Review -- "The Immigrant's Lament" by Mois benarroch.
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Immigrant's Lament" by Mois benarroch.]
3 out of 4 stars
Review by Velaush
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Named after the first poem in the anthology, The Immigrant’s Lament written by Mois Bernarroch, was first published on 1994 in Hebrew under the Israeli publisher Yaron Golan. During the subsequent years, the book was published in various languages including English on 2002 under the bilingual edition of the said book. This autobiographical anthology features 53 poems that portray Bernarroch’s views and sentiments about being an immigrant in Israel, a place that he considers as another planet and various other themes such as love, family, war, childhood, politics, discrimination, and life in general.
With Mois Bernarroch’s unique portrayal of his lamentations and viewpoints using free verses, tergiversations, double-meanings, rhymes and candour, The Immigrant’s Lament offered me more than a glimpse on the life of a person struggling to fit in and at the same time trying to break free of a society that considers him foreign. In The Immigrant’s Lament, the opening poem of the book, I find Bernarroch’s raw straightforwardness and uninhibited verbalism fascinating in its contrasts and irony. The use of expletives and the puerile tone his poems sometimes takes up, “/I would like to meet the little principal/the son of a bitch/and spit on him”, makes the poem even more arresting (in my opinion) as it demolishes pretences and just offers the raw vulnerability the author.
The succeeding poems on the other hand, present a more mature feel coated with some of the elements of the first poem – frankness and vulnerability as well as an almost palpable confusion and frustration (especially about his writing career) and other emotions such as hope, love and appreciation. Though I can’t say that I find all of the poems satisfactory since some are a bit too vague for me and just uninteresting in its construction, I delight in reading the poems where Bernarroch describes a sort of metaphysical place in vivid imagery and makes me feel like I’m plunged inside his head-space, watching things unfold in his perspective.
When it comes to errors, I found few misspellings such as prouve for prove and the repetitive use of poor, in place of pour. I don’t know if the author intended for it to be as such, but it bothers me.
Though I am not one who is considered as a poem connoisseur or a virtuoso in the field of poetry as many may expostulate my opinions, I find The Immigrant’s Lament a decent anthology of poems with its own ups and downs (so to speak) and a unique charm that makes readers ruminate.
For this reason and all the ones I stated above, I give Mois Bernarroch’s The Immigrant’s Lament a score of 3 out of 4.
******
The Immigrant's Lament
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
3 out of 4 stars
Review by Velaush
Share This Review
With Mois Bernarroch’s unique portrayal of his lamentations and viewpoints using free verses, tergiversations, double-meanings, rhymes and candour, The Immigrant’s Lament offered me more than a glimpse on the life of a person struggling to fit in and at the same time trying to break free of a society that considers him foreign. In The Immigrant’s Lament, the opening poem of the book, I find Bernarroch’s raw straightforwardness and uninhibited verbalism fascinating in its contrasts and irony. The use of expletives and the puerile tone his poems sometimes takes up, “/I would like to meet the little principal/the son of a bitch/and spit on him”, makes the poem even more arresting (in my opinion) as it demolishes pretences and just offers the raw vulnerability the author.
The succeeding poems on the other hand, present a more mature feel coated with some of the elements of the first poem – frankness and vulnerability as well as an almost palpable confusion and frustration (especially about his writing career) and other emotions such as hope, love and appreciation. Though I can’t say that I find all of the poems satisfactory since some are a bit too vague for me and just uninteresting in its construction, I delight in reading the poems where Bernarroch describes a sort of metaphysical place in vivid imagery and makes me feel like I’m plunged inside his head-space, watching things unfold in his perspective.
When it comes to errors, I found few misspellings such as prouve for prove and the repetitive use of poor, in place of pour. I don’t know if the author intended for it to be as such, but it bothers me.
Though I am not one who is considered as a poem connoisseur or a virtuoso in the field of poetry as many may expostulate my opinions, I find The Immigrant’s Lament a decent anthology of poems with its own ups and downs (so to speak) and a unique charm that makes readers ruminate.
For this reason and all the ones I stated above, I give Mois Bernarroch’s The Immigrant’s Lament a score of 3 out of 4.
******
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
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
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