Review by Bad Macaw -- Gates to Tangier by Mois Benarroch
Posted: 03 Jan 2017, 08:45
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Gates to Tangier" by Mois Benarroch.]
2 out of 4 stars
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The premise of this book seemed really interesting to me. With rainy, windy weather outside, and coming out of the worst part of a cold, I was happy to have a new book to read, and such an appealing one, too!
I am sorry to say I found it disappointing. I managed to finish it (quickly, even), but that was mostly because I didn't have anything else to do.
A father dies, leaves a will, the Benzimra family gathers to receive the inheritance. However, there is an unusual clause in the will: in order to collect the money, the family must first track down a half-brother they didn't know existed.
The idea is quite interesting, but I just didn't enjoy the way the story was told. The beginning is extremely confusing (and it didn't get much clearer as the story went on). This is a Jewish family who lived in Morocco, after which they immigrated to Spain? Did they originally come from Israel? Did they eventually go back? Maybe only the parents did? How long did they live in each place? Where were the children born? Until now, I'm not sure, and I went back on the story several times to try and figure out the timeline.
The children of the family are now adults, they are scattered around the globe, living in Madrid, Paris, New York. Some of them are on a plane together, one of the brothers is coming from New York, it takes a while to figure out where they all come from and where they're going. To add to the confusion, you are reading their thoughts. I'm not a big fan of stories told in the first person, but that is just my personal taste and I am usually able to get over it. In this case, it just adds to the confusion the fact that you have several narrators and the speech of each one goes on like it would in their minds.
Frankly, I'm not even sure how to write this review. I've finished the book and still don't have a clear notion of any of the family history. I was just left trying to figure out the chronology of everything and looking back, I'm even confused as to the number of brothers and sisters!
Since the author decided to write this way, using the characters' thoughts, it would have been a good, simple device to do the same with the lawyer that is reading the will right at the beginning of the book. Why not have a peek into his thoughts and provide us with some information, a base for the mess that was about to come? He could have just reviewed all the important facts in his mind, made a list of the family members... It could be something very concise, but it would have helped immensely!
It could be that I just wasn't enjoying the writing style itself, but even the actual story line, with such a great premise... it just didn't achieve its potential. I can't give away any spoilers so I will just say there is a "resolution" to the mystery. But in reality, nothing was resolved, at least not for me.
I can say that I did enjoy some of the descriptions of the cities and the glimpse into the complexities in Jewish and Muslim relationships the characters experience throughout their lives, how they adapted to their lives in Europe, the way they try to make sense of the different cultures. But that was about all I liked.
I rate this book this book two out of four stars. I give it two instead of one, because I can appreciate that the author does know how to write, and I think his writing could have worked, had it been more organized. For me, there was too little concrete information, too much guess work. I am not a lazy reader, but I am also not a mind reader. I do think some people my enjoy it because of all the interesting cultural references. However, I can't give it a higher rating.
******
Gates to Tangier
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
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2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The premise of this book seemed really interesting to me. With rainy, windy weather outside, and coming out of the worst part of a cold, I was happy to have a new book to read, and such an appealing one, too!
I am sorry to say I found it disappointing. I managed to finish it (quickly, even), but that was mostly because I didn't have anything else to do.
A father dies, leaves a will, the Benzimra family gathers to receive the inheritance. However, there is an unusual clause in the will: in order to collect the money, the family must first track down a half-brother they didn't know existed.
The idea is quite interesting, but I just didn't enjoy the way the story was told. The beginning is extremely confusing (and it didn't get much clearer as the story went on). This is a Jewish family who lived in Morocco, after which they immigrated to Spain? Did they originally come from Israel? Did they eventually go back? Maybe only the parents did? How long did they live in each place? Where were the children born? Until now, I'm not sure, and I went back on the story several times to try and figure out the timeline.
The children of the family are now adults, they are scattered around the globe, living in Madrid, Paris, New York. Some of them are on a plane together, one of the brothers is coming from New York, it takes a while to figure out where they all come from and where they're going. To add to the confusion, you are reading their thoughts. I'm not a big fan of stories told in the first person, but that is just my personal taste and I am usually able to get over it. In this case, it just adds to the confusion the fact that you have several narrators and the speech of each one goes on like it would in their minds.
Frankly, I'm not even sure how to write this review. I've finished the book and still don't have a clear notion of any of the family history. I was just left trying to figure out the chronology of everything and looking back, I'm even confused as to the number of brothers and sisters!
Since the author decided to write this way, using the characters' thoughts, it would have been a good, simple device to do the same with the lawyer that is reading the will right at the beginning of the book. Why not have a peek into his thoughts and provide us with some information, a base for the mess that was about to come? He could have just reviewed all the important facts in his mind, made a list of the family members... It could be something very concise, but it would have helped immensely!
It could be that I just wasn't enjoying the writing style itself, but even the actual story line, with such a great premise... it just didn't achieve its potential. I can't give away any spoilers so I will just say there is a "resolution" to the mystery. But in reality, nothing was resolved, at least not for me.
I can say that I did enjoy some of the descriptions of the cities and the glimpse into the complexities in Jewish and Muslim relationships the characters experience throughout their lives, how they adapted to their lives in Europe, the way they try to make sense of the different cultures. But that was about all I liked.
I rate this book this book two out of four stars. I give it two instead of one, because I can appreciate that the author does know how to write, and I think his writing could have worked, had it been more organized. For me, there was too little concrete information, too much guess work. I am not a lazy reader, but I am also not a mind reader. I do think some people my enjoy it because of all the interesting cultural references. However, I can't give it a higher rating.
******
Gates to Tangier
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like Bad Macaw's review? Post a comment saying so!