Rawi Hage's Cockroach chronicles the questions of identity and existentialism faced by most immigrants in first world countries. The novel, set in Montreal, Canada, opens with a man sitting in a psychiatrists office. The protagonist, who remains unnamed, has been mandated therapy after a failed suicide attempt. As he speaks we learn that the man actually considers himself a cockroach, he often breaks into strangers houses and eats their food, sitting on their furniture. He is unstable, obsessed with women and questions his own identity and the purpose of his existence.
The name of the protagonist and where he has immigrated from remain unknown. Parts of his identity are revealed through the people he interacts with who are all immigrants as well. We find that he takes drugs and other mood altering substances with his friend Reza, a sitar player from Persia. Through Reza he meets Faroud a gay man, also from Persia who came to Canada escaping persecution and torment. He also meets The Professor, who is called so because he was a professor in Lebanon. The protagonist does not like the professor as he feels that he cannot accept his situation in Canada and still lives in the grandeur of the past. Lastly, he meets Shohreh a young woman from Iran who was raped by Islamists in her home country.
The protagonists psychiatrist, Genvieve, a white woman, does not relate to him and cannot understand the perils and problems of his world. She encourages him to find a job, which he does at Persian restaurant where he works three days a week. At the restaurant he meets Sehar, the owners daughter. She is young and reckless and represents the second generation immigrants who identify as Canadian first.
Eventually through multiple therapy session the protagonists past is revealed. His sister was beaten and abused violently by her husband. When he came to know of the extent of his abuse, he conspired to kill her husband. However, he was unable to follow through with his plan. His hesitation cost him his sisters life. The guilt and pain of losing his sister because of his own inaction is what led him to attempt suicide.
Shohreh and the protagonist become closer and come to develop a romantic relationship. Shohreh tells him of her brutal rape and the abortion she had to have following it. The two discover that the man who raped Shohreh come into the restaurant he works in. They plot to kill the rapist when he comes to the restaurant one night. The two kill him, avenging both Shohreh's and his sisters pain.
