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The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca
In the tradition of A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun, acclaimed English travel writer Tahir Shah shares a highly entertaining account of making an exotic dream come true. By turns hilarious and harrowing, here is the story of his family’s move from the gray skies of London to the sun-drenched city of Casablanca, where Islamic tradition and African folklore converge–and nothing is as easy as it seems….
Inspired by the Moroccan vacations of his childhood, Tahir Shah dreamed of making a home in that astonishing country. At age thirty-six he got his chance. Investing what money he and his wife, Rachana, had, Tahir packed up his growing family and bought Dar Khalifa, a crumbling ruin of a mansion by the sea in Casablanca that once belonged to the city’s caliph, or spiritual leader.
With its lush grounds, cool, secluded courtyards, and relaxed pace, life at Dar Khalifa seems sure to fulfill Tahir’s fantasy–until he discovers that in many ways he is farther from home than he imagined. For in Morocco an empty house is thought to attract jinns, invisible spirits unique to the Islamic world. The ardent belief in their presence greatly hampers sleep and renovation plans, but that is just the beginning. From elaborate exorcism rituals involving sacrificial goats to dealing with gangster neighbors intent on stealing their property, the Shahs must cope with a new culture and all that comes with it.
Endlessly enthralling, The Caliph’s House charts a year in the life of one family who takes a tremendous gamble. As we follow Tahir on his travels throughout the kingdom, from Tangier to Marrakech to the Sahara, we discover a world of fierce contrasts that any true adventurer would be thrilled to call home.
Inspired by the Moroccan vacations of his childhood, Tahir Shah dreamed of making a home in that astonishing country. At age thirty-six he got his chance. Investing what money he and his wife, Rachana, had, Tahir packed up his growing family and bought Dar Khalifa, a crumbling ruin of a mansion by the sea in Casablanca that once belonged to the city’s caliph, or spiritual leader.
With its lush grounds, cool, secluded courtyards, and relaxed pace, life at Dar Khalifa seems sure to fulfill Tahir’s fantasy–until he discovers that in many ways he is farther from home than he imagined. For in Morocco an empty house is thought to attract jinns, invisible spirits unique to the Islamic world. The ardent belief in their presence greatly hampers sleep and renovation plans, but that is just the beginning. From elaborate exorcism rituals involving sacrificial goats to dealing with gangster neighbors intent on stealing their property, the Shahs must cope with a new culture and all that comes with it.
Endlessly enthralling, The Caliph’s House charts a year in the life of one family who takes a tremendous gamble. As we follow Tahir on his travels throughout the kingdom, from Tangier to Marrakech to the Sahara, we discover a world of fierce contrasts that any true adventurer would be thrilled to call home.
349 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
428 people are currently reading
10487 people want to read
About the author
Tahir Shah
153 books623 followersTahir Shah was born in London, and raised primarily at the family’s home, Langton House, in the English countryside – where founder of the Boy Scouts, Lord Baden Powell was also brought up.
Along with his twin and elder sisters, Tahir was continually coaxed to regard the world around him through Oriental eyes. This included being exposed from early childhood to Eastern stories, and to the back-to-front humour of the wise fool, Nasrudin.
Having studied at a leading public school, Bryanston, Tahir took a degree in International Relations, his particular interest being in African dictatorships of the mid-1980s. His research in this area led him to travel alone through a wide number of failing African states, including Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Zaire.
After university, Tahir embarked on a plethora of widespread travels through the Indian subcontinent, Latin America, and Africa, drawing them together in his first travelogue, Beyond the Devil’s Teeth. In the years that followed, he published more than a dozen works of travel. These quests – for lost cities, treasure, Indian magic, and for the secrets of the so-called Birdmen of Peru – led to what is surely one of the most extraordinary bodies of travel work ever published.
In the early 2000s, with two small children, Tahir moved his young family from an apartment in London’s East End to a supposedly haunted mansion in the middle of a Casablanca shantytown. The tale of the adventure was published in his bestselling book, The Caliph’s House.
In recent years, Tahir Shah has released a cornucopia of work, embracing travel, fiction, and literary criticism. He has also made documentaries for National Geographic TV and the History Channel, and published hundreds of articles in leading magazines, newspapers, and journals. His oeuvre is regarded as exceptionally original and, as an author, he is considered as a champion of the new face of publishing.
www.tahirshah.com
www.twitter.com/humanstew
www.facebook.com/TahirShahAuthor
http://www.youtube.com/user/tahirshah999
www.pinterest.com/tahirshah
Along with his twin and elder sisters, Tahir was continually coaxed to regard the world around him through Oriental eyes. This included being exposed from early childhood to Eastern stories, and to the back-to-front humour of the wise fool, Nasrudin.
Having studied at a leading public school, Bryanston, Tahir took a degree in International Relations, his particular interest being in African dictatorships of the mid-1980s. His research in this area led him to travel alone through a wide number of failing African states, including Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Zaire.
After university, Tahir embarked on a plethora of widespread travels through the Indian subcontinent, Latin America, and Africa, drawing them together in his first travelogue, Beyond the Devil’s Teeth. In the years that followed, he published more than a dozen works of travel. These quests – for lost cities, treasure, Indian magic, and for the secrets of the so-called Birdmen of Peru – led to what is surely one of the most extraordinary bodies of travel work ever published.
In the early 2000s, with two small children, Tahir moved his young family from an apartment in London’s East End to a supposedly haunted mansion in the middle of a Casablanca shantytown. The tale of the adventure was published in his bestselling book, The Caliph’s House.
In recent years, Tahir Shah has released a cornucopia of work, embracing travel, fiction, and literary criticism. He has also made documentaries for National Geographic TV and the History Channel, and published hundreds of articles in leading magazines, newspapers, and journals. His oeuvre is regarded as exceptionally original and, as an author, he is considered as a champion of the new face of publishing.
www.tahirshah.com
www.twitter.com/humanstew
www.facebook.com/TahirShahAuthor
http://www.youtube.com/user/tahirshah999
www.pinterest.com/tahirshah
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 965 reviews
July 16, 2023
The Caliph's House was a raucous and enthralling book by English travel writer Tahir Shah as he moves his young family from the cloudy skies of East London to the beautiful sun-drenched city of Casablanca in Morocco. It is here that the Spanish-Moorish influences sometimes clash with the North African and Islamic cultures. As Tahir Shah remembered the wonderful vacations of his childhood enjoying Casablanca and the beaches, he was able to scrape together enough money to buy the now-crumbling seaside mansion Dar Khalifa in Casablanca. While it once belonged to the city's spiritual leader, the Caliph, it was now in ruins but with the many secluded courtyards and lush gardens the family fell in love with the home and the relaxed pace, as they began renovations. But as Tahir was in his lawyer's office to sign the final papers and take possession of the beautiful and old-world key, a street bomb exploded on the street outside, covering them in shattered glass. Could this portend the future?
Of course, the main focus of the book is Dar Khalifa. As we are witness to that first year in Casablance when wild and wonderful dreams are realized, there is also the clash of the cultures. With not only the headaches of a renovation, they had to contend with the belief that the house was haunted by jinns, invisible spirits unique to the Islamic world, and an excorcism was needed. Or their gangster neighbor intent on stealing The Caliph's House. Or the dilemma of having sixteen thousand square feet of wall space to cover in tadelakt, most of it in the time-honored pink of Marrakech. And the basis of this is an egg tempura so they had to come up with a way to obtain five-thousand eggs. Needless to say, it was quite the year for Tahir Shah and his family, but the outcome was spectacular.
"The backstreet cafe in Casablanca was for me a place of mystery, a place with a soul, a place with danger."
