Review by verg70 -- The Nobel Prize by Mois benarroch
Posted: 02 Apr 2017, 08:13
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Nobel Prize" by Mois benarroch.]
2 out of 4 stars
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The Nobel Prize by Mois Benarroch is a short fantasy story following a writer, who is down on his luck. The first thing that struck me about the book is that the main character had one success in his past, since then, people assume that he is rich and no longer needs to work. This is an interesting point and made me realise that I am guilty of this assumption.
I have previously read one of Benarroch’s stories and found it extremely difficult to follow and understand. I decided to try another story and was surprised by the difference in the books. While this one still had some of the same issues, I was at least able to follow the main plot.
We begin with our main character meeting a colleague from a writing group he attended in his past. At first he does not remember this colleague, but then he begins to recall some of the details about him. Our main character then discovers that another colleague of theirs, Jorge, suffered a mental breakdown of some kind and was committed to an institute.
He decides to visit Jorge and soon realises that Jorge is waking up every morning as a different character from one of his many stories. This gives our subject an idea for a book that he thinks will be his greatest work.
I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars for a number of reasons. Again, the main problem is the poor grammar. It is difficult to read a story when the sentences do not make sense and you have to re-read paragraphs to try and understand what is happening. This caused me to lose focus on the story and I was left wondering if there was anyone that could read this and understand it straight away.
Making things even more difficult are the conversations between the characters in the book. No quotation marks are used, but each time a different person speaks, they are given a new line which starts with a hyphen. It may be easier to follow if you were told who started the conversation, but you are left wondering who is talking at any given time.
The second problem with the story is that there appeared to be side stories that were either not finished, or just placed in to satisfy the author’s tastes. An example of this random diversion is the alien Lextra, who steals thoughts for her species and seems to be addicted to sex. This did not add anything to the story and left me feeling a little uncomfortable.
The main story itself was well thought out and had potential to be very interesting. It relates to real life issues and so engages the reader and you feel yourself falling into the story and empathising with the main character. We all have relationship issues and now in society there is an awareness regarding mental health and this story draws on both of these.
However, you are prevented from losing yourself in the book because of the issues mentioned. This book is interesting and only short so it is worth reading, but there are things to be considered when choosing this book. Firstly, the issues mentioned detract from the whole reading experience, but secondly and more importantly, the side story with Lextra needs to be considered. This distraction is strange and there are some graphic sexual references that may offend some readers.
******
The Nobel Prize
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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2 out of 4 stars
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The Nobel Prize by Mois Benarroch is a short fantasy story following a writer, who is down on his luck. The first thing that struck me about the book is that the main character had one success in his past, since then, people assume that he is rich and no longer needs to work. This is an interesting point and made me realise that I am guilty of this assumption.
I have previously read one of Benarroch’s stories and found it extremely difficult to follow and understand. I decided to try another story and was surprised by the difference in the books. While this one still had some of the same issues, I was at least able to follow the main plot.
We begin with our main character meeting a colleague from a writing group he attended in his past. At first he does not remember this colleague, but then he begins to recall some of the details about him. Our main character then discovers that another colleague of theirs, Jorge, suffered a mental breakdown of some kind and was committed to an institute.
He decides to visit Jorge and soon realises that Jorge is waking up every morning as a different character from one of his many stories. This gives our subject an idea for a book that he thinks will be his greatest work.
I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars for a number of reasons. Again, the main problem is the poor grammar. It is difficult to read a story when the sentences do not make sense and you have to re-read paragraphs to try and understand what is happening. This caused me to lose focus on the story and I was left wondering if there was anyone that could read this and understand it straight away.
Making things even more difficult are the conversations between the characters in the book. No quotation marks are used, but each time a different person speaks, they are given a new line which starts with a hyphen. It may be easier to follow if you were told who started the conversation, but you are left wondering who is talking at any given time.
The second problem with the story is that there appeared to be side stories that were either not finished, or just placed in to satisfy the author’s tastes. An example of this random diversion is the alien Lextra, who steals thoughts for her species and seems to be addicted to sex. This did not add anything to the story and left me feeling a little uncomfortable.
The main story itself was well thought out and had potential to be very interesting. It relates to real life issues and so engages the reader and you feel yourself falling into the story and empathising with the main character. We all have relationship issues and now in society there is an awareness regarding mental health and this story draws on both of these.
However, you are prevented from losing yourself in the book because of the issues mentioned. This book is interesting and only short so it is worth reading, but there are things to be considered when choosing this book. Firstly, the issues mentioned detract from the whole reading experience, but secondly and more importantly, the side story with Lextra needs to be considered. This distraction is strange and there are some graphic sexual references that may offend some readers.
******
The Nobel Prize
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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