book Review -- The Expelled by Mois Benarroch

Review by mturner5500 -- The Expelled by Mois Benarroch

Post Number:#1 by mturner5500 » 03 Mar 2017, 19:11

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In the novel "The Expelled" writer Mois Benarroch examines topics such as class and discrimination through the use of parable. In the story the anonymous narrator meets a woman who looks like a younger version of his wife at a bus stop. He strikes up a conversation with her by telling her a story about a long bus trip and the effects it has on the passengers. The bus passengers soon divide themselves into the front and back sections of the bus and that effects how they relate to one another. While he relates this story he begins a love affair with the woman he is relating the story to.

The book is translated from it's original language by Pamela Daccache. There are a few jarring editing errors in the novel that take one out of the story from time to time. However Benarroch's skill in telling this surreal tale shine through. This is not a easy to digest work. There are multiple layers throughout the story that require the reader to pay attention. Bennaroch spends much time on creating mood and setting allowing the characters to live in a real breathing world.

Benarroch lives in Israel and he is using his story as a metaphor for how Moroccan Jews can be mistreated there due to their status as outsiders. He uses the bus trip as a metaphor for the different social strata that exist in our lives. How even what should be meaningless distinctions between people can be used to divide and separate us. The people who sit in the front or the back of the bus have such different backgrounds and personalities that there is no real reason for them to consider themselves as part of a group different from those at the front of the bus.

I really enjoyed that the narrator himself may not be entirely honest with us about what happened between himself and the woman. It's clear Benarroch is admitting his own prejudices may be coming into play while he is writing his novel. He is challenging us to listen to him but also to question him. He is also making us aware of our own inner ways we make value judgments.

I would rate this story as a 3 out of 4 stars. It is dense and takes focus to follow all the lines the story weaves together. It is richly rewarding doing so as it makes you consider your own thoughts and prejudices. The slight editing problems are distracting somewhat. This is not a story for anyone looking for light escapism. It's for those who want to be challenged and read something thought provoking.

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The Expelled 

Read THE EXPELLED/ EL EXPULSADO IN

English getbook.at/theExpelled

FRANCAIS   getbook.at/lExpulse

Italiano  getbook.at/lEspulso

español  getbook.at/elExpulsado

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