"Autumn approached, the cruel summer heat softened, and the garden erupted into a blaze of color--red hibiscus and subtle pink mimosas, yellow jasmine, and delicate passion flowers, all set against a backdrop of blinding crimson bougainvillea. Dar Khalifa was an oasis, a sanctuary encircled by reality."
"'You might think Casablanca's modern with its chichi stores and ritzy cars,' he said, 'but under that facade it's raw. It's African. It's tribal. Never forget that. Slip up, and you'll have that tribe at your heels.'"
Of course, the main focus of the book is Dar Khalifa. As we are witness to that first year in Casablance when wild and wonderful dreams are realized, there is also the clash of the cultures. With not only the headaches of a renovation, they had to contend with the belief that the house was haunted by jinns, invisible spirits unique to the Islamic world, and an excorcism was needed. Or their gangster neighbor intent on stealing The Caliph's House. Or the dilemma of having sixteen thousand square feet of wall space to cover in tadelakt, most of it in the time-honored pink of Marrakech. And the basis of this is an egg tempura so they had to come up with a way to obtain five-thousand eggs. Needless to say, it was quite the year for Tahir Shah and his family, but the outcome was spectacular.
"I thought about what Hamza had said--that only the house could give up its secrets, only it could tell me about its past. As I sat there, I sensed very strongly that Dar Khalifa had a sould of its own. It seemed far more than the stone and mortar in its walls, as if it knew clearly who we were and why we were there. Maybe, I thought to myself it wasn't the spirit of the house I was sensing, but Qandisha and her fraternity of Jinns."
"A Moroccan friend told me that to understand his country, one had to understand the kingdom to the north. The cultures of Morocco and Spain, he had said, are linked by history, by tradition, and by blood."
"Anyone who has traveled in Andalucia has been touched by the spell of Morocco. The Moors retreated to African soil, but their legacy endures throughout Iberia. Their invasion of Spain took place in 711 of the Christian era, and the Islamic faith was practiced there for seven hundred years. Today you can find traces of the Moorish past in Spanish food and music, scholarship, folklore, and in the language itself."
July 19, 2011
Another book that I don't know how to rate. It was amusing, I'll give it that. I think I would have gotten more out of it if I hadn't been living in Morocco for so long. During a lot of the book, I was thinking that the author was stupid or that he had done things that were really stupid/ naiive. Then the language thing - I guess he speaks fluent French and in Casablanca that works fine because everyone there speaks French but things were so easy for him because he always seemed to have either a translator with him or people who spoke his language. And he's a man, so Casablanca, while often stressful and strange, wasn't the same for him. Maybe part of it is just that I hate Casa so much I wonder why anyone would ever choose to live there. Again, maybe I'd have liked it better if I had had my own transportation, more money, better places to stay, didn't understand the Darija people said behind your back, didn't realize much everyone was inflating prices and could speak French....so many 'ifs', right?
It's hard for me to get a feel on his take on the culture. He didn't understand a lot of things that were happening around him, and he tried to describe things with humor. Sometimes this worked, and his ironic voice was okay. But other times it just annoyed me and made me frustrated with him. I felt bad for his wife, who was basically a non-character in the story and only had occasional paragraphs about her, and would have been interested in learning more about her experiences and takes on situations. But then that would have been a totally different story.
It's hard for me to get a feel on his take on the culture. He didn't understand a lot of things that were happening around him, and he tried to describe things with humor. Sometimes this worked, and his ironic voice was okay. But other times it just annoyed me and made me frustrated with him. I felt bad for his wife, who was basically a non-character in the story and only had occasional paragraphs about her, and would have been interested in learning more about her experiences and takes on situations. But then that would have been a totally different story.
June 21, 2012
This is how I reviewed this book in The Washington Post:
From The Washington Post’s Book World
It’s been 20 years since Peter Mayle wrote his bestseller A Year in Provence, and there’s no sign yet of the “Year In…” franchise flagging. After all, what two-week vacationer could fail to dream of a year in Provence, Marrakesh or Tuscany? These are modern Mediterranean fairy tales, and they’re put together with the simplest ingredients: magical neighbors, hellish builders and much more olive oil than you expected. The Caliph’s House looks like one of those books, but it isn’t. British travel writer Tahir Shah’s highly readable account of moving his young family to Casablanca is constructed with something weirder and sharper: vinegar, perhaps, and ectoplasm.
It opens ordinarily enough. Shah is at a Casablanca lawyer’s office, signing the sale contract, taking in the view of the street, ruminating on why he had always wanted to skip the grey skies of England for the warmth and color of Morocco. He picks up the heavy old key. The caliph’s house is his. At that very moment, a car bomb explodes outside the lawyer’s office, covering them both with broken glass. An eerie portent of things to come, perhaps. Shah’s new home, the vast Caliph’s House, has been empty for 10 years and now stands decrepit, if not derelict, on the fringe of a shantytown. With it, Shah finds that he has also acquired staff: three lugubrious and potentially sinister “guardians,” who come “as if by some medieval right of sale.” More medieval still, a vengeful she-jinn called Qandisha haunts the house, they say.
Over the next few months she reveals her presence in various grisly ways: stringing cats up in trees and sucking raw meat through the toilet bowl. Children are said to be her favorite target. It may be no coincidence that the local gangster wants them out so he can steal the land. Down in the shantytown an elderly stamp-collector, who will take no money for teaching the author Arabic but likes his foreign stamps, gives him some amiable advice: “You put mannequins in the children’s beds, and tell your children to sleep in the oven each night. Do that, and you will all be safe.” An educated young lady Shah hires to get the renovations underway ultimately claims to have a 300-meter-tall jinn sitting at her shoulder, cleans out Shah’s bank account and reports him as a terrorist to the police. Her replacement – the crafty, efficient Kamal – is a binge-drinker on a perpetual high-wire, a sort of psychopathic Jeeves whose brutal and bizarre history includes a long interlude in the United States, where he made the acquaintance of Mohamed Atta, the 9/11 hijacker.
Yet nothing in Casablanca is quite as odd as Shah’s determination to carry on as usual. He and his imperturbable wife want servants, a big house in the sun and a bellyful of local color for their two toddlers. What they get is the local custom of dropping gobbets of raw chicken into the well to appease the jinns, and a bellyful of streptococcus. It’s almost fatal, but they don’t flush the key down the one working lavatory and get a cab to the airport. The thought briefly flits through Shah’s mind, but it doesn’t take hold. Instead, we are led on a darkly comic journey into the North African underworld, with the reckless but thoroughly well-connected Kamal as chaperone to Shah’s dubious Dante.
The joke is that Shah, in spite of his Afghan heritage, in spite of his descent from the Prophet, is a man with a rationalist moral gyroscope. He doesn’t believe in jinns, which everyone else seems to have like head lice. He’s bothered by rats, he has servant trouble, he discovers the desperate shifts the poor make to survive — the stealing, the sudden flashes of dignity, the mutual aid networks that underpin the black market, the medieval superstitions. Nothing works quite the way it works in a mature, liberal, democratic capitalist society. Everything has a price, but the routes to that price are devious and surprising. Every explanation raises more questions than it answers: Shah has baffling encounters and warily follows instructions he cannot understand.
One night he is taken to a mysterious rendezvous in the desert and expects to be killed, but nothing happens. Another day he gives a lift to an old man who steals his car. Fifteen minutes later, the elderly thief drives back, apologizing that if he took the car for good, no one would ever give an old man a lift again. It’s in this sly side-step from common reality that the Shah persona comes into its own. He doesn’t play it too knowingly, but he doesn’t play himself for a fool, either.
