You're not alone!Espie wrote: ↑05 Dec 2018, 21:14I used to think I'm the only odd one who likes to rationalise an author's writing style. It's not unusual for me to treat them as metaphors. At times, I'd also excuse deviations from normalcy, e.g. unusual punctuations or lengthy and repetitive elements, with what I could surmise to be their intended meanings, feelings, or psychological impacts. Thank you for your thoughtful and exquisitely written review.Most of the story is composed of long paragraphs with liberally used punctuation, giving the sense of a long flow of speech, but making it a bit hard to read. Dialogues are intermingled with narration and the whole punctuation game gives you the feeling of being in a whirlwind. In my opinion, that's intentional. The author strives to break the rules in the same way Jerusalem breaks the rules of reality, leaving you confused and in a daze but ultimately satisfied and enriched.
I think it's perfectly possible that the narrative style means something and it's not unusual for authors to do so. We could use as an example some of the work of Javier Marías and Gabriel García Márquez and I'm sure there are many more authors who employ this kind of techniques.
Unfortunately, in the case of Mois Benarroch, I can't really be sure and I wasn't able to find an interview where he explains his style.
Thanks for your kind words, Espie.