Review by [CA] -- (Ways to) Lucena by Mois Benarroch
-
[CA]
- Posts: 22
- Joined: 12 Jan 2017, 15:13
- Bookshelf Size: 4
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-ca.html
- Latest Review: "The Immigrant's Lament" by Mois benarroch
Review by [CA] -- (Ways to) Lucena by Mois Benarroch
[Following is a volunteer review of "(Ways to) Lucena" by Mois Benarroch.]
2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Temporal perception gives structure to events. I am so accustomed to that latticework that when it is absent it becomes difficult to conceptualize a coherent story. I do not mean a story told out of order. I mean a story that seemingly has no order at all. Which is why (Ways to) Lucena by Mois Benarroch has left me so unsatisfied.
The novel swims through many accounts of people who have had fairly unhappy lives or at least we see them during unhappy times. “Swims” is an apt verb because the text often asserts that the ocean is the only true home of the Jewish people, presumably referring to their diaspora throughout the world. They seem to live in different times though hard dates are rarely given. Rather through description of events and people there is a sense of different points in time. Location varies also. Many of the characters are blood related though I cannot say for sure that they are all related except that they are all connected to Judaism in some way. There are multiple chapters from a man who claims to have lived for 1000 years. He tells a descendant the stories from his long past. It is these chapters with the ancient man that provide the most grounding place in the overall narrative. Some chapters are in third person, others are merely dialogue or poetic verse, still others are in second person. The ever-shifting narrative voice, both in individual and type, mirrors the ever-shifting settings in time and space. In the first chapter, we see a mid-life crisis which suddenly becomes a down-the-rabbit-hole experience when the character is displaced in time. In another chapter, a woman stalks a rapist to exact revenge. In another, a facility cultivates and harvests body parts from living humans to send to other humans in need. A man writes to his recently deceased mother. A young writer writes a story about an epidemic. A Jewish convert talks about her father who was a nazi. The book never lingers on these stories for longer than a single chapter so we get only a glimpse. It is mystifying yet somehow mundane. Keeping with the nautical motif, the reader is adrift in a churning ocean with nothing to latch onto. Occasionally these passing glances succeed in touching the reader's heart. The last third of the book is especially introspective and thought-provoking. I found myself hungering to know more about certain people only to never see them again after their chapter ends. Still the time I did spend with them led me to ruminate on the psychological trauma of people who have endured terrible hardships. I thought about the interplay of exile, prejudice, and extremism. Even the editing was better in the final third making it the most polished portion of the book.
Unfortunately there were composition issues throughout. The book is neither translated well with stilted dialogue and awkward phrasing nor edited well with errors and typos springing up everywhere. Some of the problems are debatable like using all caps instead of italics for emphasis or capitalization of certain words. Others, however, are indefensible such as misspellings and unnatural, even nonsensical sentences. These frequent mechanical mishaps detract from an enjoyable reading experience.
Even disregarding the language problems the text is confounding. The moments of empathy and insight are lost in a barrage of disconnected events. Transitions do not exist. The pages jump from perspective to perspective and from event to event never lingering long enough to paint a complete picture. The narration seems unfocused, almost preoccupied. I could not figure out why the author kept showing voyeuristic peeks into random people's lives. The 1000-year-old man does not seem to be present for these chapters. So how are they relevant to his life's story? Are they merely present to illustrate time as flux and human suffering as a constant throughout time? Is the book suggesting that the 1000-year-old man can recall the lives of others? I can only speculate. The emotions of the characters are visceral. However the people still manage to be largely one-dimensional, perhaps because we spend so little time with them. Shifting character perspective can be done in an engaging way but here it only frustrates. There also seems to be no reason for it. It does not seem to drive a plot nor flesh out characters meaningfully. So why are these people's lives explored at all? The parenthetical portion of the title is “(Ways to)”. I found myself wondering if that is a reference to the splintered narrative that somehow all connects back to a nostalgic yearning for one's ancestral home. But I am not sure how it all fits together or whether it does at all. There is a common tone of suffering within the pages. Is showing the reader the identity crisis of so many Jewish people the point or is it a tool to illustrate something more?
Maybe I am over-thinking it. Maybe this is simply a book about the Jewish experience with a very jarring framing device. On the other hand, the framing device is a huge aspect of the book. So if it does not work does that not constitute a fundamental flaw? The framing device distracts so much that it takes away focus from the theme of the human condition. Or do I have it the wrong way around and the discontent of the characters is actually the framing device for the fluidity of time? There is a quotation by the author in the book before the story begins: “The past is an ever changing, never ending story.” Could it be that the concept of fluid time and memory is the actual theme of the book? I think I may be drowning in the temporal ocean that is this novel. Either way the bottom line is lost on me.
When making an evaluation of a book I like to begin at 4 stars and remove points for any problems that I perceive. The editing errors remove a star automatically. The disorienting nature, lack of transitions, flatness of the characters, and elusive message forfeit another star. As for the translation... Should I hold the quality of the translation against the book? Is it possible that a better translation might have fixed some of the other intrinsic problems? I will only take away a half star for the poor translation. So that comes to a 1 and ½ star rating. Since I cannot give half-star ratings I have to round either up or down. I do admire the author for taking risks, and I respect the attempt to show the plight of so many characters. In addition the last third of the book truly saves it from being a total disappointment. There is potential here. Therefore, officially, I rate (Ways to) Lucena 2 out of 4 stars. The biggest compliment I can give this book is that it will make you think (mostly about what in blazes is going on). If you want a challenge, go for it. If you are very open-minded, go for it. If you like experiencing unconventional storytelling, go for it. Otherwise, reader beware.