If Kamal is a Jeeves on amphetamines, Shah is no woolly-headed Wooster. He finds himself a very good fixer. He gets the house superbly done, with tiling and the tadelakt, so that he and his family can leave the single room they’ve occupied all year. And he finds out a lot about his grandfather, a widower who retired to Morocco because it was the one place he’d never traveled with his adored wife; he lived for years in Tangiers before being struck dead by a Coca-Cola delivery truck. Shah writes an outrageously black comedy with the straightest of poker faces. And in some quiet alchemical way, he finds himself at peace with the guardians and the imam and the gangster down the road and the shanty dwellers on his doorstep and the bank manager at home. He’s living there still.
From The Washington Post’s Book World
It’s been 20 years since Peter Mayle wrote his bestseller A Year in Provence, and there’s no sign yet of the “Year In…” franchise flagging. After all, what two-week vacationer could fail to dream of a year in Provence, Marrakesh or Tuscany? These are modern Mediterranean fairy tales, and they’re put together with the simplest ingredients: magical neighbors, hellish builders and much more olive oil than you expected. The Caliph’s House looks like one of those books, but it isn’t. British travel writer Tahir Shah’s highly readable account of moving his young family to Casablanca is constructed with something weirder and sharper: vinegar, perhaps, and ectoplasm.
It opens ordinarily enough. Shah is at a Casablanca lawyer’s office, signing the sale contract, taking in the view of the street, ruminating on why he had always wanted to skip the grey skies of England for the warmth and color of Morocco. He picks up the heavy old key. The caliph’s house is his. At that very moment, a car bomb explodes outside the lawyer’s office, covering them both with broken glass. An eerie portent of things to come, perhaps. Shah’s new home, the vast Caliph’s House, has been empty for 10 years and now stands decrepit, if not derelict, on the fringe of a shantytown. With it, Shah finds that he has also acquired staff: three lugubrious and potentially sinister “guardians,” who come “as if by some medieval right of sale.” More medieval still, a vengeful she-jinn called Qandisha haunts the house, they say.
Over the next few months she reveals her presence in various grisly ways: stringing cats up in trees and sucking raw meat through the toilet bowl. Children are said to be her favorite target. It may be no coincidence that the local gangster wants them out so he can steal the land. Down in the shantytown an elderly stamp-collector, who will take no money for teaching the author Arabic but likes his foreign stamps, gives him some amiable advice: “You put mannequins in the children’s beds, and tell your children to sleep in the oven each night. Do that, and you will all be safe.” An educated young lady Shah hires to get the renovations underway ultimately claims to have a 300-meter-tall jinn sitting at her shoulder, cleans out Shah’s bank account and reports him as a terrorist to the police. Her replacement – the crafty, efficient Kamal – is a binge-drinker on a perpetual high-wire, a sort of psychopathic Jeeves whose brutal and bizarre history includes a long interlude in the United States, where he made the acquaintance of Mohamed Atta, the 9/11 hijacker.
Yet nothing in Casablanca is quite as odd as Shah’s determination to carry on as usual. He and his imperturbable wife want servants, a big house in the sun and a bellyful of local color for their two toddlers. What they get is the local custom of dropping gobbets of raw chicken into the well to appease the jinns, and a bellyful of streptococcus. It’s almost fatal, but they don’t flush the key down the one working lavatory and get a cab to the airport. The thought briefly flits through Shah’s mind, but it doesn’t take hold. Instead, we are led on a darkly comic journey into the North African underworld, with the reckless but thoroughly well-connected Kamal as chaperone to Shah’s dubious Dante.
The joke is that Shah, in spite of his Afghan heritage, in spite of his descent from the Prophet, is a man with a rationalist moral gyroscope. He doesn’t believe in jinns, which everyone else seems to have like head lice. He’s bothered by rats, he has servant trouble, he discovers the desperate shifts the poor make to survive — the stealing, the sudden flashes of dignity, the mutual aid networks that underpin the black market, the medieval superstitions. Nothing works quite the way it works in a mature, liberal, democratic capitalist society. Everything has a price, but the routes to that price are devious and surprising. Every explanation raises more questions than it answers: Shah has baffling encounters and warily follows instructions he cannot understand.
One night he is taken to a mysterious rendezvous in the desert and expects to be killed, but nothing happens. Another day he gives a lift to an old man who steals his car. Fifteen minutes later, the elderly thief drives back, apologizing that if he took the car for good, no one would ever give an old man a lift again. It’s in this sly side-step from common reality that the Shah persona comes into its own. He doesn’t play it too knowingly, but he doesn’t play himself for a fool, either.
If Kamal is a Jeeves on amphetamines, Shah is no woolly-headed Wooster. He finds himself a very good fixer. He gets the house superbly done, with tiling and the tadelakt, so that he and his family can leave the single room they’ve occupied all year. And he finds out a lot about his grandfather, a widower who retired to Morocco because it was the one place he’d never traveled with his adored wife; he lived for years in Tangiers before being struck dead by a Coca-Cola delivery truck. Shah writes an outrageously black comedy with the straightest of poker faces. And in some quiet alchemical way, he finds himself at peace with the guardians and the imam and the gangster down the road and the shanty dwellers on his doorstep and the bank manager at home. He’s living there still.
March 4, 2025
Įdomi istorija. Dauguma pastraipų baigiasi sakiniu, kuris sukelia nuostabą ir sumišimą, kartais net juoką. Begalinis kultūrų skirtumas, papročiai, protu nesuvokiami dalykai. Oj kiek visko ištvėrė knygos herojus ir labai žavėjo savo stiprybe, drąsa ir užsispyrimu. Gyvenimas Maroke kaip visai kitame pasaulyje, kuriame galioja savos taisyklės ir įsitikinimai. Net nepagalvotum kad taip būna.
🖋 Jei dar įstengsiu truputį išsilaikyti, pamaniau sau, yra šansas, kad pavyks atlaikyti audrą.
🖋 ... gyvenimas nieko nesimokant nėra vertas vadintis gyvenimu.
🖋 Apsigyvenkite naujoje šalyje ir pamatysite, kaip būsite priverstas siekti kompromisų. Tai padarę, būsite atlyginti dešimteriopai.
🖋 Ne kartą esu šaukęs, rėkęs, nugalėtas kritęs ant žemės. Tačiau svarbiausia būdavo kaskart atsikelti ir tęsti darbus toliau, kad ir kokia sunki būtų padėtis. Aš tiek daug įgyjau pabėgęs iš Anglijos, bet labiausiai didžiuojuosi tuo, kad vėl galiu jaustis savimi.
🖋 Jei dar įstengsiu truputį išsilaikyti, pamaniau sau, yra šansas, kad pavyks atlaikyti audrą.
🖋 ... gyvenimas nieko nesimokant nėra vertas vadintis gyvenimu.
🖋 Apsigyvenkite naujoje šalyje ir pamatysite, kaip būsite priverstas siekti kompromisų. Tai padarę, būsite atlyginti dešimteriopai.
🖋 Ne kartą esu šaukęs, rėkęs, nugalėtas kritęs ant žemės. Tačiau svarbiausia būdavo kaskart atsikelti ir tęsti darbus toliau, kad ir kokia sunki būtų padėtis. Aš tiek daug įgyjau pabėgęs iš Anglijos, bet labiausiai didžiuojuosi tuo, kad vėl galiu jaustis savimi.
January 17, 2018
The title sounded good and maybe that is how I ended up with this book in my bookcase. Good thing it did, because it was a very fun read, and so I couldn't put it down.
