Lulu in Marrakech by Diane Johnson

The Barnes & Noble Review

"I am determined not to let ideology, whether of love or patriotism, get the better of me again." So says the eponymous heroine of Lulu in Marrakech, the 15th novel from the prolific Diane Johnson. With novels such as Le Divorce, Le Mariage, and L’Affaire, Johnson has long established a mastery of the comedy of manners, particularly as a consequence of culture clash among American expats, the French, and the English. In a move likely to take longtime readers off guard, Johnson has upped the ante in this book, exploring a fictional mileu -- a tale of espionage in the post-9/11 era. Her star: a not-very-savvy spy who struggles to resolve two missions, one on behalf of U.S. national security, the other, a matter of romantic insecurity.

Thirty-something California native Lulu Sawyer (not her "christened name"), neither especially world-traveled nor world-wise, signed on with the CIA as a "human intelligence-seeking" agent to feed her desire for adventure. Before coming to Marrakech, Lulu performed a mission in Kosovo, where she worked, both overtly and covertly, with an international rescue organization, but it seemed the only adventure she found was an affair with a rich Englishman humanitarian, Ian Drumm -- the Mr. Darcy to her Elizabeth -- who knows nothing of her association with the Agency. Ian has recently relocated to an estate in Marrakech, where he frequently entertains English and French houseguests, as well as his next-door neighbors, a wealthy Saudi couple, the Al-Sayads -- the exquisite Gazi and her controlling husband, Khaled -- and their French-Algerian secretary, Suma Bourad. Suma, it turns out, is on the run from her brother Amid, who questions her virtue and is allegedly determined to exact an honor killing.

To the mind of Lulu’s handling officer, Sefton Taft -- an elusive and cryptic Charlie Townsend–like figure who hopes his angel will demonstrate some moxie -- these insular environs, with their nonstop poolside tea and cocktail parties, are ripe for information gathering on the money trail between Europeans and fundamentalist Islamic terrorists. Taft dispatches his lovelorn charge, who is admittedly "a little frightened of Islam," with a mandate to reignite the romance with Ian and trace the sources.

The fact that the imperceptive Lulu has any modicum of success is a miracle, so focused is she on her love for Ian; even the mystery of his growing inaccessibility to her only becomes apparent when she happens upon the sight of him consoling Gazi, with whom it turns out he’s been involved for years. If not for the guidance of her point person, Colonel Barka, and her boss, Taft, she might have forgotten that her romance is a cover for her mission, not the other way around. But, on the credit side, Taft withholds a considerable amount of direction and information because he believes "real ignorance makes you less vulnerable in interrogation" -- and Lulu cannot pull off a poker face.

So what does Lulu do all day, then? Throughout much of this page-turning but ultimately disappointing novel, she spends her time with fellow house guest Posy Crumley, the pregnant young wife of an English poet, who is ambivalent about her impending motherhood and frustrated by her seemingly interminable stay in Morocco. The author bequeaths Posy an acid tongue, lending voice to the racism and deepening cultural resentments between the Christian expatriates and the Muslims, as when she says things like: "Islamic men should just be nuked, or put on a desert island, and all the children raised by English nannies with sensible views, to start them out on a better footing."

If not for Lulu’s intensifying entanglements in the dramas of Gazi and Suma, both fleeing men convinced of their possible, punishable indiscretions -- in Taft's terms, the "embattled bastion of beleaguered Muslim females" -- she may never have questioned the true identities of nearly everyone she’s encountered, or led the Agency to the people they were pursuing. On the first occasion that Lulu is called to spy action, it’s as a friend -- Gazi begs her to get the key to her husband’s safe to retrieve her passport -- and she panics and botches the mission, earning her Khaled's ire. But it’s her official business that tragically and inadvertently leaves her with blood on her hands -- as an accomplice to two violently ham-fisted American agents -- and threatens her with criminal charges.

We never really understand how the clueless and aptly named Lulu has come to be retained by the CIA, and that’s Johnson’s central misstep. It’s not so much a sloppy tale of espionage that does in Lulu in Marrakech; it’s the more surprising fact that Lulu herself is the least realized character in the book. Perhaps that was Johnson’s intent -- for Lulu to remain a stranger to us just as she remains a stranger to herself, which, I suspect, is why she was drawn to the Agency life, to forget her personal history and forge a new identity. How else to explain that we never learn Lulu Sawyer’s real name? Is Lulu so deeply entrenched that she can’t even confide to the reader? Lulu says early on in the novel, "I didn’t know what [my employers] saw in me, yet I was prepared to defer to them; I expected to discover, eventually, some property in myself that I would recognize as validating their view." If only we could see Lulu make some kind of genuine self-discovery -- then we’d have access to the vital human intelligence Johnson so often delivers. --Kera Bolonik

Kera Bolonik's writing has appeared in The New York Times, Salon.com, Slate, the Forward, and Bookforum, among others. She lives in Brooklyn.

