2 out of 4 stars
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Gates to Tangier by Mois Bennarroch falls into the genre of historical fiction. The story takes place in the year 2000, on airplanes, buses, and in airports, as well as in the cities of Madrid, Paris and Morocco. The story is told in the first-person narrative. Each chapter is narrated by a character in the book, whose name appears in bold type at the beginning of each chapter. The main characters in the book are the Benzimra siblings Messod, Alberto, Isaque, and Silvia, and a Muslim woman named Zohra.
The story begins in a lawyer’s office, where the Benzimra family is listening to the reading of their late father’s will. His will instructs the siblings to search for their illegitimate brother who he left behind in Morocco, in order to receive their inheritance. The siblings set out from different parts of the world to search for this brother. During the trip, each character describes how they feel about the death of their father, and how each sibling is still mourning the death of their brother, Israel, who died in the Lebanese War. Each character describes aspects of their own lives such as their profession, and something that they are struggling with individually. There are two chapters narrated by Israel, who is trying to understand the details of his own death.
In the chapters narrated by Zohra, she tells about her life. She isn’t really sure where her place in the world is. She discovers a secret from her past, and begins to search for her true identity. She leaves Paris and returns to Morocco, to the bedside of her dying mother, in hopes that her mother will be able to provide her with some answers.
The theme of the book is conflict. Each character has some kind of problem in their lives, and each is trying to find a resolution. The trip to Morocco has given each character time to reflect on their lives. On their return home after this journey, each character figures out what they must do to find a resolution to their conflicts.
The historical focus is on the anti-Semitism the Jews faced in Europe during the twentieth century, and the conflicts that existed between Jews and Muslims. There are references to the Six-Day war, and the Lebanese War, and the Oslo Accords.
This book was easy to read and understand, however, there were some typos. I liked the plot and the historical references. The characters had their own distinct personalities, but the author used the same writing style for each character’s narration. This would make it difficult to distinguish between the characters without reading each chapter heading. I think using a different writing style for each character would make their individuality stand out more. I would recommend this book only to adult readers due to the use of foul language and some sexual content. A teenager could easily understand this book, but may not be comfortable with the adult content. I give this book two out of four stars because of the typos, and the monotonous writing style.
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Gates to Tangier
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