Review by Tracey Madeley -- Gates to Tangier

[Tracey Madeley]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Gates to Tangier" by Mois Benarroch.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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Gates to Tangier by Mois Bernarroch

When I read the synopsis of a Moroccan Jewish family searching for their half-brother I imagined a book rich in cultural heritage like Anita Diamanti’s book The Red Tent, but I was disappointed. Kosher food was mentioned, but none of the characters appeared to adhere to the practice. The writer does use Jewish terms, Ashkenazi (the diaspora which gathered in the Roman Empire at the end of the first millennium) compared to the Sephardi (who settled in what is now Spain and Portugal), to denote the different Jewish Communities. However, apart from living in different areas, the writer does not tell the reader anything material about their different customs or practices. Inter race marriage which appears to be a huge issue in the Jewish Community was barely mentioned, yet the mother of their half-brother was Muslim. Equally there is a reference to a sex change not long after birth, but the consequences surrounding this were not developed.

Essentially the book is about a family’s trip back to their home town to find a half-brother they never knew about, until the will was read. Finding the brother was part of their father’s last wish. The main characters are from the Benzimra family. Messod/Fortu is a doctor separated from his wife, Alberto is the writer, Silvia appears to be the only daughter and her role has been reduced to having children. We learn little of the characters home life, but there is an inordinate amount of angst from all parties about finding their half-brother and how it will affect the family dynamic. Interior monologue helps the reader learn how the character thinks and feels, but this element is repetitive and dominates the first part of the book along with the actual physical trip.

There is also an irritating lack of humility in the assertion that no country prospers without the Jews and their influence. Equally there is the stereotypical paranoia, usually displayed by Israeli Jews, of being blamed and persecuted for who they are. Although this view is not without good cause, it does make it harder to warm to a character. As always in literature there are exceptions, the protagonist in Martin Amis’s Money is thoroughly reprehensible, but the book makes a valid point.

Three quarters of the way through the book there is a chapter entitled Alberto in which the writer lists what is wrong with his writing. “The critics always say in the end that my books are just notes for a novel.” I would tend to agree. There is a distinct lack of developed scenes and the work is under dramatized, telling not showing. At the beginning we have the reading of the will and the reader is introduced to the family. Nowhere in the opening scene is there any physical description. This is unusual, but not a disaster. Margaret Atwood in A Handmaids Tale went through the whole novel without naming the protagonist. Where description helps is in visualization and distinguishing characters.

Structurally the chapters are of vastly uneven length, with some very short and others extremely long. I appreciate chapter lengths will never be uniform, but they are usually regular in length. Poetry also separates the different sections, but due to the translation into English I have to assume it has lost its rhythm and I don’t feel it particularly adds anything to the story. The ending brings the story to a conclusion and is not unexpected.

I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars.

I am afraid there is very little of interest in the book at all and the insistence on telling rather than showing makes it boring for the reader. One positive, the book has given me a renewed interest in Phillip Roth.

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Gates to Tangier
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