1 out of 4 stars
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“Lucena” is a book written By Mois Benarroch and translated by P. Diane Schneider. The main character of the story is Isaac Benzima who starts a journey to find his religious roots because of the anxiety that he has in his heart; he feels empty even though he has many material possessions. In this journey, he "meets" an ancestor who is supposedly one thousand years and tells Isaac he'll be his successor. Isaac has seven days to think about it and come back to accept his destiny.
Throughout the book there are different poems, and other numerous stories narrated by Samuel Murciano. These stories have nothing to do with the first one; they are a compilation of short stories trying to explain the conflict between the Shephardim and the Ashkenazi and how the Shepardim have always considered themselves superior.
The fact that the story is about Jews attracted me; however, the way it was written left an aftertaste. The author wanted to create a ubiquitous character but ended up creating a vague one instead. As a reader, you feel no connection to the character nor understand his behavior. Besides, the fact that there are many stories in between makes it more difficult to understand the main story because there is no sequence whatsoever.
On the other hand, there are several spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes, but the worst of all is the poor translation. It reflects poor editing or maybe not editing at all because the choice of words shows lack of interest in the book as if it was done in a hurry. In the glossary, there are even words and phrases in Spanish not even translated. Besides, the book is listed as Sci-Fi/Fantasy; nevertheless, when reading you can hardly find the elements that make a fantasy story besides Isaac's brief time travel.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars because the plot lacks a purpose. The author is not clear where he wants to take the character; that's why the book has no sequence of events. The characters, settings and the plot are not well developed either. Also, there is not a clear identification of the speakers; you do not know who is narrating the story in certain passages. Besides, the author just focuses on short conversations instead showing actions in order to make the story flow. It is a book that even Jewish people would have a hard time reading it. Last but not least, the use of unnecessary aspersions to women and homosexuals make the reading of this book even more difficult.
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(Ways to) Lucena
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