Review of "Keys to Tetouan" by Mois Benarroch

Review by Katleho -- Keys to Tetouan by Mois Benarroch

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Rating : 3 out of 4 stars

Immediately after discovering that his father was actually an immigrant from nearby Spain, Fernando Benzimra sets events into action in trying to trace his roots. Interestingly, Fernando comes to the realization of his Jewish ancestry after his father’s death through a letter. I actually felt the epiphany when the author Benarroch tries to reveal benzimra’s family situation which is buried under a century of generations in the movement back and forth through places like Spain, Tetouan in Morocco and even Israel.

Benarroch clearly wants to share with the readers the quest and adventures of Fernando when he endeavors to unearth his ancestral roots. History lovers will definitely agree with me that in order to fit all the pieces together for the better understanding of the author’s work, extensive research is required, with a personal connection to his history notwithstanding. For example, the author’s family had to be exiled from Spain to Tetoun in morocco due to political and religious tension, after which they finally settled in Israel as a young Jewish boy. The nostalgic and poetic occurrence of events shows clearly that the author identifies with the character Fernando as he recollects his lost identity between living in morocco and Israel. He struggled to preserve his real identity despite external pressures such as cultural norms and expectations.

The author underscores arguments based on religious affiliations, in this case, the Jewish faith. He posits the general clashes between various cultures and faith where we as readers are supposed to understand the persecution and exiling of Jews throughout history. Peaceful coexistence is also Benaroch’s focus and I find this appealing especially in today’s contemporary society where political crisis in most countries up north emanate from religious differences.

The question of Identity largely forms the theme of this novel by Benarroch. The author reiterates that with the benzimra family, their geographical location predominantly defines one’s ethnic and religious affiliation. Benzimra poses a lot of question that philosophically tries to explain what defines a man and whether his home is concrete or abstract in nature. The unpredicted end to the story creates a comic effect and gives the readers a sense of judgmental view of people like David and moshe who are not curious about their history. However, this piece cannot be attractive to all especially readers who don’t come from religiously polarized countries. Therefore, many if not all would not allude to life experiences.

However, the author risks boredom especially through very long monologues. The first person narration is not also that exciting for a reader not mentioning the evidently required professional editing to that could benefit this piece. I detected the ambiguity and vagueness especially in the monologues where clarity is not given first priority for example where home is argued to be one’s identity but in another case a different scenario altogether. Some sentence errors include; ‘grandsonwhocarries’ pg9 and ‘I could have went to the synagogue’ pg62 among others. For this reason I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because even with the errors the piece is still educational with an emotional touch.

Ultimately, Benaroch creates a captivating read full of emotions and long life struggles for those in search of a sense of belonging. I love the drama upon which the author establishes the premise to explore issues of discrimination along religious and ethnic lines. The message in this novel Keys To Tetouan is very strong thereby inspiring readers especially immigrants to understand the importance of recognizing history.

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Keys to Tetouan 
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