2 out of 4 stars
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A man encounters an individual that reminds him of the younger version of his wife. The two begin a relationship. During one of the trysts, the narrator reads his lover his novel. This story takes place on a bus where the occupants are divided due to seating. Injected in the story within a story a third one evolves. All the stories become intertwined in the end of The Expelled.
The author is a very unique writer. His artistic style is a fresh voice in literature. His ability to capture the reader and move seamlessly to multiple stories requires quite a bit of effort, which he delivers. Mois Benarroch has done a fantastic job at writing stories within stories before; however, this is not one of them. The way this book is set up becomes extremely confusing very easily. Often times it is not obvious which character is speaking or who is being spoken to. The narration jumps to a new individual for each story. There are also several inconsistencies in the way the characters act. If not followed closely, the book becomes very bewildering.
There are some social issues that are addressed quite well in the book. In the second story, the bus is divided by seating location. The way the author shows this division shows how easily our cultures are divided by such a simple and insignificant difference. The way Benarroch shows these divisions is done very well. It really allows the reader to focus on what is going on in today’s society.
The story itself seems drug out. It reads similar to a stream of consciousness. There were some parts that needed more explanation, while other parts that needed a mere mention were described in great detail. I did not notice any spelling or grammatical errors throughout this book. I feel like the author needs to go over the book once more for clarification purposes.
I was disappointed in this book. I have read other book by Benarroch and have enjoyed them quite well. Unfortunately, I give The Expelled by Mois Benarroch 2 out of 4 stars. There were no spelling or grammatical errors noticeable. I enjoyed the social aspects of this book, but I did not like the fact that it easily became confusing. The author has a very unique writing style that is evident in all of his books with this one being no exception. The lack of distinction amongst the characters during the dialogue becomes quickly overwhelming. I would recommend this book , but only to a person who could read it with no distractions.
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The Expelled
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