Tahir Shah had been to Morocco when he was a kid and never forgot the place. I had been to Morocco at the Epcot Center in Florida's Disneyworld and never forgot my meal there. Mix dried fruits in meats or any food, and yum. I have a meatloaf recipe with groundup dried apricots in the center that I used to make for myself when I was single. My husband would never try anything with dried fruit.
Tahir grew tired of living in sunless England, so he talked his wife into moving to Casablanca. How she lasted I will never know. While I would find it wonderful to live in such a place, I could not have put up with the remodeling of their house.
When they buy a 22 room house, they learn that three guardians (workers) come with it, but with these guardians come problems. First, Tahir is told that jinns live in the house, and they must get rid of them. (Jinns are evil spirits that are mentioned in the Quran.)
Next, he is told that it order to get rid of the jinns he must kill a goat in each of the rooms. Are you counting? Tahir doesn't believe in evil spirits and will not even think of killing 22 goats, so he ignores the guardians who are now constantly after him about these jinns and the trouble they can and will cause. Since he won't kill the goats, the jinns tell him that his family must be quiet when they talk, and that they must never use the bathroom in the middle of the night, because jinns are drawn to water, especially that in their commode. First time he gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, while in midstream, a guardian grabs him. Stop!!!
Tahir's remodeling doesn't go very well at all, because the people he hired, well, they created messes, and it looked as if nothing was ever going to get done. I believe that I would have fired them all or in my case, I would have my husband do the work, and I would be the clean-up crew. If I were doing it alone I would have just patched up holes and painted the place. Yet, when I look at the photo of Tahir's home that is posted here, the finished product is really beautiful and was worth it all.
Tahir's writing continued to charm me to the very end, but if this is a true story, then I feel for him and for his wife. Still, he learned from the experience and they are still living in Casablanca.
April 5, 2023
Kai dirbau knygyne, tuo metu klientams vienos iš ieškomiausių knygų buvo Tahir Shah..., o daugumai užteko perskaityti tik "Kalifo rūmus", kad taptų autoriaus gerbėju. Kas mane pažįsta, tikėtina, žino, tikrai kas madinga ar labai populiaru - nepulsiu skaityti, tai ir noras perskaityti "Kalifo rūmus" atėjo po nemažo laiko tarpo - praėjo truputį daugiau nei dešimt metų.
Tahir su šeima gyveno sau ramų gyvenimą Anglijoje iki to laiko, kurio nesumąstė persikelti gyventi į Maroką.
Su Tahir kūryba teko susipažinti gerokai anksčiau, bet tai nebuvo tas autorius, kuris sužavėjo ar bent labai būtų patraukęs dėmesį. Perskaičiau ir pamiršau, nors, atrodytų, knygų, parašytų apie Maroką yra visai nedaug.
Viskas būtų buvę gerai, jei ne remontas "vykęs" visos knygos metu. Taip, autorius susidūrė su tuo, kai jo darbuotojai tikėjo džinais ir vis atsirasdavo jiems priežasčių nedirbti, tad ir remontas užtruko. Knyga atrodė gerokai ištęsta ir kai kada įvykiai pateikti sausai. Mėgstu literatūrą, kurioje galima "sutikti" žmones, pasirinkusius gyventi svečiose šalyse, bet perskaičiusi "Kalifo rūmus" iki pabaigos, supratau, kad nebūsiu Tahir kūrybos gerbėja.
Tahir su šeima gyveno sau ramų gyvenimą Anglijoje iki to laiko, kurio nesumąstė persikelti gyventi į Maroką.
Su Tahir kūryba teko susipažinti gerokai anksčiau, bet tai nebuvo tas autorius, kuris sužavėjo ar bent labai būtų patraukęs dėmesį. Perskaičiau ir pamiršau, nors, atrodytų, knygų, parašytų apie Maroką yra visai nedaug.
Viskas būtų buvę gerai, jei ne remontas "vykęs" visos knygos metu. Taip, autorius susidūrė su tuo, kai jo darbuotojai tikėjo džinais ir vis atsirasdavo jiems priežasčių nedirbti, tad ir remontas užtruko. Knyga atrodė gerokai ištęsta ir kai kada įvykiai pateikti sausai. Mėgstu literatūrą, kurioje galima "sutikti" žmones, pasirinkusius gyventi svečiose šalyse, bet perskaičiusi "Kalifo rūmus" iki pabaigos, supratau, kad nebūsiu Tahir kūrybos gerbėja.
March 2, 2009
A fascinating and often hysterically funny look at life in Morocco, through the eyes of an Afghan who was primarily raised in England, but has traveled widely. I loved the sayings which headed every chapter, such as: "Never give advice in a crowd" and "Every beetle is a gazelle in the eye of its mother." Shah was very lucky to be able to connect with his grandfather's life as well, because his grandfather had spent his last years in Morocco. Meeting those people who had known him and been touched by him is irreplaceable.
I'll admit that sometimes the things that happened in the book were so fantastic that I wondered if they could possibly be true, but I've found nothing to suggest that they weren't. It's worth the price of the book to find out how Shah and his 'think outside the box' assistant gets his money back from the architect he fired. An absolutely inspired solution. Recommended.
I'll admit that sometimes the things that happened in the book were so fantastic that I wondered if they could possibly be true, but I've found nothing to suggest that they weren't. It's worth the price of the book to find out how Shah and his 'think outside the box' assistant gets his money back from the architect he fired. An absolutely inspired solution. Recommended.
July 17, 2023
Колоритна и забавна история за живота в Мароко. Изобилства от безумни и забавни случки. Чудесно прочетена в сторител.
May 24, 2018
"Къщата на халифа" е екзотичен разказ за Мароко, приказно приключение е да напуснеш уредения си живот в Англия и да купиш къща в Казабланка, където да се пренесеш със семейството си, и макар авторът да е поднесъл историята и преживяванията си с голяма доза хумор, понякога звучи страшно. Плашещо е да започнеш живота си отначало в една чужда страна, чиято култура е странна и далечна.
Но Мароко ме спечели - страната има собствен ритъм на живот и начин, по който се случват нещата, всичко е бавно и някак спокойно, а ако нещо се обърка, все някой джин е виновен.
Има нещо толкова красиво в това да се запознаеш с един различен свят, изпълнен със вярвания и суеверия, сякаш времето е спряло, и наистина, когато попаднеш на такова място и се огледаш, сякаш наистина си попаднал в друго време, ниските скупчени сгради, архитектурата, мозайките, пазарите. А Тахир Шах разказва толкова увлекателно, че ми се иска да се пренеса за по-дълго в неговия свят.
Навсякъде по света човек може да намери място, което го вдъхновява и го прави щастлив.
Но Мароко ме спечели - страната има собствен ритъм на живот и начин, по който се случват нещата, всичко е бавно и някак спокойно, а ако нещо се обърка, все някой джин е виновен.
Има нещо толкова красиво в това да се запознаеш с един различен свят, изпълнен със вярвания и суеверия, сякаш времето е спряло, и наистина, когато попаднеш на такова място и се огледаш, сякаш наистина си попаднал в друго време, ниските скупчени сгради, архитектурата, мозайките, пазарите. А Тахир Шах разказва толкова увлекателно, че ми се иска да се пренеса за по-дълго в неговия свят.
Навсякъде по света човек може да намери място, което го вдъхновява и го прави щастлив.
January 14, 2008
I have to confess that my opinion of this book may be swayed by my minor obsession with the following topics: Morocco; picking up and moving your life to a new and exotic locale; and refurbishing old houses with traditional techniques. Since this book is about the author's experience moving his entire family from England to Morocco, buying a villa and working with local artisans to return it to its former glory, it was right up my alley!
