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Review by powderblue -- Andalusian in Jerusalem
Post by powderblue » 30 Mar 2018, 23:20
[Following is a volunteer review of "Andalusian in Jerusalem" by Mois benarroch.]
"I knew it!", is a phrase that Guillermo, the protagonist of Mois Benarroch's Andalusian in Jerusalem, seems destined to hear quite a lot. He first hears it when he is just a boy and one day, for a lark, he confesses to his best friend that he is a Jew. This is not true, but still his friend seems to believe it, and from that moment on, so will anybody else he crosses paths with. No amount of explaining or denying will convince people otherwise. And therefore, he will live his life as if he actually was a Jew.
As time goes by, he will become a writer, publish a historical book about the Jews, and get invited to an event in Jerusalem. And for a few days, he will find himself in the midst of bizarre and unreal situations, which include meeting an old woman who looks just like his deceased mother, and who is convinced he is her estranged son. There are also streets that seem to only exist at certain times of day, people who age suddenly to become young again, a very strange kidnapping and other surreal elements in this story.
Is our protagonist going mad? Are these things really happening to him? That is not for me to tell, but I could not stop myself from thinking of the so-called "Jerusalem Syndrome", that strange phenomenon by which a previously mentally sound person seems to become psychotic upon arriving in Jerusalem. But one of the amazing things of this book is that it fully allows the reader to dive fully onto this strange world, and no matter what the final interpretation is, the core is the same: this is a book about identity, about who we are and how the perceptions others have of us can change us.
Part of the reason why this book is so effective, I think, is the narrative voice. The book is narrated in the first person, and the voice feels a lot of times as if the narrator was actually speaking, rather than writing. As such, there are points in which the narration diverges briefly, and I have to confess that for the first few pages I found it a bit distracting. But once you let yourself get in the flow of the narration, the effect is one of full immersion in the events and strong empathy for our protagonist. Another very important aspect of the book is the descriptions of the places we see through Guillermo's eyes. Not just the descriptions of places per se, but the situations, which are made very vivid and believable, even if we are witnessing strange and fantastic settings. With respect to the strange events our protagonist lives, the book reminded me a bit of Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges, only that with an added sense of humor and irony.
But this book is, in a way, two books. There is a manuscript that our protagonist reads halfway through the narration. This is a very different story, one that spans centuries, different people and different lands. The story of the Jewish people and their quest for a place of their own, which is as well the quest for their identity. This other book is much more serious, heart-breaking at times, with a constant sense of longing and with some scenes filled with tremendous sadness and despair.
I did find the manuscript a bit too long at times, probably due to the vast array of geographical and historical references, some of which I was not too familiar with. Also, it took me a while to understand its place in the whole book. It also took me a second partial reading. I am not too sure that I fully grasp the relationship between the two narrations, but finding some those relations made the story of Guillermo all the more poignant and interesting.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It is beautifully written, it poses important questions and it explores them while taking us in an unforgettable journey. The book was originally written in Spanish and I found the translation into English superb and very fluent. Still, I would love to read the original at some point, especially because it is a book that dwells a lot on nuances of language, many times also as part of the biggest topic of identity. Fully recommended, especially for those who like books that surprise and amaze you and, at the same time, ponder existential questions.
******
Andalusian in Jerusalem
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
"I knew it!", is a phrase that Guillermo, the protagonist of Mois Benarroch's Andalusian in Jerusalem, seems destined to hear quite a lot. He first hears it when he is just a boy and one day, for a lark, he confesses to his best friend that he is a Jew. This is not true, but still his friend seems to believe it, and from that moment on, so will anybody else he crosses paths with. No amount of explaining or denying will convince people otherwise. And therefore, he will live his life as if he actually was a Jew.
As time goes by, he will become a writer, publish a historical book about the Jews, and get invited to an event in Jerusalem. And for a few days, he will find himself in the midst of bizarre and unreal situations, which include meeting an old woman who looks just like his deceased mother, and who is convinced he is her estranged son. There are also streets that seem to only exist at certain times of day, people who age suddenly to become young again, a very strange kidnapping and other surreal elements in this story.
Is our protagonist going mad? Are these things really happening to him? That is not for me to tell, but I could not stop myself from thinking of the so-called "Jerusalem Syndrome", that strange phenomenon by which a previously mentally sound person seems to become psychotic upon arriving in Jerusalem. But one of the amazing things of this book is that it fully allows the reader to dive fully onto this strange world, and no matter what the final interpretation is, the core is the same: this is a book about identity, about who we are and how the perceptions others have of us can change us.
Part of the reason why this book is so effective, I think, is the narrative voice. The book is narrated in the first person, and the voice feels a lot of times as if the narrator was actually speaking, rather than writing. As such, there are points in which the narration diverges briefly, and I have to confess that for the first few pages I found it a bit distracting. But once you let yourself get in the flow of the narration, the effect is one of full immersion in the events and strong empathy for our protagonist. Another very important aspect of the book is the descriptions of the places we see through Guillermo's eyes. Not just the descriptions of places per se, but the situations, which are made very vivid and believable, even if we are witnessing strange and fantastic settings. With respect to the strange events our protagonist lives, the book reminded me a bit of Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges, only that with an added sense of humor and irony.
But this book is, in a way, two books. There is a manuscript that our protagonist reads halfway through the narration. This is a very different story, one that spans centuries, different people and different lands. The story of the Jewish people and their quest for a place of their own, which is as well the quest for their identity. This other book is much more serious, heart-breaking at times, with a constant sense of longing and with some scenes filled with tremendous sadness and despair.
I did find the manuscript a bit too long at times, probably due to the vast array of geographical and historical references, some of which I was not too familiar with. Also, it took me a while to understand its place in the whole book. It also took me a second partial reading. I am not too sure that I fully grasp the relationship between the two narrations, but finding some those relations made the story of Guillermo all the more poignant and interesting.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It is beautifully written, it poses important questions and it explores them while taking us in an unforgettable journey. The book was originally written in Spanish and I found the translation into English superb and very fluent. Still, I would love to read the original at some point, especially because it is a book that dwells a lot on nuances of language, many times also as part of the biggest topic of identity. Fully recommended, especially for those who like books that surprise and amaze you and, at the same time, ponder existential questions.
******
Andalusian in Jerusalem
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
