Scan barcode
emmaemooney's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
The premise of this book was very attractive, and I certainly was exposed to a lot of new vocabulary, historical figures, and place-names (though just as many figures and places were fictional). But overall, as much as I appreciated the long-winded, loose writing style (now that I think about it, the structure very much resembles a caravan winding through the desert…), I just couldn’t follow the plot and characters very well. Despite this, it was a fun and unique read.
siria's review against another edition
4.0
Moving the Palace is a quirky little book about a Lebanese Protestant who goes to work for the British colonial administration in the Sudan the early twentieth century, and finds himself deep in the desert where he finds a fellow Lebanese merchant trying to find a buyer for an entire palace that's being transported piecemeal on the back of camels. Beyond that, there isn't much by way of a plot to this brief novel, but Majdalani's writing is vivid and often deadpan, dryly funny (there's one particularly funny scene satirising T.E. Lawrence).
abookishtype's review against another edition
3.0
There aren’t many examples, but there are enough for there to be a distinct subgenre for obsessive colonial stories. While Moving the Palace, by Charif Majdalani and translated by Edward Gauvin, is not as harrowing as Heart of Darkness or Fitzcarraldo, it shares a similarly mad plot MacGuffin and features exotic locales. In this instance, the mad plot involves moving a building from Tripoli, piece by piece, all over Africa and the Middle East so that it can be rebuilt in Beirut...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from Edelweiss for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from Edelweiss for review consideration.
sjfurger's review against another edition
4.0
I received this as an ARC at ALA Annual this year. Majdalani's novel is a marvelous read for this former CMES-er. Seeing Middle Eastern history through the eyes of our unique protagonist, the Lebanese Samuel, was fascinating. I thought the translator did a beautiful job, and the lyrical prose evoked both the original French and Arabic. I would put Majdalani's book next to [b:Gentlemen of the Road|587638|Gentlemen of the Road|Michael Chabon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388591921s/587638.jpg|2636942] and [b:Baudolino|10507|Baudolino|Umberto Eco|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479698120s/10507.jpg|234717] in my collection of beloved travel narratives, especially those that encourage blurring the line between fact and fiction.
drsarahgrace's review against another edition
3.0
This was a fun listen, but sometimes it didn't hold my attention that well. The ending is lovely. I'm glad I persevered.
maria_ruth_jones's review against another edition
3.0
Quirky. Fun. Hard to know what to compare it too. Language was beautiful, and this was a translation. 3.5 stars.
wtb_michael's review against another edition
2.0
This wasn't really for me - it's a shaggy dog story about a Lebanese trader swanning around the deserts of the Middle East in and around WW1 trying to transport an entire castle piece by piece to Lebanon. It's a creative and vivid recreation of a period and place I knew nothing about, but I just couldn't stay engaged with it.
(This was on audio book, which may have coloured my experience)
(This was on audio book, which may have coloured my experience)
sjfurger's review against another edition
4.0
I received this as an ARC at ALA Annual this year. Majdalani's novel is a marvelous read for this former CMES-er. Seeing Middle Eastern history through the eyes of our unique protagonist, the Lebanese Samuel, was fascinating. I thought the translator did a beautiful job, and the lyrical prose evoked both the original French and Arabic. I would put Majdalani's book next to [b:Gentlemen of the Road|587638|Gentlemen of the Road|Michael Chabon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388591921s/587638.jpg|2636942] and [b:Baudolino|10507|Baudolino|Umberto Eco|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479698120s/10507.jpg|234717] in my collection of beloved travel narratives, especially those that encourage blurring the line between fact and fiction.
readingtheend's review against another edition
4.0
A picaresque without a narrator I loathe! Which is to say, a picaresque without the picaresque. Our hero comes into possession of a disassembled Moorish palace and embarks on many travels in prewar sub-Saharan Africa to try and find a Sultan or a tribal chief who will buy it from him. The author bio says that Charif Majdalani has often been described as a Lebanese Proust, which a) makes this book sound far more discouraging and less funny and charming than it is and b) makes me side-eye the author because come on, guy, we know authors write their own bios. Be cool.
More...