Review by Amy Baker -- Gates to Tangier by Mois Benarroch

[Amy Baker]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Gates to Tangier" by Mois Benarroch.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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The book, Gates to Tangier by Mois Benarroch, is book about the journey of a family. When their father, his children must travel back to Morocco, to find a family member they did not know existed. Not only are they handling the loss of their father, but their inheritance depends on finding this person. As you could imagine, this is complicated for each member. They need the money, but were not at all prepared to return to their homeland. They were not at all prepared to welcome a new sibling, or journey back to the country they had left.

This books gives you a glimpse into each person’s feelings about religion. Specifically, about the differences between Jews and Muslims. They take their journey home in the same way they left their home. They travel through the same countries and airports. This affects them all as they take a journey through themselves at the same time. Each member of the family also grapples with the brother that should have been there. A brother who died long ago. He seems to haunt them, and the book itself.

I rate Gates of Tangier 2 out of 4 stars. The concept was great. What was lacking was plot development. The bases of the story, a family searching for a member they never knew about was great. However, the author never got deep enough to really bring it to a full story. I was left wanting to know more. That is not something I enjoy in a book unless I know there is a sequel to look forward to. The development of the interactions between the unknown family member and the other characters, was a missed opportunity. What you are left with is a shocking and twisted twist, which I love, but no experience of the fallout of the moment.

A large part of the story is the angst between religions. I think I would have enjoyed this piece more if I had more knowledge of these religions in this part of the world. It was a big focus of the book, when I wanted to hear more about the characters. It was as if the original plot set up was not the main theme of the book. Not only that, it seemed mostly revisited.

The story of the character Zohra, was not very plausible either. Her past seems slapped together, and unlikely. For me, it was another missed opportunity. In my opinion, this book could have been twice as long, and would be hard to put down. The original plot had so much promise, that I would happily read it again if that was expanded.

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Gates to Tangier
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Like Amy Baker's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Rosemary Okoko]

I have not read this book and it's a shame the characters are not well developed. I am looking forward to reading this book. The story line sounds great. Thank you for the review.

[Kelebogile Mbangi]

In most of the reviews I've read about Benarroch's various books, I've come to gather that he always has a great concept but never develops them to the readers satisfaction. Or perhaps we as the readers are missing something? Hmm... Anyway thank you for your review.