Her first book, described as a novel or collection of short stories, "Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits", was published in 2005. It follows four Moroccan immigrants who try to cross the Straits of Gibraltar on a lifeboat, which capsizes offshore. The book has an unusual narrative structure: the opening story takes place while the main characters are making the crossing; the next four stories flash back to the characters' lives before their fateful journey; and the final four stories flash forward, so that the reader learns the fates of the four. "Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits" received wide critical acclaim. In the "Washington Post", Carolyn See described it as "a bracing and beautiful little novel." Pankaj Mishra, writing in the "New York Review of Books", noted that "Lalami writes about her home country without the expatriate's self-indulgent and often condescending nostalgia."