Review by MaryHazelUpton -- The Stealer of Memories
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Stealer of Memories" by Mois Benarroch.]
4 out of 4 stars
Review by MaryHazelUpton
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Official Book Review by Mary Hazel Upton
The Stealer Of Memories
The Stealer Of Memories by Mois Benarroch is a short but powerful novel. I rate this novel with 4 out of 4 stars. The PDF copy that I read was only 155 pages, including the book cover page, publishing information, and also several blank pages, such as used to be included in old books. The blank pages give the book a classier appearance. The cover of this book has no picture and the book has more of a manuscript look, although the margins are justified like for a regular book. This seems right also for this book, that seems to me, to be a highly fictionalized partial story of the author's own life.
The Stealer Of Memoriesis a literary novel, not a popular novel, and as such is harder reading. You can't just read it quickly like you would an action packed popular novel. Also, it is a translation. The translation is accurate, I assume, but some of the passages are written as a person who does not speak English as a primary language might phrase his sentences. There is no problem understanding, but you know immediately that the person is thinking in his own language and then translating to English before speaking. This could possibly be the result of errors on the translator's part, though, not any fault of the author's. Regardless, I see no reason for these minor details to keep anyone from reading this excellent book. I give it 4 of 4 stars because it is so good and because the author obviously wrote his unique book for love not for money.
When I searched further before writing this review, I found out that Mois Benarroch is a prolific and well respected writer in his own country of Israel. Many of his books have been translated to English and are for sale on Amazon, both hard copy books and e-books. The copy of The Stealer Of Memories that I read was translated by Babelcube. Babelcube is a publisher that specializes in translations. This service is free to the book authors, according to Babelcube's website. The book authors only have to share their royalties from the books they let Babelcube translate, and that they publish with Babelcube, with Babelcube and the translators who work for Babelcube. This seems like a good deal for the writers and worth checking out further if you are a writer.
The Stealer Of Memories is about a writer, who is also a Jewish man like Mois Benarroch. The book is divided into 5 parts. All the parts are in first person. Some parts are told from the unnamed main character's viewpoint. Some of the parts are from some of the other characters' viewpoints and are first person also. Some of these other characters are people from the main character's past. Some are people he has just met. And some of the characters may or may not be characters in the writer's own books. As the story gets more and more surreal, it is even suggested that the main character may be merely a character in his own books, or even in some of the book's minor characters' stories.
Adding to the surreal quality of The Stealer Of Memories is Mois Benarroch's unique writing style. He combines a sketchy storyline of half remembered events and present events, both his and the other characters', with numerous real people and events. I was able to look up most of the writers he mentioned in this story and they are real and famous writers in their own countries. Probably the ones that weren't easily found on the Internet, and that I didn't bother continuing to search for, are also real, but too obscure to be easily found. Mois Benarroch also uses real places, such as Zion Square in Jerusalem, that he is obviously familiar with. I didn't bother looking for all the little coffee shops, etc. that he mentioned, but I have no doubt that they are real too, and that Mois Benarroch has been there many times. There is one especially tragic chapter about the Holocaust, called Shoah by the Jews.
The Stealer Of Memories main theme is the unreliable nature of memory. The story progresses through the stories of the various characters with the viewpoint, always first person, shifting also. This provides a kaleidoscopic effect that enhances the story. The story may or may not be what the main writer character remembers. Or it may just be what other people told him happened. Or is he "stealing" the memories of other people he meets? Or perhaps he is these other people or maybe they are him?
The first part of the book is called The Autobiography Of The Stealer Of Memories. The story starts with a remembered bike accident when the main writer character was eight years old. This part of the book starts out with the memories of the main writer character, but rapidly slides into surrealism as he becomes increasingly unsure if he is remembering what really happened to him, or if he has the power to remember things that happened to other people. This part also begins to introduce the other characters and their memories as told from their viewpoints.