The author has a wonderful, strong sense of self in his tone, and the humor with which the story is conveyed feels a bit like listening to a good friend's trials and tribulations over a cup of coffee.
Anyone who has had occasion to try to get something done within the restrictions of a foreign culture will relate to this story, and enjoy laughing along with Shah at every new complication and frustration he encounters.
The author has a wonderful, strong sense of self in his tone, and the humor with which the story is conveyed feels a bit like listening to a good friend's trials and tribulations over a cup of coffee.
Anyone who has had occasion to try to get something done within the restrictions of a foreign culture will relate to this story, and enjoy laughing along with Shah at every new complication and frustration he encounters.
May 19, 2012
Tahir Shah came across as ethnocentric and self-involved. He barreled through his adventure (read: early mid-life crisis) thinking only of himself and his money; often times mentioning an author's paltry salary, then making an ostentatious building decision for his mansion. I was also perturbed by the way in which his wife was merely a sounding board for his frustrations. Read this book if you're looking for a way to flip mansion's in Morocco while swindling the local people and dismissing their culture as lazy. Or, save yourself the time and don't read it at all. I read it because I was traveling and it was the only book I had packed. Ha.
September 8, 2011
I have read a couple of these books were people do mjor life changes and it always amazes me how little preparation they take and how incredibly naive they are. He starts the books telling us that all his friends and family were against the move and I now agree with them. Not because of the idea of such a drastic move (from London to Casablanca) but because the guy is a bit of an idiot. For a start he makes no start on learning either French or Arabic, he signs a contract in arabic without getting anyone to translate it for him and be pays the builder up front, in full!!!! As I said the guy is a bit of an idiot.
Yes there are laughs but in my case more sighs. I understand that he probably deliberately leaves out a lot about his wife and children to keep some privacy but instead I got the feeling that he kind of abandonded them while he revelled in the experience. I was also wondering where in all his dramas he managed to get his actual bill paying work done.
Thank god it was well written and easy reading too or I might have thrown it out the window but if you like this genre then go for it.
Yes there are laughs but in my case more sighs. I understand that he probably deliberately leaves out a lot about his wife and children to keep some privacy but instead I got the feeling that he kind of abandonded them while he revelled in the experience. I was also wondering where in all his dramas he managed to get his actual bill paying work done.
Thank god it was well written and easy reading too or I might have thrown it out the window but if you like this genre then go for it.
June 15, 2020
Skaitydama žavėjausi jo žmona, kuri pasiryžo tokiai avantiūrai su dviem vaikais
June 7, 2017
Tired of what he describes as his “meager existence” under the wet, grey skies of England, Tahir Shah decides to uproot his wife and young children and move to Morocco, chronicling their experience in The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca. Shah purchases the Caliph’s house (Dar Khalifa) in Casablanca, a dilapidated home, empty for ten years and situated on the edge of a shantytown. Upon entering his new home, he discovers his house comes equipped with a staff of three guardians and a she-jinn known as Qandisha. The intrepid guardians do their best to educate Shah on Moroccan ways and caution him to tread carefully so as not to incur the wrath of Qandisha who haunts the house and who (understandably) resents his presence.
So begins a year of living in the Caliph’s house. Shah’s vision is to remodel the decrepit home and restore it to its former glory. This brings him in contact with Moroccan craftsmen who are incredibly skilled at what they do but who work at a maddeningly slow pace. Shah eventually learns to accept the Moroccan way of doing things and, by the end of the year, the Caliph’s house has been beautifully remodeled with fountains, colorful mosaics, plush gardens, and a library that is the envy of any book lover. Additionally, the jinn have been successfully exorcised from his home through a combination of prayers, chanting, rituals, and the slaughter of a goat. The book concludes with Shah and his wife lying back and admiring all they have accomplished in the space of a year. He is finally at peace.
Some of the fantastic happenings in the book should be taken with a grain of salt. But perhaps nothing is quite as unbelievable as Shah’s gallant determination to forge ahead in the face of what appear to be insurmountable challenges. Shah speaks of these challenges with humor and irony. What shines throughout is his love for his adopted country in spite of the trials and tribulations he endures—or, perhaps, because of them.
Shah graphically illuminates Moroccan culture and life in Dar Khalifa. His engaging jaunt through the underbelly of Moroccan life exposes us to shady characters who speak in ambiguities, a place where corruption is rampant, where poverty abounds, and where money exchanges hands without quite knowing what one is getting in return. It is an excursion made all the more appealing due to Shah’s ability to capture the sights, sounds, scents, and texture of life in Morocco that waft through every page with vibrancy and color. A delightful and entertaining read. Highly recommended.
So begins a year of living in the Caliph’s house. Shah’s vision is to remodel the decrepit home and restore it to its former glory. This brings him in contact with Moroccan craftsmen who are incredibly skilled at what they do but who work at a maddeningly slow pace. Shah eventually learns to accept the Moroccan way of doing things and, by the end of the year, the Caliph’s house has been beautifully remodeled with fountains, colorful mosaics, plush gardens, and a library that is the envy of any book lover. Additionally, the jinn have been successfully exorcised from his home through a combination of prayers, chanting, rituals, and the slaughter of a goat. The book concludes with Shah and his wife lying back and admiring all they have accomplished in the space of a year. He is finally at peace.
Some of the fantastic happenings in the book should be taken with a grain of salt. But perhaps nothing is quite as unbelievable as Shah’s gallant determination to forge ahead in the face of what appear to be insurmountable challenges. Shah speaks of these challenges with humor and irony. What shines throughout is his love for his adopted country in spite of the trials and tribulations he endures—or, perhaps, because of them.
Shah graphically illuminates Moroccan culture and life in Dar Khalifa. His engaging jaunt through the underbelly of Moroccan life exposes us to shady characters who speak in ambiguities, a place where corruption is rampant, where poverty abounds, and where money exchanges hands without quite knowing what one is getting in return. It is an excursion made all the more appealing due to Shah’s ability to capture the sights, sounds, scents, and texture of life in Morocco that waft through every page with vibrancy and color. A delightful and entertaining read. Highly recommended.
May 25, 2018
Labai smagu skaityti apie tą, kas išdrįso ištrūkti iš "ilgų kelionių į darbą bei netikrų draugų" rutinos.
June 15, 2014
Take the movie "The Money Pit", move it to Casablanca, give the Shelley Long character two children but her only role is to get really angry a couple of times, give all the characters a language barrier with the locals, make the Tom Hanks character an idiot, give them a gardener, a nanny, a maid, three guardians and a personal assistant who cause more problems than they solve and you've got this mess of a book.
The flow was weird - the author would describe something, say a search for new engine for his car and then he would switch to meeting a Countess who knew his grandfather and then he would go to a third thing and then back to the engine.
There was very little cultural information except that all Moroccans believe in Jinns, they live off whoever has the best paying job and quit their own, they do the opposite of what you tell them to and will attempt to connive you as much as possible. Yeah, lovely. I'm sure that's an in depth and sensitive analysis.
At least it was easy to read.
The flow was weird - the author would describe something, say a search for new engine for his car and then he would switch to meeting a Countess who knew his grandfather and then he would go to a third thing and then back to the engine.
There was very little cultural information except that all Moroccans believe in Jinns, they live off whoever has the best paying job and quit their own, they do the opposite of what you tell them to and will attempt to connive you as much as possible. Yeah, lovely. I'm sure that's an in depth and sensitive analysis.
At least it was easy to read.
March 4, 2025
No Afganistānas (pēc "Pūķa ķērāja") kopā ar autoru pārcēlos uz gadu padzīvot Āfrikas ziemeļos Marokā. Starp citu, autors Tahirs Šahs ir brits ar afgāņu saknēm, un viņš joprojām ar ģimeni dzīvo Kalifa namā.
