The Other Americans

The Other Americans is a 2019 novel by Moroccan-American writer Laila Lalami. The book provides subjective perspectives of the aftermath of a hit and run attack in a small town in California. Themes of race, identity, guilt, and grief are explored and challenged by the overlapping and occasionally contradictory accounts. The book was a National Book Award finalist.

Plot Summary

A struggling musician named Nora Guerraoui learns that her father Driss has been killed in a hit and run accident outside the diner he owns. She travels back to her small town to mourn with her mother Maryam and her sister Salma. A police officer and former schoolmate of Nora’s named Jeremy Gorecki hears about the attack at work. An undocumented migrant man named Efraín witnessed the attack, but he does not want to come forward because he worries what will happen to his family if he is deported. People visit the Guerraoui household to pay their respects. Jeremy passes by and finds Nora alone on the porch. They reconnect and he provides emotional support. His mother died when he was young, and he took over as head of the family when his father became an alcoholic.

Detective Coleman interviews the family. Nora believes the attack was racially motivated. The family moved to America amid political violence in 1980s Morocco. Driss’ first business, a donut shop, was burned down after 9/11. He bought the diner with the insurance money. Efraín’s wife Marisela pressures him to go to the police but he refuses. The memory of Driss haunts him.

The family buries Driss. Jeremy bails his friend Fierro out of jail for smashing up his ex-wife’s car and insists that Fierro go to an anger management support group. Nora discovers that her father left a large sum of money only to her in his will. Salma is envious and the two sisters squabble. Nora moves into her father’s desert cabin. Nora runs into Jeremy in a nearby bar and they flirt. He has been in love with her since high school but his military past seems to perturb her. Coleman interviews Anderson, the owner of the bowling alley next to Driss’ diner. The two men have a history of animosity.

Nora discovers that her father was having an affair with a woman named Beatrice. She replaces all the bedding in the cabin as she reexamines her image of her father. Many of Nora’s partners have cheated, and she wonders whether this is connected to her father’s infidelity. The diner reopens but Maryam struggles to concentrate on running the business. Jeremy and Fierro attend the anger management groups. Efraín struggles with his guilt even though Nora has posted a substantial reward for any information. Jeremy and Nora spend time together. A nighttime hike ends in a kiss and they begin dating.

Coleman finds security camera footage of a street near Driss’ diner and finds the car responsible. It belongs to Anderson, the owner of the bowling alley. Anderson confesses to the hit and run but claims that it was accidental. Nora attends the court as the charges are filed. She meets Anderson’s son, A.J., who bullied her in high school. He scrawled racist slurs on her locker but was never punished because he was on the wrestling team. He tries to shake her hand at the courthouse. Nora is determined to prove that her father was murdered. Nora’s mother and sister want to sell the diner, but she refuses to abandon the memory of her father. Nora manages the diner full time and continues to date Jeremy but struggles to process her feelings for him. Efraín gives a statement to the police.

Nora encourages Jeremy to talk about his time in the military and he finally begins to share some of his most traumatic memories. He becomes emotionally dependent on her. He tries to make sure that she stays in their small town and does not return to her old life. Maryam realizes that Jeremy and Nora are in a relationship and she makes pointed comments to her daughter. Nora attends Salma’s house for a Father’s Day party and notices a tension between Salma and her husband. Salma is hiding an addiction to pills from everyone. After an exhausting few days, Jeremy spends time with Nora at the cabin. As they go to bed, she screams that a man is outside. Jeremy chases down the man and discovers that it is Fierro. The two men fight. Nora realizes that she cannot be with a man so used to violence.

Nora returns to Oakland and discovers that she has been invited to a music program in Boston. The experience is rewarding but she encounters a great deal of subtle but damaging racism. Jeremy struggles with Nora’s departure. One day, he catches A.J. during a routine traffic stop. A.J. is driving with a suspended license. In jail, he racially abuses Coleman who then pieces together that A.J. was driving on the night of the accident. Nora appears at Jeremy’s apartment and the two reconcile. She moves back to the desert, and they have a baby together. A.J. is sentenced, and the characters reflect on the strange period in their lives.