1 out of 4 stars
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The realistic fiction book Gates to Tangier was, in my opinion, nothing but a let-down, and definitely not the book I was expecting. Gates to Tangier, written by Mois Benarroch, is about the death of a father, at which it is revealed that he has an illegitimate son that his other children know nothing about. In order to claim the father's inheritance, the children must all reunite and go on a cross-continental journey in order to locate their missing sibling, as well as discover their true identities. From a summary, including many of the ones I had read before picking this book up, it seemed that the main plot of the book would be the characters' search for their missing brother. However, I was mistaken. The Jewish religion of the main characters is brought up on nearly every page, and although I certainly enjoy religious studies(being religious myself), I found this very off-putting, and it very much seemed the main plot was taking a back seat to the idea of religion. If you enjoy learning about religion very much, and are willing to have it be the main focus of a novel, you will very likely enjoy this aspect of the novel.
The beginning of the book was certainly the most enjoyable part. For the first 30 pages or so, I found myself breezing through the book excitedly, as the pacing and dialogue managed to keep the book moving quite smoothly. However, it seemed that after this point, the pacing of the novel slowed considerably, as if the writing had hit a brick wall. Another thing that seemed to heavily stunt this novel's originally quick pace was the grammar of the author. Now, the book certainly seems professionally edited, but many of the sentences in this book are incredibly, incredibly long, exceeding a paragraph or so. These sentences are correct, and do contain proper commas, but there are so many of them in such quick succession that it seems as if you are struggling to finish a single sentence. It's as if I started writing the review like this, lasting paragraph after paragraph after paragraph, talking about nothing in particular, occasionally repeating things, repeating things for emphasis, so it seems like this already slow-paced story, seeming hundred of pages longer than it truly is, is truly lasting for centuries, or maybe even more.
Another thing I found very odd about the author's writing was the abrupt sexual turn the novel takes around halfway through. The book's first 100 or so pages are very clean, aside from some mild, briefly mentioned violence, or an occasional swear. Then, for around 15 pages, with almost no warning, sex and arousal are quite graphically described, and the abruptness of these statements shifted my concentration from the plot line of the book to "Did....did I miss something?" It was very strange, and after the pages were completed, the book resumed it's clean nature, making me ponder what the point of those previous pages was. It made me believe that the author had lost his/her vision, and threw in unnecessary sexuality to spice up the novel.
This book has plot twists, and they are very strange. Many of them seem to relate little to what is going on, and are very(a word that can describe the course of this novel incredibly well) abrupt. The book's finale includes one of these plot twists, and although I understand what that portion of the book was trying to convey(a message about identity and what truly makes somebody an individual), it seemed very odd. The twist makes little sense, especially considering the profession of the character who which it happened to. It seemed rushed, and randomly thrown in, just like the other main twist in the story.
The characters of the book, aside from two, are drastically unmemorable. The book uses a rotating 1st-person perspective, with the name of the character it is switching to listed at the beginning of each chapter. I found the inclusion of the identities of the characters a nice touch, as it didn't require me to guess who was currently speaking. However, the 1st person perspective is known for being one to especially highlight the personalities of the characters, which this novel doesn't seem to do. The author's writing style is distinct, and each character is written with this exact same style, which makes each character seem indistinguishable from the others.
Overall, I greatly disliked Gates to Tangier, for the matters listed above. I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars for the tedious, dull way it is written, the way the plot is obscured by the religion-laden pages, the abrupt sexual turn taken halfway through the book, but then abandoned, the unnecessary and nonsensical plot twists, the poor use of the 1st-person rotating perspective, and the incredibly unmemorable characters. I do recommend this book to anyone who greatly enjoys religious fiction, unexpected plot twists, long, graceful sentences, or the rotating 1st person perspective. Though I did not enjoy the book, I mean absolutely no slander to the author, whom I believe is very talented. Thank you for reading my review. I hope it has given you the information that you wanted to know about the book.
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Gates to Tangier
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