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13 reviews for:
Year Of The Elephant : A Moroccan Woman's Journey Toward Independence
Leila Abouzeid
3.67 AVERAGE
13 reviews for:
Year Of The Elephant : A Moroccan Woman's Journey Toward Independence
Leila Abouzeid
3.67 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A really interesting discussion through the lens of a traditional working class moroccan women in a newly independent home land. Her struggle is one that is grossly under-represented in literature but people like the protagonist formed the very foundations of the resistance. The short story eloquently explores feminism, traditionalism vs modernity, marriage, colonialism, betrayal!! Btw- I didn't love the other short stories...
Read this as part of the #Invisiblecities2020 project . Thus month we are choosing books written by authors from Morocco , Argentina and Japan . Choices for me are limited by works translated into English .
I chose this as the first book written by a Moroccan author in Arabic , serialised in 1983 and translated into English in 1989 . It is a book that starts a very necessary conversation about colonialism, feminism , faith and power from the POV of a non educated woman .
The premise of this book sounded fascinating - an illiterate working class woman actively involved in the fight for independence who is then divorced by her husband when she fails to become more " sophisticated " or European when he obtains a position of authority in the post independent state . She is dismissed by him without redress and finds herself angry and bitter , jobless and discarded. She gains succour only from the gentle support of religious sage, who allows her to mine the depths of her faith without judgement .
There is a lot of anger in this book , which I liked , and the single-minded determination of the nationalists is well described along with some of the moral dilemmas they faced.
I did not enjoy the writing style , which seemed to fall into cliche on occasion, but given the book was bringing controversial feminist ideas to a mainly conservative Moroccan audience the simple style would have wider appeal than a more literary text seeking audience in the West .
Overall a three and a half star and certainly worth reading .
PS . There were a few short stories in my translation but I dnf'd some of these .
I chose this as the first book written by a Moroccan author in Arabic , serialised in 1983 and translated into English in 1989 . It is a book that starts a very necessary conversation about colonialism, feminism , faith and power from the POV of a non educated woman .
The premise of this book sounded fascinating - an illiterate working class woman actively involved in the fight for independence who is then divorced by her husband when she fails to become more " sophisticated " or European when he obtains a position of authority in the post independent state . She is dismissed by him without redress and finds herself angry and bitter , jobless and discarded. She gains succour only from the gentle support of religious sage, who allows her to mine the depths of her faith without judgement .
There is a lot of anger in this book , which I liked , and the single-minded determination of the nationalists is well described along with some of the moral dilemmas they faced.
I did not enjoy the writing style , which seemed to fall into cliche on occasion, but given the book was bringing controversial feminist ideas to a mainly conservative Moroccan audience the simple style would have wider appeal than a more literary text seeking audience in the West .
Overall a three and a half star and certainly worth reading .
PS . There were a few short stories in my translation but I dnf'd some of these .