Ways to Lucena by Mois Benarroch

[Jessiebessie123]

[Following is a volunteer review of "(Ways to) Lucena" by Mois Benarroch.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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(Ways to) Lucena.

By Mois Benarroch.
Translated by P Diane Schneider

The story is religious and historically based with a sci-fi twist. This book is for readers that appreciates an alternative view of historical events to give another perception. This book was insightful and it made me ponder upon religious questions.

The book is based on a man who is a successful lawyer. He resides in Mexico. He is unhappily married. His wife is obnoxious, greedy and makes her claim audible that she is only staying with him for the money.

The main characters’ suicidal thoughts are getting the best of him. The characters’ personal creed is “everything is nothing” he applies this to all aspects of his life, it has a negative impact. According to him his only way of survival is by going back to his roots. He starts to dream and he awoken his long-lost passion for writing.

Early in the morning in a hotel with no room service in Málaga. His wife is obsessing over tea. So he sets off to find her what she wants. It is during this excursion where the story takes a twist, that is own to mois benarroch way of writing. There is a story within a story that is embedded within a story they all seem to be removed from one another and has no link to each other. But individually these stories take effect on the grand scheme of the narrative.

Religion plays a crucial part. The main character is a Christian that is of Jewish descent, his surname confesses of this. It seems that with finding his roots the main aspect is discovering the Jewish religion. It is made evident that by selling out your religion you are selling yourself. In a unique and personified way the narrative of the Jewish people are told. This point of view creates empathy.

I give the book 2 out of 4. I found the book hard to read because of its elaborate change of narrative. The line spacing is not reader friendly. Majority of the chapters had the same heading that questions even having chapters if it loses its effect. There were subheadings with bullet points that gave it the feeling of a travel journal, that added to the story line. The content of the bullet points were removed, vague and lack the conclusion needed. I would have scored it a 3 out of 4, however it left the reader unsure and with many unanswered questions.

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(Ways to) Lucena
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