''Cockroach'' is a

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

book by Canadian author Rawi Hage. It was released in 2008, published by Anansi. It is a teen/adult book for advanced

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

Plot

A man, who is an immigrant from the Middle East, moves to the slums of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, where he learns that he is stuck in poverty. When he tries to take his own life, a "man in a speedo" saves him. He is then sentenced to therapy, where he explains his horrid childhood and how he believes that he is a

cockroach Cockroaches (or roaches) are insects belonging to the Order (biology), order Blattodea (Blattaria). About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known Pest (organism), pests. Modern cockro ...

. He is also in love with a girl, Shohreh, and is friends/enemies with a man named Reza. He gets a job at a restaurant, and can't help but stare at his boss' daughter. He also steals from every rich man and poor woman. Throughout the book the man starts to slowly change, for better and worse.

Reception

The novel was a shortlisted finalist for the 2008 Giller Prize, the 2008

Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize The Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, formerly known as the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers ...

, the 2008 Governor General's Award for English-language fiction and the 2008 . It was selected for inclusion in the 2014 edition of CBC Radio's ''

Canada Reads ''Canada Reads'' is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC. The program has aired in two distinct editions, the English-language ''Canada Reads'' on CBC Radio One, and the Fre ...

'', where it was defended by Samantha Bee.

References

{{Cockroach 2008 Canadian novels Novels by Rawi Hage Novels set in Montreal Works about cockroaches Black comedy books