Kad man negaidot iedeva šo grāmatu, man šķita, tas būs kaut kas smags, nopietns un varbūt nesaprotams. Bet...
Patiesībā tā bija par Londonas rakstnieka vēlmi piepildīt savu sapni un pārcelties uz dzīvi saulainajā Marokā. Tiek aprakstīts gads pēc Kalifa nama iegādes, par to kā (ne)tiek veikti remontdarbi ēkā, kā norisinās iekšējais autora pārmaiņu process laika gaitā. Grāmata par to, kā autora eiropieša tradīcijas pārņem Marokas māņticība, reliģija, iesakņojušās tradīcijas un kā autors meklē kompromisus sevī un sadzīvē ar apkārtējo realitāti. Pēc gada viņš jau mēģina domāt kā marokānis. ☺️
Šī grāmata ir interesanta, pārsteidzoša, izglītojoša, savā ziņā izcila ceļojuma grāmata, kas parāda Marokas īsto dvēseli, vietējo attieksmi pret dzīvi, darbu, arī mistisko. Autors savā ziņā arī iepazīst savu vectēvu un meklē savas saknes. Tikpat liela nozīme Kalifa namā ir noslēpumainajiem un pārsvarā ļaunajiem džiniem, kas traucē šī nama un ģimenes laimei. Un lasīšanas laikā kopā ar nama saimnieku Tahiru Tev jau arī sāk šķist, ka džini eksistē 😄
Grāmata ir uzrakstīta tā, ka ironiskais humors ir visu laiku līdzās esošs. Ik pa laikam ir kāds pārsteigums, un ir jāapbrīno autors, kurš krita un cēlās, bet noturējās pie sava sapņa! 🌸
Tikko vēl noskatījos 5 minūšu Kalifa nama video, interesanti redzēt to, ko uzbūra Marokas meistari un mana iztēle lasot.
Iesaku izlasīt, ja interesē Marokas dzīvesveids ✨
Kad man negaidot iedeva šo grāmatu, man šķita, tas būs kaut kas smags, nopietns un varbūt nesaprotams. Bet...
Patiesībā tā bija par Londonas rakstnieka vēlmi piepildīt savu sapni un pārcelties uz dzīvi saulainajā Marokā. Tiek aprakstīts gads pēc Kalifa nama iegādes, par to kā (ne)tiek veikti remontdarbi ēkā, kā norisinās iekšējais autora pārmaiņu process laika gaitā. Grāmata par to, kā autora eiropieša tradīcijas pārņem Marokas māņticība, reliģija, iesakņojušās tradīcijas un kā autors meklē kompromisus sevī un sadzīvē ar apkārtējo realitāti. Pēc gada viņš jau mēģina domāt kā marokānis. ☺️
Šī grāmata ir interesanta, pārsteidzoša, izglītojoša, savā ziņā izcila ceļojuma grāmata, kas parāda Marokas īsto dvēseli, vietējo attieksmi pret dzīvi, darbu, arī mistisko. Autors savā ziņā arī iepazīst savu vectēvu un meklē savas saknes. Tikpat liela nozīme Kalifa namā ir noslēpumainajiem un pārsvarā ļaunajiem džiniem, kas traucē šī nama un ģimenes laimei. Un lasīšanas laikā kopā ar nama saimnieku Tahiru Tev jau arī sāk šķist, ka džini eksistē 😄
Grāmata ir uzrakstīta tā, ka ironiskais humors ir visu laiku līdzās esošs. Ik pa laikam ir kāds pārsteigums, un ir jāapbrīno autors, kurš krita un cēlās, bet noturējās pie sava sapņa! 🌸
Tikko vēl noskatījos 5 minūšu Kalifa nama video, interesanti redzēt to, ko uzbūra Marokas meistari un mana iztēle lasot.
Iesaku izlasīt, ja interesē Marokas dzīvesveids ✨
dnf
July 9, 2020I read about 30 pages of this book, and while it is very well-written, the author's voice is a bit flat. I think a series of three essays would have covered his experience, because it already felt a bit repetitive. None of the humorous elements made me smile - this author may have a gift with words, but he failed to win me over and convince me to drop every other book and follow him and his family on their journey.
March 19, 2021
Moroccan craftsman working on zellij, beautiful mosaic tilework.
Everything is made by hand!
Teamwork!
Zellij, beautiful Moroccan mosaic tilework.
When I came across the title of this book, I thought it would be about the author's travel experience living in Casablanca for a year. But no. This book is about the author buying(!) a house in Morocco, moving his family to Casablanca and their first year living in Dar Khalifa (the name of the house).
When I started reading this book, I was a bit apprehensive that this book would be about a foreigner, who would impose his Western beliefs and standards upon a land utterly different from the West. Or worse, that he would have exotic fantasies and expectations of Morocco and would then be left in disappointment. But no. Fortunately, this book is just an honest account of Tahir Shah's experience settling down in Casablanca. He doesn't mask the challenges he faces in everyday life, but he also gives the reader a full account of what draws him to Morocco (his grandfather, who died in Tangier and the ability to give his children a better upbringing).
While most of the book does include details on the renovation works of Dar Khalifa, the author also gives incredible insights into Moroccan culture and mentality. I loved Kamal! He is such a rascal, who always comes up with an innovative solution, no matter how difficult the problem appears. Moreover, I couldn't help thinking how incredible Shah's wife Rachana is, to have endured all that has happened in the book! Nonetheless, this book is truly funny and I laughed hard, especially when I read the story of the "Bavarian Hausfrau Lulu!" I also enjoyed the little proverbs preceding each chapter ("The value of dwelling is in the dweller," "Never give advice in a crowd"). Overall, a very light and enjoyable read. A must for anybody who loves Morocco.
"The same life that poses the problem tends to provide a solution."
"Real charity is given anonymously. Speak about it and the meaning is lost."
August 19, 2025
Mm, knyga saldainis! Ne, ne koks chuppa chuppsas, o lipnus, medumi tekantis, riešutais ir prieskoniais prigardintas koks nors tai afrikietiškas gardumynas.
Na toks vertės mūsų sveikatai gal ir nelabai priduodantis, bet malonumo ir potyrio - tikrai. Taigi, jei konkrečiau, literatūriniu šedevru ir penu mūsų tauriesiems protams gal nepavadinsi, bet kaip smagu tokį romaną skaityti.
Malonumui suteikti, žinoma, čia buvo pasitelktas humoras ir ironija. Bet toks kažkoks labai paprastas, be mandrysčių, nelabai stipriai, iš tiesų, tos ironijos ir reikia, kai vien mums svetimo, marokietiško gyvenimo scenos padedamos mūsų akistaton jau skaitos kažkaip juokingai. Tačiau, susiimkite, gerbiamieji, kas mums atrodo paika ir juokinga - arabų pasaulyje yra labai įprasta ir rimta. Džinai, pavyzdžiui.
Romanui spalvotą išvaizdą, ryškius pojūčius, be abejonės, sukūrė aprašomi vaizdai. Ir net ne kažkokie gamtovaizdžiai, bet atvirkščiai: mažos detalės - kartu su autoriumi mėginome priketi apsnūdusį, apgriuvusį rūmą, bandomą paversti namais. Ir kaip įdomiai jis kėlėsi ir budo, kai pažadinti jį ketino ne vietinis gyventojas, bet anglas atvykėlis. Na, reikia pribažinti - turi būti tikrai labai kitoks anglas, kad leistumeisi tokiam nuotykiui.
