Review of The Immigrant's Lament
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ajwootton
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Review of The Immigrant's Lament
[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, The Immigrant's Lament.]
The Immigrant’s Lament by poet, Mois Benarroch, is a collection of autobiographical poems. Born a Sephardi Jew in Morocco, he is confronted by prejudice when he emigrates to Israel, a place where Ashkenazi Jews and their traditions dominate. He recounts significant events and experiences through his writing. Some of his poems are brief, targeting specific moments in his life – his relationships, his early loves, sexual experiences, and later, the loss of love. Others are lengthy and address entire periods in his life – his childhood, lessons learned, and the characters that pervaded his early existence and contributed substantially to the formation of the man he eventually became. Through this series of deeply personal vignettes the reader comes to know him like a close friend, cousin or brother.
He paints vivid scenes from his life using an intimate and unguarded voice that delivers at times gentle and other times raw revelations of his innermost thoughts, fears and impressions. It feels as if he has held nothing back. At times self-deprecating and at other times self-loving, he portrays one after another of the rich and varied experiences of his past, his trials, his mistakes, and ultimately his triumphs. Despite the economy of the poetic style, you meet a surprising number of characters. Revered family members, the emotion they evoked in him and the effect they had on his life are introduced and in some cases revisited in later poems. Lush pictures of his early life in Morocco are contrasted with the harsh challenges and discrimination his family faced at the hands of the Ashkenazi society and their norms.
While not an avid poetry reader, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. One of the greatest gifts an author can give his readers is a view into his own humanity. Benarroch most definitely does this through his humble and authentic writing. I reread several poems in order to savor their emotional impact. I particularly enjoyed Promises. The message, so true to my own experience, is that love is so much sweeter when we go in head first with no expectations and give freely and fully of ourselves.
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I easily became engaged in its honesty. I found myself relating to Mois’ portrayal of the many sides of love, the contrasting feelings of abandon, insecurity, desire, anger, confusion, and jealousy. The highlights of his life journey, shared through his poems, are relatable and quickly drew me in. The numerous scenes from his childhood form vivid pictures in your mind. It is clear that these images are forever etched in his own. He addresses his challenges as a struggling writer, death, politics, and even the diamond trade. I got something from each and every one of them. I am impressed with the author’s ability to convey deep emotion, strong images and humanitarian messages with so few words.
I stopped short of 5 stars due to some typos and a few poems that did not flow with the rest of the collection. Overall, I loved the experience of reading this book and recommend it to anyone who likes memoirs or poetry. Strip Poetry offers insight to the writer’s artistic objective, and I must say he achieved his goal quite handily with this work.
The Immigrant’s Lament by poet, Mois Benarroch, is a collection of autobiographical poems. Born a Sephardi Jew in Morocco, he is confronted by prejudice when he emigrates to Israel, a place where Ashkenazi Jews and their traditions dominate. He recounts significant events and experiences through his writing. Some of his poems are brief, targeting specific moments in his life – his relationships, his early loves, sexual experiences, and later, the loss of love. Others are lengthy and address entire periods in his life – his childhood, lessons learned, and the characters that pervaded his early existence and contributed substantially to the formation of the man he eventually became. Through this series of deeply personal vignettes the reader comes to know him like a close friend, cousin or brother.
He paints vivid scenes from his life using an intimate and unguarded voice that delivers at times gentle and other times raw revelations of his innermost thoughts, fears and impressions. It feels as if he has held nothing back. At times self-deprecating and at other times self-loving, he portrays one after another of the rich and varied experiences of his past, his trials, his mistakes, and ultimately his triumphs. Despite the economy of the poetic style, you meet a surprising number of characters. Revered family members, the emotion they evoked in him and the effect they had on his life are introduced and in some cases revisited in later poems. Lush pictures of his early life in Morocco are contrasted with the harsh challenges and discrimination his family faced at the hands of the Ashkenazi society and their norms.
While not an avid poetry reader, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. One of the greatest gifts an author can give his readers is a view into his own humanity. Benarroch most definitely does this through his humble and authentic writing. I reread several poems in order to savor their emotional impact. I particularly enjoyed Promises. The message, so true to my own experience, is that love is so much sweeter when we go in head first with no expectations and give freely and fully of ourselves.
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I easily became engaged in its honesty. I found myself relating to Mois’ portrayal of the many sides of love, the contrasting feelings of abandon, insecurity, desire, anger, confusion, and jealousy. The highlights of his life journey, shared through his poems, are relatable and quickly drew me in. The numerous scenes from his childhood form vivid pictures in your mind. It is clear that these images are forever etched in his own. He addresses his challenges as a struggling writer, death, politics, and even the diamond trade. I got something from each and every one of them. I am impressed with the author’s ability to convey deep emotion, strong images and humanitarian messages with so few words.
I stopped short of 5 stars due to some typos and a few poems that did not flow with the rest of the collection. Overall, I loved the experience of reading this book and recommend it to anyone who likes memoirs or poetry. Strip Poetry offers insight to the writer’s artistic objective, and I must say he achieved his goal quite handily with this work.
