Review by normindrasarawi -- The Expelled by Mois Benarroch
Posted: 16 May 2017, 10:54
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Expelled" by Mois Benarroch.]
2 out of 4 stars
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The Expelled by Mois Benarroch is a unique novel that uses frame narrative. Inside the book, the anonymous writer reads his latest unfinished short novel to a woman (replica of his wife) about the story of a man on the bus; the man on the bus reads the story in the notebook to the other passengers; the story in the notebook contains the story of the expelled (the name given to the Sephardim who arrived in Morocco after the inquisition). The book has three narrators where each of them is also a character within the frame story.
Aside from being unique, The Expelled is also a very difficult novel that needs a tough reader possessing high intelligence. This novel extremely made me work harder, since I didn’t fully understand the whole concept. But in my point of view, the first tale used as a setup for structural purposes. The secondary tale takes on a larger role and so the center of the story. This is also the most difficult part where it contains most of metaphors; the bus, the road, the driver, and the passengers. It’s not written literally, it has a deeper meaning and requires an extra effort of understanding. The second tale is also crowded with life stories of passengers. It’s seems like no relation to the plot, but I believe there is something hidden behind their stories and has a purpose to the main plot. Finally, the last tale is another different story in which the third narrator explained why he became an expelled in his own country. Generally, the story inside the story has something to do with the personality of the anonymous writer of the first tale. It’s like changing him from an expelled to a successful person. In fact, the message was good. It’s touching and connects to every individual, however, the delivery of the message was not clear enough to the reader. Overall, it was confusing.
The story is also hard to follow due to the following: First, the lines were too long, reason for the reader to lose track. There are also no tension and excitement, so the book was boring at times. Second, some of the dialogues had no indications of who is speaking to whom knowing a lot of passengers named throughout the second tale. Lastly, as the story circled back, there was a mix-up between the two tales. I thought I’m still reading the second tale, but it turned out that I’m already reading on the first tale. So, it wasn’t properly segregated.
What I only liked in this novel is the use of a frame narrative in writing the story, it’s something different from those common books. It will help the reader move from one story to another story. As for me, this is another different experience of reading.
The Expelled is interesting and has a lot of potential, but sadly it was difficult to follow and confusing. For me, it was stressful reading and understanding this book. I also don’t know what the author’s true intention is for his reader, hence, I rate it 2 out of 4 stars.
******
The Expelled
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like normindrasarawi's review? Post a comment saying so!
2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The Expelled by Mois Benarroch is a unique novel that uses frame narrative. Inside the book, the anonymous writer reads his latest unfinished short novel to a woman (replica of his wife) about the story of a man on the bus; the man on the bus reads the story in the notebook to the other passengers; the story in the notebook contains the story of the expelled (the name given to the Sephardim who arrived in Morocco after the inquisition). The book has three narrators where each of them is also a character within the frame story.
Aside from being unique, The Expelled is also a very difficult novel that needs a tough reader possessing high intelligence. This novel extremely made me work harder, since I didn’t fully understand the whole concept. But in my point of view, the first tale used as a setup for structural purposes. The secondary tale takes on a larger role and so the center of the story. This is also the most difficult part where it contains most of metaphors; the bus, the road, the driver, and the passengers. It’s not written literally, it has a deeper meaning and requires an extra effort of understanding. The second tale is also crowded with life stories of passengers. It’s seems like no relation to the plot, but I believe there is something hidden behind their stories and has a purpose to the main plot. Finally, the last tale is another different story in which the third narrator explained why he became an expelled in his own country. Generally, the story inside the story has something to do with the personality of the anonymous writer of the first tale. It’s like changing him from an expelled to a successful person. In fact, the message was good. It’s touching and connects to every individual, however, the delivery of the message was not clear enough to the reader. Overall, it was confusing.
The story is also hard to follow due to the following: First, the lines were too long, reason for the reader to lose track. There are also no tension and excitement, so the book was boring at times. Second, some of the dialogues had no indications of who is speaking to whom knowing a lot of passengers named throughout the second tale. Lastly, as the story circled back, there was a mix-up between the two tales. I thought I’m still reading the second tale, but it turned out that I’m already reading on the first tale. So, it wasn’t properly segregated.
What I only liked in this novel is the use of a frame narrative in writing the story, it’s something different from those common books. It will help the reader move from one story to another story. As for me, this is another different experience of reading.
The Expelled is interesting and has a lot of potential, but sadly it was difficult to follow and confusing. For me, it was stressful reading and understanding this book. I also don’t know what the author’s true intention is for his reader, hence, I rate it 2 out of 4 stars.
******
The Expelled
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like normindrasarawi's review? Post a comment saying so!