Review by Bulabo -- (Ways to) Lucena by Mois Benarroch

[Bulabo]

[Following is a volunteer review of "(Ways to) Lucena" by Mois Benarroch.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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Ways to Lucena or simply Lucena is a fantasy story written by Mois Benarroch and starts when we are introduced into the life of Isaac Benzmira, a clichéd rich guy who is tired of living a materialistic life, devoid of all meaning. His work is absorbent and tiring, so he decides to take a vacation to a foreign country, choosing Spain as the best option because it is the land where his ancestors come from. Having decided where to go, the final arrangements for the trip are easy, and Isaac quickly arrives to Malaga, where he will be staying for the night, however, he gets hungry and decides to get something to eat outside. Upon leaving the hotel, he is abducted by two armed guards that carry him into a medieval Spanish Inquisition court, where an archbishop and some priests are waiting for him to start his trial. After trying for some time to get Isaac to confess sins which he did not commit, the accused man is led into a cell to sleep for some time before being released into the dark night. Isaac then goes up some stairs and finds himself inside a Jewish synagogue where a man offers to carry him back to Málaga in his car, Isaac accepts and hops into the vehicle. He then appears inside another car and is stopped by two policemen because the car was going too fast.

This confusing and fast-paced chain of events sets the tone for the rest of the book, where, instead of following the story of Isaac Benzimra, the reader is presented with isles of short stories, small narratives that ignore the introducing story but also have no relationship between them. Some are hard to read, as there is no clue as to who is speaking, or when they take place.

There is not much to say about this book, because the stories that compose it only talk about suffering and loneliness, many are about the Jews thrown off from some place or another. The main theme along all the book seems to be the perception that the jewish people suffer at the hands of people of other religions, particularly Christians and Muslims.

Being a fan of happy endings, I expected to find a message of reconciliation or a unity message that stated that people must not be enemies because of things such as religion, but I couldn't find anything of the sort. Now, that is my personal preference and it doesn't subtract merit from the book, but then I searched for meaning, an implicit message that book wanted to communicate and to share even if readers like me don't have the same opinion, but it seems to me that there is nothing else in this book than unfair suffering and sorrow and that is a pity.

I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars, because it begins with an unexciting narrative that is abruptly cut in the next chapter, and is never followed again. It is instead replaced with a series of short stories that only talk about the suffering of the Jews, but have no interrelation between them. There also seems to be no implicit meaning to this suffering, nor a message that the author wants to disclose through the stories in the book and therefore I would suggest readers to avoid Lucena, and use their time in other, far more interesting stories.

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(Ways to) Lucena
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