4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Andalusian in Jerusalem by Mois Benarroch follows the life of Guillermo, a 50-year-old Spanish writer who was known as a jew since he was 8 years old. He was born in Lucena and lived in Pereire Boulevard, Paris. On his journey as a writer, Guillermo had published seven novels. Two of them were named The Birthday Thief and Café Voltaire. In the story, he effortlessly gave a quick summary of some of his books. For instance, there was a writer who woke up every day as one of his own characters.
The book started with Guillermo's first visit to Jerusalem in 2010. Since one of his novels was a bestseller, he got invited to the writer's festival. On his way there, he met a woman named Orito, who claimed to be his mother. This came as a surprise because his mother had died two years ago. He was also shocked that Orito, who looked a lot like her (his mother), knew the secret name he had never told anyone. As if that was not enough, a woman had a pleasant surprise for him. But if she was truly his mother, where had she been all these years? How did she lose him?
When reading Andalusian in Jerusalem, which was classified as other fiction, I came across features of several genres, such as non-fiction, historical fiction and science fiction. For example, there was a technique used to retrieve the memory that water kept in its molecules. The events recalled through this method dated back to two thousand years ago.
One of the recurring themes in the book was religion, which was widely discussed in the manuscript that Guillermo got from Charly. It included events of 1492 that took place in Lucena, Seville, Jerusalem, and Tétouan, where Jews were forced to convert to Christianity. The manuscript also contained fifteen poems and small stories, like Shmuel's life as a robber, Teresa's prayer as a Christian, Yehuda as a poet, Samuel's thoughts as a priest, and Alan scolding his dead father.
I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the book. Guillermo's friendship with Charly was very well documented. Their conversation was humorous: "They're like the Americans, who after they've spent half an hour chatting with you begin to tell you all about their medical problems."
The book was also an exemplary piece of realism. Even though it was written in the first person's perspective, I was able to learn a lot about other characters, in this case, Charly. Like other writers in real life, he struggled in his journey and had published twenty books with no bestseller.
The author was able to distribute his thinking in the kinds of sentences that had a significant literary merit. The story flawlessly serves as an inspiration for those who want to embark on the journey of writing books. It contains tips for writers. Again, the suspense and the mystery in the book had my eyes glued to the pages. Some events were not only surprising but also scary: the street that existed only at night.
The book seemed to be professionally edited and proofread. Excluding errors from the manuscript, which had been explained in the translator's note, I spotted few missing commas and only one doubled word. Consequently, I am awarding Andalusian in Jerusalem 4 out of 4 stars.
I recommend the book to people who want to be writers and to lovers of historical fiction. It will also appeal to those who love poems, which were very easy to read and interpret. However, this book will not appeal to people who might find the manuscript's critics about Christianity offensive.
******
Andalusian in Jerusalem
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like Rosemary Khathibe's review? Post a comment saying so!
I might give this one a shot just for the writing tips.
