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[Following is a volunteer review of "Gates to Tangier" by Mois Benarroch.]

Gates to Tangier by Mois Benarroch is a historical fiction that tells the journey four siblings undertake to find their unknown brother as instructed by their late father. More so, it focuses on the Jewish religion, the relationship between Jews and Arabs, the scattering abroad of the Jews and the realities of living as a Jew in the 1970s.

Following the death of their father, a family of five siblings (Fortu, Isaque, Alberto, Silvia and Ruth) in the absence of the youngest, Ruth gather in the office of their family lawyer to listen to the contents of their father's last will. It is revealed that in order to get their inheritance, they need to travel back to Morocco to find their half-brother Yosef whom they have never met, or at least known existed. Failure to do so means they will have to wait for five years before getting their share of the inheritance.

The first few pages of the book with the declaration of the last will and the instructions to follow caught my attention pretty much. I was eager to read further and discover how the events will unfold as they set out to find this brother of theirs. But to my greatest surprise, the opening story got more and more clouded by the lengthy passages on the Jewish religion which by the way was very strange to me. Terms and concepts like the Ashkenazi, the Sephardi, Intifada, pogroms and many more were thrown to my face without an attempt to explain them, leaving a novice in the Jewish religion like me completely lost. Besides, there were many things which the author brought up but the book just ended abruptly without properly addressing them, making the book even less enjoyable.

However, there were two things I enjoyed about this book. First, the book was very instructive especially for people who are interested in the Jewish culture. Also, due to the dispersion of the siblings in many parts of the world (Paris, Jerusalem, Madrid, New York), the author made vivid descriptions of towns and cities which I did not know especially in Morocco. I got to learn from that. Then the character of Alberto, one of the siblings who was a writer. His obsession with writing made me very fond of him. That not withstanding, the constant interruption of the story by the Jewish struggle made me think that the book was set out to talk more about the Jewish culture than to deliver an actual story and I found it very annoying.

I got this except from the book that coincidentally clearly tells how I feel about the book. “ I realize that you are writing your book, but you're getting too philosophical. I don’t like books that are philosophical, let the characters talk...”(P141). Not to leave out the fact that there were many grammatical errors all along the book. I found out that the book was written in different languages but am not quite sure if the errors were due to poor translation or not.

Overall, this was a book with a great initial storyline but unfortunately made less enjoyable by the author's over emphasis on religion . Due to the interrupted storyline, abrupt ending, and poor editing, I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I will recommend it to people who are interested in learning more about the Jewish religion and to lovers of historical fiction.

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Gates to Tangier
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Like Atabon Della's review? Post a comment saying so!

I'll have to pass this book up because I don't know much about the Jewish culture. I won't enjoy it since the author didn't make explanations available in his book for the layman. Thanks for such an excellent review Atabon.

I'm a lover of historical fiction but not one of overly religiously themed books. Seems like the plot may have been a good idea though. It may just need some refinement. Thank you for a wondefully honest review. Sorry you didn't enjoy this one as much as you would have liked.

Julez wrote:I'll have to pass this book up because I don't know much about the Jewish culture. I won't enjoy it since the author didn't make explanations available in his book for the layman. Thanks for such an excellent review Atabon.

Thank you Julez for the positive comment. It's bad that you have to pass this one but I hope that in his other books, the author would try to be more focused on the story.

-- 27 Aug 2017, 06:26 --

Excitedreads wrote:I'm a lover of historical fiction but not one of overly religiously themed books. Seems like the plot may have been a good idea though. It may just need some refinement. Thank you for a wondefully honest review. Sorry you didn't enjoy this one as much as you would have liked.

I must say the plot was really unique and good but unfortunately I still did not enjoy the book. Because I got less and less of the story but more and more about the Jewish religion.

Hello, Atabon Della! I was amused by the quote.

Benarroch has a unique writing style, most probably patterned after his model authors Kafka, Kerouac, Borges, and other celebrated poet/writers. Hailed as an enigmatic writer, he lives up to that reputation by delivering literature that is steeped in mystery.

While many readers may not like him, he certainly is hard to forget.

Miriam Molina wrote:Hello, Atabon Della! I was amused by the quote.

Benarroch has a unique writing style, most probably patterned after his model authors Kafka, Kerouac, Borges, and other celebrated poet/writers. Hailed as an enigmatic writer, he lives up to that reputation by delivering literature that is steeped in mystery.

While many readers may not like him, he certainly is hard to forget.

I was as well amused that he could mention something like that in his book yet do the same. It was one of the siblings talking to her brother, Alberto, who happens to be obsessed with writing books.
Well, for a casual reader like me who did not know about the author till I read the book, it was a surprise to me and worst still, the abrupt end as if the story was to continue in another series.

I also found the beginning very strong, which encouraged me to take the opportunity to review the book. I know what you mean about it becoming too much of a treatise at times though. I can see why you found the ending abrupt, though I thought it did fit well enough.

Thank you ButterscotchCherrie for your opinion. It does matter a lot. I must agree I found the beginning really strong, but I can't say same for the end. I still think it was abrupt. I read somewhere that a person may find very interesting a book which another person found so boring and not good. I guess it is really the beauty of reading and sharing ideas.