Review by singleter -- Keys to Tetouan by Mois Benarroch
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singleter
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Review by singleter -- Keys to Tetouan by Mois Benarroch
[Following is a volunteer review of "Keys to Tetouan" by Mois Benarroch.]
2 out of 4 stars
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"Keys to Tetoun" by Mois Benarroch translated by Orna Taub
Published by Babel Cube Teaneck, NJ May 6 2017 unedited, 133 pages
Can be purchased from Amazon for Kindle for $1.79 as of 5/25/2017 and a paperback copy is $11.95 plus shipping if any.
ISBN-13: 9781507153789
ISBN-10: 1507153783
Written by the author of "Gates to Tangier", "Keys to Tetoun" is an Israeli novel of a man who learns from his dying father that he is of Jewish ancestry. This came as a surprise to him after being raised by his christian Catholic mother. Young Moishe Benzimra decides to find out about his heritage and sets out on a journey taking him around the world to North America, South America, Israel, Greece, and Madrid from Tetouan, Morroco.
I found the last chapter of the book to be the most interesting. Most of the book is a singular dialog from different individuals telling Moshe about his family. It would have been an easier read if there had been dialogue between Moshe and the speaker. The first chapter is a great example of what I mean. A grandfather is telling his grandson to "Write it down." but you never hear a response from the grandchild. Obviously he wrote it down or you would not be reading it but, who is the grandson? Who is the grandfather? What follows are sentences that have far to many commas and run into what should be several paragraphs. I found it to be hard to follow and continued to wait for a back and forth dialogue? which rarely came. Chapters 3,8 and 12 are exceptions to the previous statement since they are letters.
Not having much forknowledge of Jewish culture this book was difficult for me to follow. I would give it a 2 out of 4 rating because of the authors lack of proper punctuation and paragragh structure. I also felt the author could have explained some of the Jewish terminology which would have made the book more interesting and appealing to a broader audience.
Several times I got lost in the book. Either I forgot who was talking because of the long syliloquies or where the scene took place. Several times I had to look up words because there was no explenation of what they ment or where they were, such as Alliance. It wasn't explained that it was a school when it was first introduce which lost me. It was eventually explained that Alliance was a school, but by that time I didn't care.
Even though I did not care for the book I did learn something about Jewish culture because to write this review I felt it was necessary for me to understand what the author was talking about.. For a fiction I don't want to research the subject to learn something even if it is a historical novel. I feel that is the Authors responsibility to inform the reader about unfamiliar terms. The author even recognizes his responsibility when he write that the main character had to research his heritage and certain terms to learn about Judaism.
Their is an interesting gadget in chapter 22 that was unique. Two boys find a machine which if you put an object on it the machine will show you the history of that object. Although such a machine belongs in a science fiction novel, the concept was radical enough. The boys talk about the images in wonderment and that's good because the descriptions they gave were confusing to me.
At the end of the book the author has one of the characters, who is a writer, give a prologue for his book excusing what others may see as poor grammar and a lack of writing style. I took this as the author excusing this same thing within his writing. I looked at about a half dozen excerpts of Israeli novels at Google reads and didn't see the same type of writing style, which is why I said this book has not been professionally edited. Not to seek professional assistance makes the author seem arrogant to me.
Terry Rowe is currently a student at UTRGV in Texas working toward a teaching degree with emphasis on writing. My interest are reading, writing, traveling, biking and healthy living.
******
Keys to Tetouan
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2 out of 4 stars
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"Keys to Tetoun" by Mois Benarroch translated by Orna Taub
Published by Babel Cube Teaneck, NJ May 6 2017 unedited, 133 pages
Can be purchased from Amazon for Kindle for $1.79 as of 5/25/2017 and a paperback copy is $11.95 plus shipping if any.
ISBN-13: 9781507153789
ISBN-10: 1507153783
Written by the author of "Gates to Tangier", "Keys to Tetoun" is an Israeli novel of a man who learns from his dying father that he is of Jewish ancestry. This came as a surprise to him after being raised by his christian Catholic mother. Young Moishe Benzimra decides to find out about his heritage and sets out on a journey taking him around the world to North America, South America, Israel, Greece, and Madrid from Tetouan, Morroco.
I found the last chapter of the book to be the most interesting. Most of the book is a singular dialog from different individuals telling Moshe about his family. It would have been an easier read if there had been dialogue between Moshe and the speaker. The first chapter is a great example of what I mean. A grandfather is telling his grandson to "Write it down." but you never hear a response from the grandchild. Obviously he wrote it down or you would not be reading it but, who is the grandson? Who is the grandfather? What follows are sentences that have far to many commas and run into what should be several paragraphs. I found it to be hard to follow and continued to wait for a back and forth dialogue? which rarely came. Chapters 3,8 and 12 are exceptions to the previous statement since they are letters.
Not having much forknowledge of Jewish culture this book was difficult for me to follow. I would give it a 2 out of 4 rating because of the authors lack of proper punctuation and paragragh structure. I also felt the author could have explained some of the Jewish terminology which would have made the book more interesting and appealing to a broader audience.
Several times I got lost in the book. Either I forgot who was talking because of the long syliloquies or where the scene took place. Several times I had to look up words because there was no explenation of what they ment or where they were, such as Alliance. It wasn't explained that it was a school when it was first introduce which lost me. It was eventually explained that Alliance was a school, but by that time I didn't care.
Even though I did not care for the book I did learn something about Jewish culture because to write this review I felt it was necessary for me to understand what the author was talking about.. For a fiction I don't want to research the subject to learn something even if it is a historical novel. I feel that is the Authors responsibility to inform the reader about unfamiliar terms. The author even recognizes his responsibility when he write that the main character had to research his heritage and certain terms to learn about Judaism.
Their is an interesting gadget in chapter 22 that was unique. Two boys find a machine which if you put an object on it the machine will show you the history of that object. Although such a machine belongs in a science fiction novel, the concept was radical enough. The boys talk about the images in wonderment and that's good because the descriptions they gave were confusing to me.
At the end of the book the author has one of the characters, who is a writer, give a prologue for his book excusing what others may see as poor grammar and a lack of writing style. I took this as the author excusing this same thing within his writing. I looked at about a half dozen excerpts of Israeli novels at Google reads and didn't see the same type of writing style, which is why I said this book has not been professionally edited. Not to seek professional assistance makes the author seem arrogant to me.
Terry Rowe is currently a student at UTRGV in Texas working toward a teaching degree with emphasis on writing. My interest are reading, writing, traveling, biking and healthy living.
******
Keys to Tetouan
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like singleter's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: "Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks" by Morton E Tavel, MD
