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Tahar Ben Jelloun

A Palace in the Old Village Paperback – 3 Mar. 2011

by Tahar Ben Jelloun (Author)

3.5 40 ratings

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From 'Morocco's greatest living author' (The Guardian) comes a heartbreaking novel about parents and children, the powerful pull of home and the yearning for tradition and family. Mohammed has spent the past 40 years working in France. As he approaches retirement, he takes stock of his life - his devotion to Islam and to his assimilated children - and decides to return to Morocco, where he spends his life's savings building the biggest house in the village and waiting for his children and grandchildren to come and be with him.

Print length

200 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Arcadia Books
Publication date

3 Mar. 2011
Dimensions

13 x 2 x 19.8 cm
ISBN-10

1906413754
ISBN-13

978-1906413750
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Tahar Ben Jelloun
88
Hardcover
12 offers from £2.79
Mohamed Choukri
387
Paperback
11 offers from £6.78
Laila Lalami
262
Hardcover
12 offers from £7.13

Product description

Review

'With this novel, Ben Jelloun, a native of Morocco, gives us an unvarnished look at a Muslim's life in the West, and reminds us that literature can help us understand one another.'

― Minneapolis Star Tribune

'In any language, Tahar Ben Jelloun would be a remarkable novelist.'

― Sunday Telegraph

'What Ben Jelloun does brilliantly is write with a kind of refreshing candor that demystifies the Arab world.'

― Paris Voice

Book Description

Mohammed has spent the past 40 years working in France. As he approaches retirement, he takes stock of his life, his devotion to and to his assimilated children, and decides to return to Morocco, where he spends his savings building the biggest house in the village and waiting for his children and grandchildren to come and be with him.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arcadia Books (3 Mar. 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 200 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1906413754
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1906413750
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 2 x 19.8 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 1,014,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,640 in Fatherhood (Books)
- 6,912 in Spiritual Literature & Fiction
- 16,062 in Religious Fiction

Customer reviews:
3.5 40 ratings

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3.5 out of 5

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G. R. T. Harpur

book of two halves

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 March 2014

Verified Purchase

The first 75% was stimulating, readable and informative. I learnt about the life in North Africa and in France and could relate to the people as described. The book then transformed into (to me) bizarre and disjointed writings that failed to develop the earlier parts. The 3 star is a combination of a 5 star start and a one star ending.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 October 2016

Verified Purchase

Very moving

Helpful

A sad but compelling story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 March 2014

I love Ben Jelloun's books he is without doubt one of my favourite authors. What I like most about his books is he writes in such a matter fact way. He doesn't let his personal predjudices (We all have them) or emotion get in the way but rather lets his characters speak for themselves. By doing this you really connect to the people in the books he writes (Just have a read of blinding absence of light to see what I mean)

This book is no different, it tells the story of a Moroccan immigrant to France who having worked there all his life was now retiring and making plans to move back to Morocco and build a house for himself and his family back in the Berber village where he was born. A large part of the book describes his life in France and that of his children. It tells how they have separated from him and started off in their own lives in France and the different walks of life they have taken. What's so nice about how this is written is its so matter of fact, you don't see blame you just see a man telling a story of life as it is. He talks about the riots in the French suburbs, the unions in the car factory and all the various pitfalls of his fellow North Africans who have travelled to France to make a living including the prejudices they themselves have.

The main character is such a small man in character, not keen on making a footprint in the world but happy to exist within it without causing harm to anyone. At the end of his working life his only real desire now is to bring his family back together in his native village and live a happy life.

This like many of Ben Jelloun's books is a very sad tale and sometimes is hard to read (I actually struggled to get to the end because you do become emotionally attached to the characters in the book) Still its a wonderful read by a remarkable author.

One person found this helpful

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Dr David Mankin

An outstanding novel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 March 2011

This relatively slim novel by Tahar Ben Jelloun is a wonderful, if poignant read. At the heart of the story are several themes some of which resonate with the current instability across North Africa and the Middle East. The story is a reflection on one man's life, Mohammed, who migrated from his village in Morocco to spend forty years working in a French factory only to see his children grow up, become French citizens and be assimilated by French society and culture. They not only reject the Moroccan values that he holds dear but they are also dismissive of him as a father. His outlook on life is anchored in a cultural context that has no meaning to them. He struggles to understand why this has happened as he reflects on how his own father raised him and the pivotal role of family in Moroccan culture. The author writes sympathetically about Mohammed's alienation and as the novel unfolds you feel increasingly sorry for this man who believes his children would never abandon him. He is a man who fears death (retirement is described as an introduction to death); but in many respects this is also a metaphor for the loss of cultural identity and alienation that lies at the heart of the novel. Outstanding.

15 people found this helpful

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Short but thought provoking and moving tale

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 July 2011

This is a wonderful little book but too short and therefore you are paying much per sentence. The main character is a Moroccan who emigrated to France to work in a factory. He has reached retirement age, which comes as a complete shock as he is at odds to know what to do with all that time in La France as he calls it- despite the fact that he believes in the small town in Morocco time flows so slowly as to nearly come to a halt.

His pending retirement makes him reflect on his life and in particular his relationships with his adult children all of whom have been born and grown up in France. He finds their attitudes alien and the cultural divide between him and them is quite tragic to read.

The main direction of the story other than pondering on life and why it doesn't always take the path we want is that he wants to bring his family together - and to solve that problem dreams of building a fairytale house in his home town in Morocco. But the real pleasure of this book is its evocation of the life of an immigrant, much is written about multiculturalism from a European perspective but this shows the trials and tribulations from a man taken out of his land and overwhelmed at times by the life he has chosen.

Its written in a simple and easy language, but, in using our simple man the author conveys serious messages and the hard choices we all have to make. Made all the more poignant by the Arab spring. My only gripe is the length, the rather abrupt ending and price - otherwise 5 stars for me.

3 people found this helpful

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A Palace in the Old Village Paperback – 3 Mar. 2011

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