Lažinuosi, jūs tam tikrai nesirįžtumėte patys, todėl, žinot - privalot šią istoriją bent perskaityti. Pažadu, bus greitai, smagiai ir maloniai.
Na toks vertės mūsų sveikatai gal ir nelabai priduodantis, bet malonumo ir potyrio - tikrai. Taigi, jei konkrečiau, literatūriniu šedevru ir penu mūsų tauriesiems protams gal nepavadinsi, bet kaip smagu tokį romaną skaityti.
Malonumui suteikti, žinoma, čia buvo pasitelktas humoras ir ironija. Bet toks kažkoks labai paprastas, be mandrysčių, nelabai stipriai, iš tiesų, tos ironijos ir reikia, kai vien mums svetimo, marokietiško gyvenimo scenos padedamos mūsų akistaton jau skaitos kažkaip juokingai. Tačiau, susiimkite, gerbiamieji, kas mums atrodo paika ir juokinga - arabų pasaulyje yra labai įprasta ir rimta. Džinai, pavyzdžiui.
Romanui spalvotą išvaizdą, ryškius pojūčius, be abejonės, sukūrė aprašomi vaizdai. Ir net ne kažkokie gamtovaizdžiai, bet atvirkščiai: mažos detalės - kartu su autoriumi mėginome priketi apsnūdusį, apgriuvusį rūmą, bandomą paversti namais. Ir kaip įdomiai jis kėlėsi ir budo, kai pažadinti jį ketino ne vietinis gyventojas, bet anglas atvykėlis. Na, reikia pribažinti - turi būti tikrai labai kitoks anglas, kad leistumeisi tokiam nuotykiui.
Lažinuosi, jūs tam tikrai nesirįžtumėte patys, todėl, žinot - privalot šią istoriją bent perskaityti. Pažadu, bus greitai, smagiai ir maloniai.
May 29, 2015
As someone with a personal connection with Morocco, who has lived there, who has gone through various trials and tribulations there, but who is still very much in love with the country, this book is definitely a 5 star read.
Not only does Tahir Shah capture the funny side of the tough times faced in Morocco, but his feelings for the country, very much like my own, only grow on the completion of these difficult moments.
This truly is a wonderful read. It definitely captures similar feelings to what I had in the beginning of my relationship with Morocco, and brought me a lot of nostalgia when reading it.
Not only does Tahir Shah capture the funny side of the tough times faced in Morocco, but his feelings for the country, very much like my own, only grow on the completion of these difficult moments.
This truly is a wonderful read. It definitely captures similar feelings to what I had in the beginning of my relationship with Morocco, and brought me a lot of nostalgia when reading it.
August 23, 2021
Šeima iš Londono persikelia į Kasablanką, naujai įsigytus Kalifo rūmus. Kita kultūra, papročiai, gyvenimo būdas šeimos gyvenimą spalvina įvairiomis spalvomis. Knygai labiausiai pritrūko geros pabaigos: po visų rupesčių dėl namo rekonstrukcijos, apsigyvenusių džinų namuose, pamišusių darbininkų ir egzorcistų,viskas, netikėtai labai greit pakrypsta į gerą pusę, ir lieka jausmas, kad rašytojui pabodo rašyti apie jų šeimos gyvenimą Kasablankoje.
February 5, 2019
Enjoyable enough read, but a little repetitive with the superstitious natives.
July 14, 2018
Наистина исках да ми хареса книгата, но уви. Българското издание е пълно с всякакъв вид грешки, има недовършени цели изречения, чак накрая ми стана смешно и се зачудих дали не е умишлено, за да препъват четенето (както се е протакал ремонтът на къщата на халифа) и да се внесе допълнителен мистицизъм.
Идеята ми за Мароко далеч не са суеверните фантасмагории, алкохолици и мързвливи, несериозни типове, които съпътстват автора. От друга страна, това е една различна, лична история с хепи енд, а не клишета и приказки от 1001 нощи.
Идеята ми за Мароко далеч не са суеверните фантасмагории, алкохолици и мързвливи, несериозни типове, които съпътстват автора. От друга страна, това е една различна, лична история с хепи енд, а не клишета и приказки от 1001 нощи.
September 24, 2023
Tahir Shah - Kalifo rūmai. Metai Kasablankoje 🕌
Nebegalėdamas kęsti sukaustyto ir nuolatiniame strese judančiame gyvenime Anglijoje, Tahiras su šeima nusprendžia priimti iššūkį - apsigyventi Maroke. Ir dar ne šiaip kur, o iš senų filmų dar žinomoje Kasablankoje bei ten esančiuose Kalifo rūmuose. Didingai skambantis pavadinimas už durų slepia ne tik paslaptingą istoriją, bet ir daug apgriuvusių sienų, lubų bei grindų. Kartu su daug darbo ir renovacijos reikalausiančiu namu, Tahiras įsigyja ir tris tarnus, kurie kiekvienai progai esant taip ir bando vis kišti pagalius į ratus. O čia dar pasipainioja džinai… Tad Marokas, toks išsvajotas ir gražus prisiminimuose, pasirodo visai kitoks pačiam Tahirui ir jo šeimai. Problemų, kaip ir saulės bei šilumos, Kasablankoje netrūks, bet kokie juokingi ir drąsūs naujo gyvenimo nuotykiai laukia Tahiro ir jo šeimos! Skaitytojui teks tik labai stebėtis kaip gali skirtis rytietiški papročiai, kaip gerbiami senieji amatai ir kaip kartais sunku persilaušti kai gyvenimas kardinaliai pakinta.
Šią knygą man rekomendavo draugė ir aš niekaip neprisiversdavau jos paimt. Ačiū visiems iššūkiams, kuriuose dalyvauju, nes atvėriau duris į nuostabaus pasaulio istoriją! Rytietiški kraštai visada domina ir žavi savo spalvom, tradicijom, maistu, o čia gauni gerą dozę tikro gyvenimo su visais iššūkiais ir labai jau linksmais nuotykiais! Tikrai momentais ir mane varydavo iš proto tas vietinių keistumas, jų gyvenimo būdas, tad džiaugiuos tuos iššūkius tik skaitydama, o ne pati patirdama, bet labiausiai gyriau autorių už drąsą ir pasiryžimą šiam iššūkiui! Labai puikiai susiskaitė, tad rekomenduoju tikrų istorijų mėgėjams ją perskaityti! 🕌⭐️
Nebegalėdamas kęsti sukaustyto ir nuolatiniame strese judančiame gyvenime Anglijoje, Tahiras su šeima nusprendžia priimti iššūkį - apsigyventi Maroke. Ir dar ne šiaip kur, o iš senų filmų dar žinomoje Kasablankoje bei ten esančiuose Kalifo rūmuose. Didingai skambantis pavadinimas už durų slepia ne tik paslaptingą istoriją, bet ir daug apgriuvusių sienų, lubų bei grindų. Kartu su daug darbo ir renovacijos reikalausiančiu namu, Tahiras įsigyja ir tris tarnus, kurie kiekvienai progai esant taip ir bando vis kišti pagalius į ratus. O čia dar pasipainioja džinai… Tad Marokas, toks išsvajotas ir gražus prisiminimuose, pasirodo visai kitoks pačiam Tahirui ir jo šeimai. Problemų, kaip ir saulės bei šilumos, Kasablankoje netrūks, bet kokie juokingi ir drąsūs naujo gyvenimo nuotykiai laukia Tahiro ir jo šeimos! Skaitytojui teks tik labai stebėtis kaip gali skirtis rytietiški papročiai, kaip gerbiami senieji amatai ir kaip kartais sunku persilaušti kai gyvenimas kardinaliai pakinta.