******
(Ways to) Lucena
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like [CA]'s review? Post a comment saying so!
2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Temporal perception gives structure to events. I am so accustomed to that latticework that when it is absent it becomes difficult to conceptualize a coherent story. I do not mean a story told out of order. I mean a story that seemingly has no order at all. Which is why (Ways to) Lucena by Mois Benarroch has left me so unsatisfied.
The novel swims through many accounts of people who have had fairly unhappy lives or at least we see them during unhappy times. “Swims” is an apt verb because the text often asserts that the ocean is the only true home of the Jewish people, presumably referring to their diaspora throughout the world. They seem to live in different times though hard dates are rarely given. Rather through description of events and people there is a sense of different points in time. Location varies also. Many of the characters are blood related though I cannot say for sure that they are all related except that they are all connected to Judaism in some way. There are multiple chapters from a man who claims to have lived for 1000 years. He tells a descendant the stories from his long past. It is these chapters with the ancient man that provide the most grounding place in the overall narrative. Some chapters are in third person, others are merely dialogue or poetic verse, still others are in second person. The ever-shifting narrative voice, both in individual and type, mirrors the ever-shifting settings in time and space. In the first chapter, we see a mid-life crisis which suddenly becomes a down-the-rabbit-hole experience when the character is displaced in time. In another chapter, a woman stalks a rapist to exact revenge. In another, a facility cultivates and harvests body parts from living humans to send to other humans in need. A man writes to his recently deceased mother. A young writer writes a story about an epidemic. A Jewish convert talks about her father who was a nazi. The book never lingers on these stories for longer than a single chapter so we get only a glimpse. It is mystifying yet somehow mundane. Keeping with the nautical motif, the reader is adrift in a churning ocean with nothing to latch onto. Occasionally these passing glances succeed in touching the reader's heart. The last third of the book is especially introspective and thought-provoking. I found myself hungering to know more about certain people only to never see them again after their chapter ends. Still the time I did spend with them led me to ruminate on the psychological trauma of people who have endured terrible hardships. I thought about the interplay of exile, prejudice, and extremism. Even the editing was better in the final third making it the most polished portion of the book.
Unfortunately there were composition issues throughout. The book is neither translated well with stilted dialogue and awkward phrasing nor edited well with errors and typos springing up everywhere. Some of the problems are debatable like using all caps instead of italics for emphasis or capitalization of certain words. Others, however, are indefensible such as misspellings and unnatural, even nonsensical sentences. These frequent mechanical mishaps detract from an enjoyable reading experience.
Even disregarding the language problems the text is confounding. The moments of empathy and insight are lost in a barrage of disconnected events. Transitions do not exist. The pages jump from perspective to perspective and from event to event never lingering long enough to paint a complete picture. The narration seems unfocused, almost preoccupied. I could not figure out why the author kept showing voyeuristic peeks into random people's lives. The 1000-year-old man does not seem to be present for these chapters. So how are they relevant to his life's story? Are they merely present to illustrate time as flux and human suffering as a constant throughout time? Is the book suggesting that the 1000-year-old man can recall the lives of others? I can only speculate. The emotions of the characters are visceral. However the people still manage to be largely one-dimensional, perhaps because we spend so little time with them. Shifting character perspective can be done in an engaging way but here it only frustrates. There also seems to be no reason for it. It does not seem to drive a plot nor flesh out characters meaningfully. So why are these people's lives explored at all? The parenthetical portion of the title is “(Ways to)”. I found myself wondering if that is a reference to the splintered narrative that somehow all connects back to a nostalgic yearning for one's ancestral home. But I am not sure how it all fits together or whether it does at all. There is a common tone of suffering within the pages. Is showing the reader the identity crisis of so many Jewish people the point or is it a tool to illustrate something more?
Maybe I am over-thinking it. Maybe this is simply a book about the Jewish experience with a very jarring framing device. On the other hand, the framing device is a huge aspect of the book. So if it does not work does that not constitute a fundamental flaw? The framing device distracts so much that it takes away focus from the theme of the human condition. Or do I have it the wrong way around and the discontent of the characters is actually the framing device for the fluidity of time? There is a quotation by the author in the book before the story begins: “The past is an ever changing, never ending story.” Could it be that the concept of fluid time and memory is the actual theme of the book? I think I may be drowning in the temporal ocean that is this novel. Either way the bottom line is lost on me.
When making an evaluation of a book I like to begin at 4 stars and remove points for any problems that I perceive. The editing errors remove a star automatically. The disorienting nature, lack of transitions, flatness of the characters, and elusive message forfeit another star. As for the translation... Should I hold the quality of the translation against the book? Is it possible that a better translation might have fixed some of the other intrinsic problems? I will only take away a half star for the poor translation. So that comes to a 1 and ½ star rating. Since I cannot give half-star ratings I have to round either up or down. I do admire the author for taking risks, and I respect the attempt to show the plight of so many characters. In addition the last third of the book truly saves it from being a total disappointment. There is potential here. Therefore, officially, I rate (Ways to) Lucena 2 out of 4 stars. The biggest compliment I can give this book is that it will make you think (mostly about what in blazes is going on). If you want a challenge, go for it. If you are very open-minded, go for it. If you like experiencing unconventional storytelling, go for it. Otherwise, reader beware.
******
(Ways to) Lucena
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like [CA]'s review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: "The Immigrant's Lament" by Mois benarroch
