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Beautifully evocative, full of the colours, smells, and atmosphere of Morocco. Brilliant. --Historical Novel Review
Product Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2011 THE ROMANTIC NOVELISTS ASSOCIATION NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD
An idealistic young Englishman, Harry Summerfield, befriends an American oil explorer in Gibraltar in the 1930s. Their meeting sparks a journey for both men that will take them across Morocco and northern Africa, to encounter the harsh realities of Berber opposition to French colonial rule and the passion and conflict of a love for the same young French woman. Full of action, character and extraordinarily vivid local colour, this is a vast novel of adventure, romance and intrigue which keeps the reader guessing page after page. From the hustle and bustle of Marrakech to the beautiful solitude of the Atlas Mountains, and incorporating all levels of society in pre-war Morocco (from Berber tribesmen to French politicians), Amazir is a powerfully evocative work dealing with a vast spectrum of human experience from wonder to despair. Revisiting the traditional epic-style novel format, Tom Gamble s Amazir is a breathtaking journey into the souks and mountains of Morocco that chronicles a powerful love affair and a nation s political turmoil.
An idealistic young Englishman, Harry Summerfield, befriends an American oil explorer in Gibraltar in the 1930s. Their meeting sparks a journey for both men that will take them across Morocco and northern Africa, to encounter the harsh realities of Berber opposition to French colonial rule and the passion and conflict of a love for the same young French woman. Full of action, character and extraordinarily vivid local colour, this is a vast novel of adventure, romance and intrigue which keeps the reader guessing page after page. From the hustle and bustle of Marrakech to the beautiful solitude of the Atlas Mountains, and incorporating all levels of society in pre-war Morocco (from Berber tribesmen to French politicians), Amazir is a powerfully evocative work dealing with a vast spectrum of human experience from wonder to despair. Revisiting the traditional epic-style novel format, Tom Gamble s Amazir is a breathtaking journey into the souks and mountains of Morocco that chronicles a powerful love affair and a nation s political turmoil.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When I read the first few chapters of this book I prepared myself to be mildly offended all the way throughout. The British main character plays up the "noble savage" angle and insists on "being one of *them*" so often I found it a little patronising. What a brave man! People laugh at him for wearing foreigner clothes!
Don't worry, though, it rights itself relatively quickly and immediately becomes much worse: horribly, poorly written. The female characters are weak-willed and the men are frustratingly simple. The dialogue is uneven and I wound up skimming over every love scene, many of which seem to come out of nowhere and don't add anything to the book except a few insipid paragraphs. The one good point is the plot, which is gratifyingly complex even though by the end I got a little tired of it and just wanted to move on to a better, different book.
Don't worry, though, it rights itself relatively quickly and immediately becomes much worse: horribly, poorly written. The female characters are weak-willed and the men are frustratingly simple. The dialogue is uneven and I wound up skimming over every love scene, many of which seem to come out of nowhere and don't add anything to the book except a few insipid paragraphs. The one good point is the plot, which is gratifyingly complex even though by the end I got a little tired of it and just wanted to move on to a better, different book.
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've never been to Marocco, but novelist Tom Gamble made me feel as if I had been there in the French colonial time of the 1930s, when a writer named Harry Summerfield decided to accept an unusual and consequential job offer. The reader is drawn into Harry's inner tumult of a forbidden, yet true and honnest love for a young woman.
Like knitting a mosaic master, the author weaves different lives into a strong and solid net. But if you do not pay attention you fall through, get lost or loose something of great importance to you, maybe even somebody you love. Like Harry. In a modern Shakespearean style the author tells a romantic story of a sad love between one woman and two man. And at one point a third man is involved, too.
It is not only a story about love, but about life. The question is, if only one true love is possible. The answer is crystal clear: no. Without judgement but with high sensitivity, the author shows the reader the mirror of life. One love can be strong and honnest but fade away and it might not come back, even if you meet your other half again one day. And then another love might spark, not any less strong or honnest - but this time it lasts. That is the fascinating circle of life.
Amazir describes also the colourful and vivid scenery of North Africa and draws the reader into the mysterious world of the old Berber tribe. The reader leaves his Western way of life and submerges into a whole new but ancient world, developing the more curiosity and the more urge to find out more about this region and these people of the world the further he reads.
On a third level, Amazir gives an extraordinary insight of the live of a French political family in Marocco during the pre-war time. The reader learns how it was like as a French person to live in Marocco in the 1930s. Again, the author prooves his susceptiblity in not judgementally criticizing this delicate topic but leaving it to the reader himself to listen to his own feelings. And this book certainly evokes a rollercoaster of feelings.
