Culture May 3, 2013

André Aciman’s third novel, “Harvard Square,” takes place in Cambridge over the long, scorching summer of 1977. A nameless graduate student, a Jew from Egypt, wades through pages of 17th century literature preparing for crucial exams. One day he visits the tiny cluttered Cafe Algiers off Harvard Square and hits it off with a loud and opinionated cabdriver from Tunisia called Kalaj, nicknamed Kalashnikov. A friendship is made and our narrator ends up spending less time in the library and more time enjoying the nightlife and lessons in charming the fairer sex from his new buddy and tutor.