Review by Ebe Read -- Raquel Says (Something Entirely Unexpected)" by Mois benarroch
[Following is a volunteer review of "Raquel Says (Something Entirely Unexpected)" by Mois benarroch.]
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Raquel Says (Something Entirely Unexpected)" by Mois Benarroch/translated by Sally Seward)
Raquel says (Something Entirely Unexpected) by Mois Benaroch is one of 7 novels that make up one work of art.
At the start of this book I thought; Oh, Oh, this is going to be very dark and depressing as the first couple of chapters dealt with death and depression. After a while though, I found out that it was the attempt to create the character of Raquel, that the writer’s emotional efforts and trauma was being described and that I had missed the heading stating that this was “the Creation of Raquel” which made it all better.
The story unfolds as Moisito, born and grown and educated in Morocco become Mois on the day of his Bar Mitzvah which heralds a change in countries and cultures as his parents emigrates from the Spanish held country in North Africa to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem he becomes Moshe who has a totally different character from Mois and Moisito.
Sometime during the following years to the age of 20 his mother comes into possession of a book written by Raquel who he had known before they left Tetouan in Morocco. Reading this book brings back memories of the days when he was happy and felt he belonged, knew what was expected of him and where his life was going
This book is a Rite of Passage, in which Moshe tries to recapture the certainties of Moisito before he became Mois and then Moshe. He does this through the dual awareness of similarities of reality and viewpoints of himself and Raquel as writers and the attempted return to the time of Moisito through the relationship, making an attempt to escape the cultural shock of a national culture different from the one he was educated in. Yet somewhere in his awareness there is the expectation for them to be the same, and the shock of realising and he was not acceptable by those he considered his ethnic group.
The concept of soul mates expressed in this novel was brilliantly used in the resolution of trauma and disturbances inherent in changes in cultural acceptance experience by displaced people of all ages.
Having been translated from its written language into English, I found the abrupt changes of direction in thought context a little bewildering. The writer jumps from the defining of words to describing past, imagined and desired travels with Raquel to musings why they had never met and literature and sexual behaviour and personal relationships without any clear indication that one has stopped and the other started.
In chapter six the writer states: “In which technique, literature and hot-tempered birds from overseas are discussed.” - Page 34, this ends on page 36 but the birds only appear on page 49.
However, as I continued through the narrative, the storyline started to surface and the thread of the story emerged to end in a quite satisfactory way.
Despite above said, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to readers who would be interested in the “other viewpoint”, and the mental and character changes and inability to find roots, that can be experienced by immigrants into new societies, therefore I rate Raquel Says (Something Entirely Unexpected) 3 out of 4 stars. If you prefer light entertainment, this will not be for you.
******
Raquel Says (Something Entirely Unexpected)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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Raquel says (Something Entirely Unexpected) by Mois Benaroch is one of 7 novels that make up one work of art.
At the start of this book I thought; Oh, Oh, this is going to be very dark and depressing as the first couple of chapters dealt with death and depression. After a while though, I found out that it was the attempt to create the character of Raquel, that the writer’s emotional efforts and trauma was being described and that I had missed the heading stating that this was “the Creation of Raquel” which made it all better.
The story unfolds as Moisito, born and grown and educated in Morocco become Mois on the day of his Bar Mitzvah which heralds a change in countries and cultures as his parents emigrates from the Spanish held country in North Africa to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem he becomes Moshe who has a totally different character from Mois and Moisito.
Sometime during the following years to the age of 20 his mother comes into possession of a book written by Raquel who he had known before they left Tetouan in Morocco. Reading this book brings back memories of the days when he was happy and felt he belonged, knew what was expected of him and where his life was going
This book is a Rite of Passage, in which Moshe tries to recapture the certainties of Moisito before he became Mois and then Moshe. He does this through the dual awareness of similarities of reality and viewpoints of himself and Raquel as writers and the attempted return to the time of Moisito through the relationship, making an attempt to escape the cultural shock of a national culture different from the one he was educated in. Yet somewhere in his awareness there is the expectation for them to be the same, and the shock of realising and he was not acceptable by those he considered his ethnic group.
The concept of soul mates expressed in this novel was brilliantly used in the resolution of trauma and disturbances inherent in changes in cultural acceptance experience by displaced people of all ages.
Having been translated from its written language into English, I found the abrupt changes of direction in thought context a little bewildering. The writer jumps from the defining of words to describing past, imagined and desired travels with Raquel to musings why they had never met and literature and sexual behaviour and personal relationships without any clear indication that one has stopped and the other started.
In chapter six the writer states: “In which technique, literature and hot-tempered birds from overseas are discussed.” - Page 34, this ends on page 36 but the birds only appear on page 49.
However, as I continued through the narrative, the storyline started to surface and the thread of the story emerged to end in a quite satisfactory way.
Despite above said, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to readers who would be interested in the “other viewpoint”, and the mental and character changes and inability to find roots, that can be experienced by immigrants into new societies, therefore I rate Raquel Says (Something Entirely Unexpected) 3 out of 4 stars. If you prefer light entertainment, this will not be for you.
******
Raquel Says (Something Entirely Unexpected)
Read Raquel Says in
Italiano https://www.amazon.it/dp/1507123744
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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