Part 2 of this book is titled Memories Of The Stealer Of Memories. This part fills in the life history of the main writer narrator as he remembers it, going back to his childhood. He is a middle-aged man now. This part is all in the first person and his viewpoint. Mois Benarroch continues with his surreal style, though, leaving the reader wondering if these are the narrator's real memories or not. He mixes the dream-like scenes with mention of real places and people. This technique, used throughout the book, reinforces the increasingly surreal effect of the story.
Part 3 is titled The Letter. This part is told partly from the writer main character's first person viewpoint and partly from the first-person viewpoint of a girl, Raquel, who may be real, or may just be a character in the writer's story. Or the writer may be someone else, or a character in his own story. This section is especially tragic with its account of the Holocaust.
Part 4 is titled The Return Of Raquel. This part details the writer's growing obsession with Raquel and his own writing. It is told from his first-person viewpoint.
Part 5, the last part of The Stealer Of Memories, is the shortest section of this book. It is titled The Dialogue. It is mostly a long and beautiful prose poem summing up the theme of The Stealer Of Memories. That theme is the unreliable nature of memory, and the tragedy that as time causes our lives to pass into memory, those memories may not even be real. In the end, Mois Benarroch seems to say, time takes everything from us, even our memories, and perhaps we have nothing at all left.
The Stealer Of Memories leaves more questions unanswered than it answers. If you like Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust, J.G. Ballard, Brian Aldiss, Vladimir Nabakov, or Ilsa J. Bick, you will probably like Mois Benarroch's The Stealer Of Memories also. Mois Bennaroch's style is surreal like Franz Kafka and Ilsa J. Bick. It is darkly poetic like J. G. Ballard, Brian Aldiss, and Vladimir Nabokov. Like Marcel Proust, J. G. Ballard, Vladimir Nabokov, and sometimes Brian Aldiss, he writes of the mysterious and unfathomable nature of time. Like Marcel Proust he writes of the power of memory. Like Ilsa J. Bick, in her Dark Passages series, he writes about where the thin line may be between the characters in a writer's story and the writer himself.
I will definitely look for more stories by Mois Benarroch and I will keep the PDF review copy of The Stealer Of Memories in my online library to read again someday. I rate this book with 4 out of 4 stars.
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
4 out of 4 stars
Review by MaryHazelUpton
Share This Review
The Stealer Of Memories
The Stealer Of Memories by Mois Benarroch is a short but powerful novel. I rate this novel with 4 out of 4 stars. The PDF copy that I read was only 155 pages, including the book cover page, publishing information, and also several blank pages, such as used to be included in old books. The blank pages give the book a classier appearance. The cover of this book has no picture and the book has more of a manuscript look, although the margins are justified like for a regular book. This seems right also for this book, that seems to me, to be a highly fictionalized partial story of the author's own life.
The Stealer Of Memoriesis a literary novel, not a popular novel, and as such is harder reading. You can't just read it quickly like you would an action packed popular novel. Also, it is a translation. The translation is accurate, I assume, but some of the passages are written as a person who does not speak English as a primary language might phrase his sentences. There is no problem understanding, but you know immediately that the person is thinking in his own language and then translating to English before speaking. This could possibly be the result of errors on the translator's part, though, not any fault of the author's. Regardless, I see no reason for these minor details to keep anyone from reading this excellent book. I give it 4 of 4 stars because it is so good and because the author obviously wrote his unique book for love not for money.
When I searched further before writing this review, I found out that Mois Benarroch is a prolific and well respected writer in his own country of Israel. Many of his books have been translated to English and are for sale on Amazon, both hard copy books and e-books. The copy of The Stealer Of Memories that I read was translated by Babelcube. Babelcube is a publisher that specializes in translations. This service is free to the book authors, according to Babelcube's website. The book authors only have to share their royalties from the books they let Babelcube translate, and that they publish with Babelcube, with Babelcube and the translators who work for Babelcube. This seems like a good deal for the writers and worth checking out further if you are a writer.
