Review by aelliott3483 -- The Expelled by Mois Benarroch

[aelliott3483]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Expelled" by Mois Benarroch.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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A writer, a woman, a story and a bus. A struggling writer trying to complete his next work travels home by bus only to encounter a woman who can’t exist. An impossible relationship leads to an story about a bus that takes an unlikely journey and encounters unexplainable events. The characters are interviewed by someone who will not explain who they are and will not show themselves to the passengers. Each passenger tells their story about their impossible journey. This story will leave you with so many questions. Who are these people? What just happened? Did that really happen? Could it be possible?

The Expelled by Mois Benarroch is a fictional work that has a story within a story. The story jumps from one perspective to another and can be hard to follow at times. At times the story is told by the writer. Then it jumps to the story within the story and is told from the perspective of a passenger only to jump suddenly back to the author and back to another passenger’s story. There are many references to other authors, musicians and works that I was not familiar with.

It’s difficult to nail down one genre for this novel. It’s a combination of Romance, Science Fiction and Mystery. Unanswered questions about what happened on that bus and impossible events with a touch of romance with a woman that can’t possibly exist.

There were a few inconsistencies that had me going back to make sure that I read correctly. For example, the story begins with the narrator on the 9:30pm bus on his way home but then he departs the bus and says that it is 9pm when speaking to the woman at the station. As the story jumps it can be hard to follow. I often found myself going back to reread parts in order to make sure that I understood what I had read. In the end it still left me with many questions. I also had to go back and read the ending again because I was unsure if it was part of the story or a side note from the author of the story. In the end I was left still feeling very confused.

Because of its difficulty to follow and many references to other authors and musicians that I was not familiar with, I would give this book a 2 out of 4 stars.

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The Expelled
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