Review by Nsoha Uchenna -- The Immigrant's Lament
The Immigrant’s Lament is a poetic work consisting of two parts; first an autobiographical account of the poets “early years” and secondly, an anthology of poems written by the poet. In this book, Mois Benarroch does not only attempt to capture the social tensions and apprehensions experienced by a Moroccan Jew who battles with the complexities of identity but also, demonstrates the ability of poetry to tell a story without recourse to prose.
The book begins with the author’s account of a socially active life in Morocco as opposed to a quiet and withdrawn life in Israel where his poetic potential comes to life. The early life of Moshe, who incidentally is the poet, is discussed through the extensive use of apostrophic correspondence between the poet and Moshe; the journeys of Moshe’s family to Algeciras, Spain, France and finally Israel where he attends school from 9th grade and finally the Hebrew university where he studies Physics and Mathematics. The second part is basically a collection of poems written by the author with several themes such as romance, love, religious rites, politics, family ties, longing, and disenchantment.
Poetry is an art I enjoy so much and an autobiography completely encapsulated in poetry makes a beautiful read. It is not an easy feat to accomplish and I am saying this from experience. Also, the simple diction and infectious mood of the poet adds to the beauty of the book. However, I am not impressed with the flow of the narrative. John Keats “Endimion” provides a fine model with a consistent, progressive organic structure. The conscious attempt to achieve mystery by introducing lines with “straying” thoughts was “over-used” in some poems such as ‘Self portrait of the poet in a family mirror’. This caused such poems to lose their appeal.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. As much as I appreciate the author’s poetic ability, I couldn’t give this book all four stars because it fell short on certain criteria which were crucial. Besides a few grammatical and typographical errors which are not too obvious, for me, the book was almost ruined by the presence of some poems which were clearly the product of inexperience. I want to believe that the author’s intention was to transmit to the audience raw feelings that may have inspired such poems. If this was the case, then, the reason does not redeem the book of its shortfalls because of the wide and learned audience it was bound to entertain.
The Immigrant’s Lament still comes across as a very instructive guide to bridging racial divides which are just unnecessary. One primary importance sojourning in foreign towns is that it affords one the opportunity of not only understanding a foreign people but also, disabuses one’s mind of unfounded impressions about those people. I certainly agree with Mois Benarroch that it is pointless to racially profile a person or people.
I do recommend this book to everyone especially to lovers of poetry.
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The Immigrant's Lament
Read The immigrant's Lament in
Francais https://www.amazon.fr/dp/1507144415
Portugues https://www.amazon.com/dp/1507118074
Italiano https://www.amazon.it/dp/1507130104
English https://www.amazon.com/dp/1519012616
Bilingual edition Hebrew/English http://www.lulu.com/shop/mois-benarroch/paperback/product-21661852.html
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