The Stealer Of Memories is about a writer, who is also a Jewish man like Mois Benarroch. The book is divided into 5 parts. All the parts are in first person. Some parts are told from the unnamed main character's viewpoint. Some of the parts are from some of the other characters' viewpoints and are first person also. Some of these other characters are people from the main character's past. Some are people he has just met. And some of the characters may or may not be characters in the writer's own books. As the story gets more and more surreal, it is even suggested that the main character may be merely a character in his own books, or even in some of the book's minor characters' stories.
Adding to the surreal quality of The Stealer Of Memories is Mois Benarroch's unique writing style. He combines a sketchy storyline of half remembered events and present events, both his and the other characters', with numerous real people and events. I was able to look up most of the writers he mentioned in this story and they are real and famous writers in their own countries. Probably the ones that weren't easily found on the Internet, and that I didn't bother continuing to search for, are also real, but too obscure to be easily found. Mois Benarroch also uses real places, such as Zion Square in Jerusalem, that he is obviously familiar with. I didn't bother looking for all the little coffee shops, etc. that he mentioned, but I have no doubt that they are real too, and that Mois Benarroch has been there many times. There is one especially tragic chapter about the Holocaust, called Shoah by the Jews.
The Stealer Of Memories main theme is the unreliable nature of memory. The story progresses through the stories of the various characters with the viewpoint, always first person, shifting also. This provides a kaleidoscopic effect that enhances the story. The story may or may not be what the main writer character remembers. Or it may just be what other people told him happened. Or is he "stealing" the memories of other people he meets? Or perhaps he is these other people or maybe they are him?
The first part of the book is called The Autobiography Of The Stealer Of Memories. The story starts with a remembered bike accident when the main writer character was eight years old. This part of the book starts out with the memories of the main writer character, but rapidly slides into surrealism as he becomes increasingly unsure if he is remembering what really happened to him, or if he has the power to remember things that happened to other people. This part also begins to introduce the other characters and their memories as told from their viewpoints.
Part 2 of this book is titled Memories Of The Stealer Of Memories. This part fills in the life history of the main writer narrator as he remembers it, going back to his childhood. He is a middle-aged man now. This part is all in the first person and his viewpoint. Mois Benarroch continues with his surreal style, though, leaving the reader wondering if these are the narrator's real memories or not. He mixes the dream-like scenes with mention of real places and people. This technique, used throughout the book, reinforces the increasingly surreal effect of the story.
Part 3 is titled The Letter. This part is told partly from the writer main character's first person viewpoint and partly from the first-person viewpoint of a girl, Raquel, who may be real, or may just be a character in the writer's story. Or the writer may be someone else, or a character in his own story. This section is especially tragic with its account of the Holocaust.
Part 4 is titled The Return Of Raquel. This part details the writer's growing obsession with Raquel and his own writing. It is told from his first-person viewpoint.
Part 5, the last part of The Stealer Of Memories, is the shortest section of this book. It is titled The Dialogue. It is mostly a long and beautiful prose poem summing up the theme of The Stealer Of Memories. That theme is the unreliable nature of memory, and the tragedy that as time causes our lives to pass into memory, those memories may not even be real. In the end, Mois Benarroch seems to say, time takes everything from us, even our memories, and perhaps we have nothing at all left.
The Stealer Of Memories leaves more questions unanswered than it answers. If you like Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust, J.G. Ballard, Brian Aldiss, Vladimir Nabakov, or Ilsa J. Bick, you will probably like Mois Benarroch's The Stealer Of Memories also. Mois Bennaroch's style is surreal like Franz Kafka and Ilsa J. Bick. It is darkly poetic like J. G. Ballard, Brian Aldiss, and Vladimir Nabokov. Like Marcel Proust, J. G. Ballard, Vladimir Nabokov, and sometimes Brian Aldiss, he writes of the mysterious and unfathomable nature of time. Like Marcel Proust he writes of the power of memory. Like Ilsa J. Bick, in her Dark Passages series, he writes about where the thin line may be between the characters in a writer's story and the writer himself.
I will definitely look for more stories by Mois Benarroch and I will keep the PDF review copy of The Stealer Of Memories in my online library to read again someday. I rate this book with 4 out of 4 stars.
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