So if you want to know who Harry falls in love with, why it can or can not be, who those other two men are, what it is about the French family - and, of course, what "Amazir" means, you have to read the book! And it is a must that this book is going to be translated in many other languages!
Like knitting a mosaic master, the author weaves different lives into a strong and solid net. But if you do not pay attention you fall through, get lost or loose something of great importance to you, maybe even somebody you love. Like Harry. In a modern Shakespearean style the author tells a romantic story of a sad love between one woman and two man. And at one point a third man is involved, too.
It is not only a story about love, but about life. The question is, if only one true love is possible. The answer is crystal clear: no. Without judgement but with high sensitivity, the author shows the reader the mirror of life. One love can be strong and honnest but fade away and it might not come back, even if you meet your other half again one day. And then another love might spark, not any less strong or honnest - but this time it lasts. That is the fascinating circle of life.
Amazir describes also the colourful and vivid scenery of North Africa and draws the reader into the mysterious world of the old Berber tribe. The reader leaves his Western way of life and submerges into a whole new but ancient world, developing the more curiosity and the more urge to find out more about this region and these people of the world the further he reads.
On a third level, Amazir gives an extraordinary insight of the live of a French political family in Marocco during the pre-war time. The reader learns how it was like as a French person to live in Marocco in the 1930s. Again, the author prooves his susceptiblity in not judgementally criticizing this delicate topic but leaving it to the reader himself to listen to his own feelings. And this book certainly evokes a rollercoaster of feelings.
So if you want to know who Harry falls in love with, why it can or can not be, who those other two men are, what it is about the French family - and, of course, what "Amazir" means, you have to read the book! And it is a must that this book is going to be translated in many other languages!
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The story was all I'd hoped for--a fast moving rollicking tale of colonial and native life in Morocco in the late 1930's. Sadly I found Tom Gamble's writing irritating: He's inordinately fond of the verb 'to whine'. Everything whined, aeroplanes, trucks driving up steep inclines, insects, camels, people making love, people eating, people making noises or humming--I wish I had started to count the times he used the word right at the beginning. I found it extraordinarly irritating. He had one of his characters express amazement about the new-fangled American invention, the refrigerator, yet I can't believe that relatively wealthy French colonials in 1938 would not have had these. We certainly did in our household! They were expensive items owned by the relatively well off certainly, but they were not in the least a new marvel of the age (and I recall we called them 'ice boxes' which was a throwback to the time, not so long before, when they were truly 'ice boxes'). Also, he mentioned Paris postcodes! Departements had numbers, but postcodes were not in use at that time. There were other anomalies which I think a little research could have ironed out. However, the fact that not one of the characters seemed real was, I believe, the worst aspect. I give this book three stars because of the exciting tale, but the execution let it down.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
very disappointing
I was so very disappointed in this book. From the accomanying blurb, I thought it would be a good story, set in Morocco, but it was an over-flowery romance with a few swear words... Read more
Published 6 months ago by JaneF
Amazir
A wonderful novel about Morocco with such beautiful descriptions of Marrakech and the mountain villages. It's a mystery and a love story with high adventure thrown in. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Catherine Brown
a good story let down by bad editing
The setting of this book is interesting, an interesting country at an interesting time. However, the editing was so inadequate I only got half way before I gave up. Read more
Published 9 months ago by P. Miller
Casablanca-ish
My Girlfriend gave me this book as she knows Casablanca is one of my favourite films and it has a similar setting. Read more
Published 9 months ago by R. Harrington
Really enjoyable
I really enjoyed this book. The way the story lnked together was very clever and the descriptions, although sometimes long winded, brought the places and characters to life. Read more
Published 9 months ago by princessgoo
Disappointing.
Having read the blurb, I was expecting a full-on, no holds barred, boys own adventure, set to a back-drop of the scorching heat of the Morroccan desert and the intrigues of its... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Lexicon
amazing amazir
I really enjoyed this book and would relish the chance to live in the Atlas mountains and sit on the toilet throne! it was evocatively written and gently passionate in places. Read more
Published 10 months ago by annie
over written
i am sure the story is all that my fellow reviewers say. unfortunately i couldn't get past the overly florid writing style. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Oob
Amazir
Watch out! This book makes you want to travel to Marrakesh right away... Tom Gamble takes you on a journey to the colours of Morocco revealed through beautiful language and great... Read more
Published 11 months ago by JG
Amazir
A thoroughly good read ~ I loved this book. The setting, history, culture & customs of the Berbers with excellent characters throughout, make it compulsive reading. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Liza (Canada)
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