3 out of 4 stars
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Mois Benarroch, The Immigrant’s Lament, English Edition, 2016. Moben Publishing, 91 pages, ISBN: 9781519012616.
The immigrant’s lament is a poetry lover’s haven. The book contains a collection of fifty-three poems that give readers an insider’s perspective of the life and struggles of an immigrant and so much more, including relatable accounts of life.
Mois Benarroch, the author of the book, begins by giving us various accounts of his youthful days in Morocco, to his and his families soon to follow migrations to other countries. The first poem and a number of others take us through this journey; a ride that was initially graced with hopes and dreams but once traveled; resulted in disillusionment that left the writer feeling alienated, melancholic and reminiscent of his childhood days in Morocco.
The poet skillfully covers a wide array of themes such as: culture, love, inequality, religion, war, internal conflict, prejudice, death and liberty among others. The author successfully ignites the readers’ mood and or sensibilities by using tonal variations to take one through the roller coaster of emotions that usually encompass life and in addition, emotions induced by the struggles of being an immigrant. The writers tone is highly influenced by the subject matter of the poem ranging from optimistic, gloomy, sentimental, depressed and sarcastic to simply endearing.
Poems can have either literal or figurative meanings. Some poems in the book have both figurative and literal interpretations, the poet also made a play at several literary devices comprising of similes, metaphors, rhythms and rhymes just to name a few which made reading the book quite intriguing and enjoyable. The author also used the narrative style to tell stories, which best delivered his message to readers, making his work fairly easy to read and comprehend.
The writer through some of his poems not only succeeded in reawakening my emotions but he also successfully makes his emotions the readers, and that is the beauty and power of poetry. I found myself not only empathizing but also deeply relating to his struggles on different levels. His uncertainty and battles with self-identity and sense of alienation can be seen when he writes: “Years you walk with a tree that has no roots Years the roots are in the sky”, “the more I explain the less, I understand” and “I collect the pieces and stay an orphan in my words” his lack of certainty and self-identity results in him struggling to love and appreciate himself consequently or not he becomes the subject of unrequited love, this becomes clear when he ponders on a love that never got the chance to materialize “and behind my hands a kiss I never gave”.
What I also appreciated about the poems is the way the author uses them to teach, enlighten and inspire. This can be seen throughout most of his work, for instance, in one of the poems he boldly asserts; “But to be free you’ll have to be different you’ll have to pull the fences and to be ridiculed, laughed at...” this serves to encourage others not to be afraid to color outside of the lines and to dare to be themselves in a world that would gladly dictate who they ought to be.
I would recommend The Immigrant’s Lament to poetry lovers and other readers in general because it is a captivating read in the way that it unfolds, poem after poem each with a story to tell.
Overall, I rate the book 3 out of 4 stars taking into account that it had editing mistakes but otherwise the content was great and worth reading.
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The Immigrant's Lament
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Like ritah's review? Post a comment saying so!
haha, but I get it Poetry isn't for everybody. You know, even though I generally love Poetry. I appreciated that the author was able to tell a cohesive story that came together through all his poems in the book. I don't think that's an easy thing to do.
