Reviews

Leaving Tangier by Tahar Ben Jelloun

zeinabarki's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

palomasstefani's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

ameliasbooks's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The structure of this book was a bit of a challenge for me and it took me a while to get into the characters. But in the end it was interesting to find out more about refugees from Morocco, who are trying to make a better life in Spain and what it actually means to leave your homeland for better or worse.

madani's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Racism, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Torture, Slavery, Self harm, Rape, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Violence, Police brutality, Outing, Misogyny, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

jess_segraves's review against another edition

3.0

This book ended up being a quicker read than I thought. Though since Egypt, I've been avoiding literature about North Africa, the Middle East, and Islam - for reasons inexplicable - this book drew me because it dealt with the combination of North Africa and Europe, which has always fascinated me.

The characters, though strong, devolve quickly. Azel is at first likable, even easy to relate to. But things fall apart once he gets to Spain. His sister Kenza also faces numerous difficulties such as the betrayal of love.

Thematically, this book focuses on religion, immigration, gender, and the residue of colonialism. I found Ben Jelloun's writing to be accessible, intriguing, and extremely descriptive. While this was not one of my favorite books, I would certainly recommend it.

sahilparikh98's review against another edition

3.0

Personally, I felt that I didn't have the cultural or situational understanding to truly relate to this book. The author did a great job of explaining some of the Morrocan/Middle Eastern/Islamic terms and culture pieces in the footnotes, which was nice. However, the ending (spoiler) felt unsatisfying. I don't think I got what I should have out of the book. The book might resonate more deeply with people who did immigrate to a new country to escape their life. The style of the book focused on characters that were sometimes loosely related to each other to describe different perspectives of the same situation and sometimes occupied their mind or their dreams. This was sometimes annoying since it was not part of the plot, so it made the actual events that transpired in the book harder to follow. I enjoyed the writing style, but wouldn't revisit this book.

angrysmileyface's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape