3 out of 4 stars
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Mois Benarroch's Raquel Says is a beautiful love story and a journey to the limits of logic. The narrator of this novel reveals to us his encounter with Raquel when both are in their forties, and as though they live in different places, the two experience a wonderful thing; love. We learn how two people are born in the same city, marry similar people, give their children the same names, and are both authors before having ever seen each other until the age of forty.
This book is a masterpiece of Mois Benarroch. Sally Seward translated this from Spanish to English in 2015. The author is a best-selling novelist in Spain, an award winning poet in Israel, and often featured in the bestselling list of poetry books sold in amazon. Mois Benarroch was born in 1959, and has been awarded with the prestigious Amichay poetry prize in 2012.
Mois is depressed and feels the want to commit suicide. There is none in the world that interests him until he meets Raquel through a novel that she wrote. The two are just complete strangers but even so, they live in parallel worlds. Their daily chit-chats and communications about writing continue to correspond through emails, written letters, and phone calls.
The characters in this book make it an interesting and enjoyable read because of how similar they are, and how their fateful encounter leads to love. I noticed that the Moroccan roots were presented in the book. I liked this because I got to learn a whole new language other than mines.
Mois Benarroch has written all his previous novels in Hebrew and now he starts to write in Spanish, his mother tongue. The English translation by Sally Seward conveys the message, but it does not capture the whole theme and heart of the book. I did not really understand much about what the author was trying to convey.
There was not much of a plot and I don't know why the author included himself as one of the characters in this book. I was always wondering if Raquel was a real person, or just a fictional character. The novel leaves off with no conclusion.
Overall, I rate Raquel Says by Mois Benarroch, 3 out of 4 stars for all of the reasons listed above. A beautiful love story that takes you to the limits of logic where two people live parallel lives. I would recommend it to anyone who loves challenging books and does not mind reading out of their comfort zone.
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Raquel Says (Something Entirely Unexpected)
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