Review by Lovely Eimeren -- The Expelled by Mois Benarroch
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Lovely Eimeren
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Review by Lovely Eimeren -- The Expelled by Mois Benarroch
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Expelled" by Mois Benarroch.]
2 out of 4 stars
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Do you get bored easily because seriously he does--- the narrator does! The curious minds of the readers can make the novel interestingly exciting by adding a spicy activity through filling in the blanks. What happens to whom? What happens to what? What happens to where? The Expelled by Mois Benarroch is a story between a story although the narration is consistently written in the limited first person point of view.
The name of the character is forever hidden to the readers unless there's a part two or make one for him. Yes. He is a male in his fifties who manages to get bored easily. He is financially dependent to his wife and freely spends his time observing people so he could earn a living. He is a writer hence anyone is a candidate to become his fictional character. Indeed that is the very reason why he meets Gabriele, later to become his mistress, a woman who is physically and psychologically identical to his wife Gabrielle only that the first is decades younger.
However, The Expelled is carefully crafted to be more than just an erotic love affair. The frame story happens on a bus where a tragic discrimination takes place. People are divided into two sets according to their seats. The front people--- the learned, the right, and the decision makers; and the back people--- the unlearned, the wrong, and the followers. Mois Benarroch exceptionally depicts the prejudices of the front people against the back people not because of who they are but because of what they are. The front people make the law and then break it according to their own safety. Whatever they do is right because they are the front people and they know everything. Meanwhile, whatever the black people do is disgusting because they are the back people and they smell bad and they don't know anything.
Another story starts to happen during the interrogations as to what has happened on the bus. Who is responsible for killing the fifteen year old boy? Is it really important to find out? Do the travel reach its destination? Ironically the readers find out more about the personal lives of the interrogated and surprisingly few things about their testimony on what has occurred on the incident. After knowing such, one may start to wonder if the back people are really wicked or if they are just labeled and that the accusers are the ones who are really bad. After all the ones that rape and deny the back people to use the "can" are the front people.
I like the character because he remains true to himself although he views the world as distorted and full of lies. As what he continually believes, life is boring. However it all changes when he meets his young Gabriele and suddenly life shifts to some adventure. He is broke but he is willing to treat the woman while always computing his expenses for her. Then he concludes at page 132 that "happiness never bored anyone". Soon the readers can finally understand that the reason he often relates to examples of other people's boredom and lack of life is because it is a foreshadowing that he wants something more out of life. Who likes less by the way? So when life offers him someone to get excited of, he quickly make a way to make their paths cross. Although it would have been better if he has handled his mistress and his wife emotionally. There are times when I think that maybe his life is boring because he is unbelievably indifferent to all aspects of his life and to the factors affecting it.
In my view, the novel deserves 2 out of 4 stars. I couldn't give it 3 stars because I find myself hungry for more details. I have so many questions in mind! Does the narrator get happy by accepting his fate? Who is the real culprit? etc. There are also several typographical errors. I couldn't also give it 1 star because I enjoyed reading the novel. It triggers curiosity. Moreover it could do better by providing more specifics especially to topics about religion. I would recommend this to those who like mystery and adventure. It is fulfilling that Mois Benarroch hangs us on something to ponder upon without really revealing her intentions as the words itself in the novel. . . "A story that's inside another and another and another and apparently they all have nothing to do with each other, or they don't, even if one tries to find a link."
******
The Expelled
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like Lovely Eimeren's review? Post a comment saying so!
2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Do you get bored easily because seriously he does--- the narrator does! The curious minds of the readers can make the novel interestingly exciting by adding a spicy activity through filling in the blanks. What happens to whom? What happens to what? What happens to where? The Expelled by Mois Benarroch is a story between a story although the narration is consistently written in the limited first person point of view.
The name of the character is forever hidden to the readers unless there's a part two or make one for him. Yes. He is a male in his fifties who manages to get bored easily. He is financially dependent to his wife and freely spends his time observing people so he could earn a living. He is a writer hence anyone is a candidate to become his fictional character. Indeed that is the very reason why he meets Gabriele, later to become his mistress, a woman who is physically and psychologically identical to his wife Gabrielle only that the first is decades younger.
However, The Expelled is carefully crafted to be more than just an erotic love affair. The frame story happens on a bus where a tragic discrimination takes place. People are divided into two sets according to their seats. The front people--- the learned, the right, and the decision makers; and the back people--- the unlearned, the wrong, and the followers. Mois Benarroch exceptionally depicts the prejudices of the front people against the back people not because of who they are but because of what they are. The front people make the law and then break it according to their own safety. Whatever they do is right because they are the front people and they know everything. Meanwhile, whatever the black people do is disgusting because they are the back people and they smell bad and they don't know anything.
Another story starts to happen during the interrogations as to what has happened on the bus. Who is responsible for killing the fifteen year old boy? Is it really important to find out? Do the travel reach its destination? Ironically the readers find out more about the personal lives of the interrogated and surprisingly few things about their testimony on what has occurred on the incident. After knowing such, one may start to wonder if the back people are really wicked or if they are just labeled and that the accusers are the ones who are really bad. After all the ones that rape and deny the back people to use the "can" are the front people.
I like the character because he remains true to himself although he views the world as distorted and full of lies. As what he continually believes, life is boring. However it all changes when he meets his young Gabriele and suddenly life shifts to some adventure. He is broke but he is willing to treat the woman while always computing his expenses for her. Then he concludes at page 132 that "happiness never bored anyone". Soon the readers can finally understand that the reason he often relates to examples of other people's boredom and lack of life is because it is a foreshadowing that he wants something more out of life. Who likes less by the way? So when life offers him someone to get excited of, he quickly make a way to make their paths cross. Although it would have been better if he has handled his mistress and his wife emotionally. There are times when I think that maybe his life is boring because he is unbelievably indifferent to all aspects of his life and to the factors affecting it.
In my view, the novel deserves 2 out of 4 stars. I couldn't give it 3 stars because I find myself hungry for more details. I have so many questions in mind! Does the narrator get happy by accepting his fate? Who is the real culprit? etc. There are also several typographical errors. I couldn't also give it 1 star because I enjoyed reading the novel. It triggers curiosity. Moreover it could do better by providing more specifics especially to topics about religion. I would recommend this to those who like mystery and adventure. It is fulfilling that Mois Benarroch hangs us on something to ponder upon without really revealing her intentions as the words itself in the novel. . . "A story that's inside another and another and another and apparently they all have nothing to do with each other, or they don't, even if one tries to find a link."
******
The Expelled
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like Lovely Eimeren's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: "Raven's Peak" by Lincoln Cole
