Review by RR Wildstone -- Keys to Tetouan by Mois Benarroch
[Following is a volunteer review of "Keys to Tetouan" by Mois Benarroch.]
3 out of 4 stars
Review by RR Wildstone
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Keys to Tetouan is a historical novel and part of The Tetouan Trilogy that delves deeper into Sephardic Jews’ perspective. This book is a good entertainment for historical enthusiasts especially Israeli and Middle-Eastern enthusiasts and for those who are looking for heavy reading. It is a solid work from author, Mois Bennaroch to assert the life of Sephardic Jews during and after exile period.
This book is primarily about one of descendents of exiled people from Spain who seek out his ancestry, Benzimra Family that spread out around the world and what he discovered. It started in 1492 when Spain chases Jews under the notions of religion. People were scattered and emigrated throughout the world. The family settled in an area near frontier while waiting and longing to come back to their homeland. The reader is taken on a journey through the days of struggle and fear within social and political conflicts and how these people unfit exactly between 2 nationalities.
This book is well described and able to attract me as beginner historical reader. What I like about the book is it told us a part of Jews in how they were treated, their values, their behavior, and their perspective in time of crisis. The best part is it succeeds in intriguing reader to research and find out about Jews tradition and its people. The way Mois Bennaroch wrote it is very touching and real that drove us back through the time machine.
The author wrote it in his own unique style in form of long dialogue. However there is little narrative and mostly are lengthy monologue that tends to be monotonous that make the story feels like dragging. I think the author presumes that readers are familiar with Jews people and its tradition, so I was a bit struggling to stop in the middle of the story to research so I can catch up and grasp its flow. It is a bit problematic for me because I have to spend relatively a long time to read only small sections of it and do research as well and sometimes causes the mood swings.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The writer was able to bring readers to get into the story and catch the value and perspective of Jews; also interest reader who unfamiliar with Jews culture to engage with it. The downfall for me is there is no foot note about jargon or word that would ease readers in understanding the story as a whole. Overall I’d say this is a good book with good idea and plot but it could be delivered in a more attractive way with more editing on merged words.
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Keys to Tetouan
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3 out of 4 stars
Review by RR Wildstone
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This book is primarily about one of descendents of exiled people from Spain who seek out his ancestry, Benzimra Family that spread out around the world and what he discovered. It started in 1492 when Spain chases Jews under the notions of religion. People were scattered and emigrated throughout the world. The family settled in an area near frontier while waiting and longing to come back to their homeland. The reader is taken on a journey through the days of struggle and fear within social and political conflicts and how these people unfit exactly between 2 nationalities.
This book is well described and able to attract me as beginner historical reader. What I like about the book is it told us a part of Jews in how they were treated, their values, their behavior, and their perspective in time of crisis. The best part is it succeeds in intriguing reader to research and find out about Jews tradition and its people. The way Mois Bennaroch wrote it is very touching and real that drove us back through the time machine.
The author wrote it in his own unique style in form of long dialogue. However there is little narrative and mostly are lengthy monologue that tends to be monotonous that make the story feels like dragging. I think the author presumes that readers are familiar with Jews people and its tradition, so I was a bit struggling to stop in the middle of the story to research so I can catch up and grasp its flow. It is a bit problematic for me because I have to spend relatively a long time to read only small sections of it and do research as well and sometimes causes the mood swings.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The writer was able to bring readers to get into the story and catch the value and perspective of Jews; also interest reader who unfamiliar with Jews culture to engage with it. The downfall for me is there is no foot note about jargon or word that would ease readers in understanding the story as a whole. Overall I’d say this is a good book with good idea and plot but it could be delivered in a more attractive way with more editing on merged words.
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Keys to Tetouan
thanks Wildstone for the review in onlinebookclub.
ReplyDeleteThe merged words were a formatting problem, and it has been fixed.