Review by Zupanatural -- The Expelled by Mois Benarroch
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Expelled" by Mois Benarroch.]
Written in the first person to begin with, The Expelled starts with the author, struggling for income and in an ailing marriage, meeting a younger woman who bears striking similarities to his wife and whom he already seems to know everything about. She is intrigued and, in the midst of their whirlwind romance, asks the captivated writer to read her one of his stories.
He obliges with the tale (again in the first person) of a group of people making a long-distance journey by bus who, stemming from a dispute over use of the toilet, divide into 2 groups: the superior "front people" and the denigrated "back people". As this solidifies into a (highly recognisable) society complete with entitlement, discrimination, shared religion and various other facets, the bus and its passengers run into serious problems and eventually tragedy.
On the surface, this quirky and humorously-told story from Mois Benarroch mocks and confronts the cruel absurdities of modern Israeli society, with its divisions between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, between Jews and Palestinians. However, these observations hold true for many, if not most, other countries around the world. To borrow some of his own imagery, the author holds up a mirror and presses us to assess ourselves.
There is also a deeply personal and honest side to Benarroch's writing though and his constant stream of little jokes and tricks, played directly upon you the reader, succeed in drawing you right in. Step by step, he conveys a growing sense of disorientation as the various voices try to get their own story across - stories which resonate and intertwine with each other but are nevertheless separate - and the harsh reality of being stuck between here and there: between countries, cultures, people, classes, times and even that hazy half-reality between being awake and asleep.
Personally speaking, I enjoyed The Expelled immensely but I have to give it a slightly knocked down score of 3 out of 4 stars – some poor grammar appears to have been used intentionally (the author makes specific reference to it) but the translation/editing does comes across as being overly weak, especially at the beginning. It's worth looking beyond that if you can though, as it is otherwise an exceptionally rich piece of writing. The winning factor for me is the playfulness of the author in his execution of it – when you have to count back 10 lines just to work out who is speaking, you'll no doubt imagine him chuckling away to himself as I did. My only regret is having to read an English translation of it, as opposed to the original text, but c'est la vie! Nevertheless, definitely a novel worth reading.
******
The Expelled
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Written in the first person to begin with, The Expelled starts with the author, struggling for income and in an ailing marriage, meeting a younger woman who bears striking similarities to his wife and whom he already seems to know everything about. She is intrigued and, in the midst of their whirlwind romance, asks the captivated writer to read her one of his stories.
He obliges with the tale (again in the first person) of a group of people making a long-distance journey by bus who, stemming from a dispute over use of the toilet, divide into 2 groups: the superior "front people" and the denigrated "back people". As this solidifies into a (highly recognisable) society complete with entitlement, discrimination, shared religion and various other facets, the bus and its passengers run into serious problems and eventually tragedy.
On the surface, this quirky and humorously-told story from Mois Benarroch mocks and confronts the cruel absurdities of modern Israeli society, with its divisions between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, between Jews and Palestinians. However, these observations hold true for many, if not most, other countries around the world. To borrow some of his own imagery, the author holds up a mirror and presses us to assess ourselves.
There is also a deeply personal and honest side to Benarroch's writing though and his constant stream of little jokes and tricks, played directly upon you the reader, succeed in drawing you right in. Step by step, he conveys a growing sense of disorientation as the various voices try to get their own story across - stories which resonate and intertwine with each other but are nevertheless separate - and the harsh reality of being stuck between here and there: between countries, cultures, people, classes, times and even that hazy half-reality between being awake and asleep.
Personally speaking, I enjoyed The Expelled immensely but I have to give it a slightly knocked down score of 3 out of 4 stars – some poor grammar appears to have been used intentionally (the author makes specific reference to it) but the translation/editing does comes across as being overly weak, especially at the beginning. It's worth looking beyond that if you can though, as it is otherwise an exceptionally rich piece of writing. The winning factor for me is the playfulness of the author in his execution of it – when you have to count back 10 lines just to work out who is speaking, you'll no doubt imagine him chuckling away to himself as I did. My only regret is having to read an English translation of it, as opposed to the original text, but c'est la vie! Nevertheless, definitely a novel worth reading.
******
The Expelled
Read THE EXPELLED/ EL EXPULSADO IN
English getbook.at/theExpelled
FRANCAIS getbook.at/lExpulse
Italiano getbook.at/lEspulso
español getbook.at/elExpulsado
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
No comments:
Post a Comment