From the Publisher

“Like Jane Austen [Diane Johnston] steps out of the frame to anatomize her characters with sudden insight; like Virginia Woolf she creeps back in to record their inappropriate thoughts–and their consternation at having them.” –Newsweek

Lulu Sawyer arrives in Marrakech, Morocco, hoping to rekindle her romance with a worldly Englishman, Ian Drumm. It’s the perfect cover for her assignment with the American CIA: tracing the flow of money from well-heeled donors to radical Islamic groups. While spending her days poolside and her nights at lively dinner parties, Lulu observes the fragile coexistence of two cultures that, if not clashing yet, have begun to show signs of fracture. Beneath the surface of this polite expatriate community lies a more sinister world laced not only with double standards, but with double agents. The more Lulu immerses herself in the workings of Marrakech, the more questions emerge; when bombs explode, the danger is palpable.

Publishers Weekly

Fans of Johnson's NBA finalist Le Divorce will know what to expect: a fish-out-of-water story about a clash of cultures. Still, the tone and scope of this agreeable if quiet story owes more to the author's early work-Persian Nights, in particular-than the better-known ones about Franco-American culture clashes. Like that 1987 book, this one has more than a soupçon of politics thrown into its cultural comedy of manners. Lulu Sawyer is a CIA agent who arrives in Morocco, both to rekindle her romance with worldly English boyfriend Ian and to trace the flow of Western money to radical Islamic groups. She meets with characters both Western and Eastern, which allows for some typically Johnsonian observations ("[Honor killing is] not so common among Algerians.... It's usually the Turks," opines one character). The book works best in small moments and in scenes involving the supporting characters, but the central plot-about Lulu and Ian's relationship-never quite catches fire, and Lulu-as-CIA-agent seems tired and unnecessary. Most fans will wade through the overdetermined plot to get to the sly asides and the astute observation that are and always have been Johnson's forte. (Oct.)

Anika Fajardo - Library Journal

In her first novel in five years (after L'Affaire), Johnson moves operations out of France and south to Morocco. In a Notorious-style intrigue, Lulu Sawyer is a CIA spy infiltrating the expatriate community in Marrakech. While undercover, she stays at the villa of her wealthy British boyfriend, where she meets a wide cast of characters who could all be innocent bystanders or double agents. They include her Moroccan contact, a young French-Muslim girl escaping certain death in Paris, a gorgeous Saudi wife, and a brother come to exact an honor killing. Morocco is not an original location for a spy story (think Casablanca and The Man Who Knew Too Much), but it works well as a showcase for modern issues like Muslim extremists, terrorism, and money laundering. Sprinkled with deception, romances, and quotes from the Qu'ran, this novel makes a good read, despite its rather unsatisfactory ending. Johnson's Francophile fans may be disappointed with this change in location from her popular Paris-set novels (Le Divorce, Le Mariage, L'Affaire), but other readers, particularly those interested in spy stories or mysteries with a strong female protagonist, will enjoy this. Recommended for fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ6/1/08.]

Kirkus Reviews

Johnson (L'Affaire, 2003, etc.) breaks new ground by making her American expatriate a CIA spy in Morocco. Thirty-something Lulu Sawyer is on her second assignment. In Kosovo she had begun an affair with an Englishman, Ian Drumm, a wealthy businessman based in Marrakech, where Lulu is now posted. Her cover will include her affair and her work on female literacy programs. Her low-level mission is to gather intelligence on the money trail feeding terrorists. She will be disowned if caught, but that's OK with Lulu, who's looking for adventure and happy to be reunited with Ian at his luxurious estate with its colorful houseguests, both British and American expats. This is not a conventional espionage novel. While Johnson tracks Lulu's tradecraft, she also explores the Western/Islamic divide, illustrated most vividly by different attitudes toward Islam's great prize, virginity, and the dilemma of their neighbor Suma, a young Parisian Muslim in flight from her brother Amid, bent on vengeance for her presumed loss of virginity. The plot thickens when Amid arrives in Marrakech followed by Lulu's case officer, who has tagged him a terrorist. Another complication arises when a Saudi woman, Gazi, leaves her husband for the sanctuary of Ian's home and Lulu realizes they've been conducting their own affair. It's even possible that Ian himself is in cahoots with the terrorists. Bombs go off around the city and Lulu finds herself a principal in a kidnapping that ends in a death. The Americans have messed up; Lulu is one of the fall guys. By now she has grasped that she's "too goody-two-shoes" to be a successful spy, while her love for Ian has deepened. Curiously, though, Johnson has her act out ofcharacter, breaking up with Ian and taking another assignment in London. As stimulating as Johnson's previous work, but there are too many loose ends (an unexplained fire, the fate of a kid nabbed by Moroccan security) and the resolution disappoints. Agent: Lynn Nesbit/Janklow & Nesbit

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