel shows great empathy for Philippe throughout the book, and this comment may serve to further dehumanize incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. On page 34, Philippe uses his wealth privilege to avoid police asking more questions about why his car was seen exceeding the speed limit about town, which Abdel was driving. He implies that having a secretary, living in a rich neighborhood, and living in a large house lead the police officer to believing his version of the story about the car. This might be a commentary on a structural problem related to the racial disparities in treatment by police, except that the book does not name Abdel’s skin color. Stereotypes about race and class are also present in the description of Abdel’s relationship to violent crime. Philippe claims in the book that Abdel has learned that “the strongest always wins,” and that violence is a good means to solve problems. “Für Abdel gilt: Der Stärkere gewinnt. Er ist daran gewöhnt, Probleme mit Schlägen zu lösen. So war es in seinem Leben immer gewesen. So hat er es gelernt.” / For Abdel, the following applies: the strongest wins. He is used to solving problems with hits. That’s how it always was in his life. That is what he learned (p. 27). Abdel also reports stealing jewelry (and going to jail because of it) and selling stolen goods (p. 28). Philippe is positioned throughout the story as a savior-like figure for Abdel, particularly in his attempts to “teach” Abdel about having respect for women. He admonishes Abdel for flirting with married women (pp. 24, 55), seeming to mock his love for women with “feminine curves” (p. 38) and questioning why Abdel spends time with the women. Then, he seems to welcome Abdel bringing sex workers to him to spend time with him despite his disability (p. 39). Philippe also strikes up a relationship with a Moroccan woman named Khadija, but it is unclear how the relationship begins other than that he has seen her out on the street and admired her beauty (p. 57). Philippe’s behavior proves to be hypocritical, as he engages in the sorts of exploitative behaviors for which he admonishes Abdel. Teachers may want to discuss with students the cultural contexts around race and immigration in Europe (where this version was published) vs. in the United States. The book was presumably written for a European audience. Teachers may also wish to make clear to students that although the character depicted on the book’s cover is Black, that this is derived from the movie representation of the story, while the real-life Abdel Sellou (whose life is portrayed in the novel) is a light-skinned North African man. |
LLLAB 