Review by Jaime Lync -- The Nobel Prize by Mois benarroch

Review by Jaime Lync -- The Nobel Prize by Mois benarroch

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Review by Jaime Lync

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The Nobel Prize by award winning author Mois Benarroch captivates the reader from the first to the twenty- fifth (last) chapter chiefly by employing light humor while addressing the weighty subject of mental illness. This psychological thriller plunges us into the demented mind of a starving artist who just so happens to form a habit of visiting another institutionalized paranoid schizophrenic writer who impersonates a different character from one of his many published novels every day. The main character also meets a number of very peculiar supporting characters that serve to augment the reader’s intrigue in the novel while simultaneously advancing the plot. At the end of the book the reader is left wanting more and wondering who is who and what is what.

Benarroch’s conversational and witty writing style births desire in me to recount the story to others. However, I believe my retelling of the story would be my version as the novel is very open to the reader’s interpretation because it forces us to decipher between reality and delusions. The book opened with no table of content or acknowledgement just a page dedicated to an insightful and relevant quote. A table of content does not seem necessary because (a) the chapters are simply numbered, I liked this since most chapter titles act as spoilers, and (b) though there are twenty five chapters the average length of the chapters is two pages. The plot relied heavily on well composed dialogues. I especially enjoyed how the scenes and chapters flowed logically one into the other.

Moreover, though the central theme is mental illness the author also comments on other social themes. He speaks a lot on marital affairs. As for sexuality, he fringes around the topic. The well ‘fleshed-out’ characters also embody themes such as identity crisis, self-esteem, success and failure. All of these themes interwoven into the novel heighten the sense of suspense that is already attached to this genre of fictional work.

However, Mois’s work is not without cons. There are some editorial issues that sometimes baffle the reader. For example, female characters are sometimes referred to as males. Though these grammatical errors are few and far in between whenever they arise the reader is likely to get confused and have to re-read some portions to reclaim his bearing. The switch from dialogue to thoughts is also hard to distinguish at time because there are no quotation marks. Another con in my opinion is the use of curse words (I know many people that will not read a great book because the f-bomb is dropped). Moreover, Benarroch’s devoted a chapter to vividly paint a bizarre mature content scene that could have been disclosed briefly. The act of going into such graphic detail may serve as a ‘turn-off’ for many readers. I believe that this book would have been an even more enjoyable read if the grammatical errors and a specific obscene chapter did not make it onto the final draft of the novel.

In summary, The Nobel Prize is an enjoyable novel that could be enjoyed in one sitting and provoke thoughts on serious social issues for months. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because though I am highly inclined to recommend it to avid and non-avid readers alike there seems to be a lack of thorough editorial work as well as a scene that I would advise all to avoid. Overall, the novel is praiseworthy.

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The Nobel Prize 
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