Šią knygą man rekomendavo draugė ir aš niekaip neprisiversdavau jos paimt. Ačiū visiems iššūkiams, kuriuose dalyvauju, nes atvėriau duris į nuostabaus pasaulio istoriją! Rytietiški kraštai visada domina ir žavi savo spalvom, tradicijom, maistu, o čia gauni gerą dozę tikro gyvenimo su visais iššūkiais ir labai jau linksmais nuotykiais! Tikrai momentais ir mane varydavo iš proto tas vietinių keistumas, jų gyvenimo būdas, tad džiaugiuos tuos iššūkius tik skaitydama, o ne pati patirdama, bet labiausiai gyriau autorių už drąsą ir pasiryžimą šiam iššūkiui! Labai puikiai susiskaitė, tad rekomenduoju tikrų istorijų mėgėjams ją perskaityti! 🕌⭐️
April 16, 2009
Tahir Shah has a lot of good reasons for moving to Morocco. He wants to escape England and the rat race. He wants to recapture the magic of his own childhood vacations in Morocco. He wants to learn more about the grandfather that had died there years ago. He wants a house to renovate, one that will allow his delusions of grandeur to run wild.
Shah gets all of that and more when he buys a crumbling palace, Dar Khalifa (The Caliph’s House) in Casablanca. He also gets three guardians (they come with the house). He gets an architect with a zeal for destruction and little interest in renovation. He gets an assistant, Kamal, that he doesn’t trust and doesn’t particularly like, but needs desperately. But mostly, he gets Jinns. Lots of them. And it turns out that jinns, invisible and usually malign spirits, can cause a lot of problems. Whether you believe in them or not is irrelevant.
The resulting (nonfiction!) book, The Caliph’s House, is a delight, a thoroughly entertaining description of Shah’s first year in Morocco. The characters he meets are almost unbelievably eccentric, like those in a zany comedy movie but all the more interesting because they’re real. His adventures are often laugh-out-loud hilarious. His first night in his new home, Shah has his very first run-in with jinns…in the toilet. Kamal manages to obtain a refund from the useless architect by throwing a feast. Shah’s world map is condemned by the censorship police because Western Sahara isn’t in the same color as Morocco. I laughed so much that my husband forbade me to read in bed when he was trying to sleep.
Best of all, the whole time I was laughing, I was learning. This book was, for me, a fascinating glimpse into a culture very different from our own. Moroccans have rich superstitions and traditions that infuse every aspect of their lives. Shah skillfully illuminates facets of Arab culture that, in this era of post-9/11 paranoia, we seldom see or bother to consider. He doesn’t ignore the fanatics; they’re there, lurking in the fringes of his narrative, but they don’t seem to have much of an influence on daily Casablanca life. I, for one, didn’t miss them.
In spite of frustrations and challenges, Shah comes to love Morocco and its people, warts and all. He lives there to this day. Having read this book, a part of me (a very, very small part of me) longs to join him.
This book does have some objectionable words, but in the context in which they appeared, they were usually pretty darn funny.
Shah gets all of that and more when he buys a crumbling palace, Dar Khalifa (The Caliph’s House) in Casablanca. He also gets three guardians (they come with the house). He gets an architect with a zeal for destruction and little interest in renovation. He gets an assistant, Kamal, that he doesn’t trust and doesn’t particularly like, but needs desperately. But mostly, he gets Jinns. Lots of them. And it turns out that jinns, invisible and usually malign spirits, can cause a lot of problems. Whether you believe in them or not is irrelevant.
The resulting (nonfiction!) book, The Caliph’s House, is a delight, a thoroughly entertaining description of Shah’s first year in Morocco. The characters he meets are almost unbelievably eccentric, like those in a zany comedy movie but all the more interesting because they’re real. His adventures are often laugh-out-loud hilarious. His first night in his new home, Shah has his very first run-in with jinns…in the toilet. Kamal manages to obtain a refund from the useless architect by throwing a feast. Shah’s world map is condemned by the censorship police because Western Sahara isn’t in the same color as Morocco. I laughed so much that my husband forbade me to read in bed when he was trying to sleep.
Best of all, the whole time I was laughing, I was learning. This book was, for me, a fascinating glimpse into a culture very different from our own. Moroccans have rich superstitions and traditions that infuse every aspect of their lives. Shah skillfully illuminates facets of Arab culture that, in this era of post-9/11 paranoia, we seldom see or bother to consider. He doesn’t ignore the fanatics; they’re there, lurking in the fringes of his narrative, but they don’t seem to have much of an influence on daily Casablanca life. I, for one, didn’t miss them.
In spite of frustrations and challenges, Shah comes to love Morocco and its people, warts and all. He lives there to this day. Having read this book, a part of me (a very, very small part of me) longs to join him.
This book does have some objectionable words, but in the context in which they appeared, they were usually pretty darn funny.
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September 9, 2023Pati istorija atrodytų, nėra labai kažkuo ypatinga: šeima iš Europos atsikelia gyventi į Maroką, nusiperka rūmus Dar Khalifa ir pradeda juose įsikurdinėti. Kartu su rūmais autorius (knygoje jis pasakoja apie save ir savo patirtis) paveldi ir tris tarnus, kurie netrukus pradeda paistyti vėjus apie džinus, baraka (gerąją namų dvasią) ir t.t. Tahiras iš karto pradeda ieškotis pagalbininkų, kurie padėtų jam susirasti meistrus, sutvarkysiančius apleistus rūmus. Skaitant vis labiau ir labiau atrodo, kad tai tarnai krečia visokias aibes, kad tik atsikratytų naujųjų šeimininkų, viską dangstydami džinais. Labai stebina marokiečių požiūris į mums tokius elementarius dalykus: daiktų pirkimą, maisto gaminimą, remontą... Taip pat labai nustebino tas visko valdymas pinigais. Maroke turistas atėjęs į turgų, pasak autoriaus, kainas išgirs pasakomas keturiskart didesnes, nei išgirstų vietinis. Pati knyga labiau primena kelionių reportažą su lyriniais nukrypimais nei romaną, bet iš esmės labai patiko. Puikiai aprašyti smagūs ir nelabai įvykiai, įvykę per metus, vos šeimai įsikėlus į rūmus.
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December 3, 2011I love exotic travel & home renovation *adventures* and this is my new favorite. I've been kind of obsessed with Morocco lately, and I loved this account of one family's first-year adjustments to the way of life there. I was particularly interested in the rich tapestry of superstition that governs every aspect daily life. From now on, I'm blaming every problem, large or small, on the Jinns :-)
February 8, 2023
Patiko humoras, skaitydama daugiau sužinojau apie Maroką ir marokiečius. Atsižvelgiant į tai, kad knyga išleista 2012 m, o parašyta dar seniau, gali būti, kad kai kurie dalykai Maroke jau pasikeitę, visgi susidaryti įspūdi apie bendrą šalies atmosferą galima. Rūmų remontų man buvo šiek tiek per daug! Pritrūko autoriaus asmeninių išgyvenimų, daugiau Maroko tyrinėjimo ir pažinimo. Ah, ta „Šantaramo“ aukštai užkelta kertelė…
Visa recenzija: https://minimaliai.lt/kalifo-rumai-me...
Visa recenzija: https://minimaliai.lt/kalifo-rumai-me...
May 25, 2020
Tahir Shah - Kalifo rūmai. Metai Kasablankoje
Tikro žmogaus, tikra gyvenimo istorija apie tai kaip jis nusprendė iš angliškos drėgmės persikraustyti gyventi su šeima į margą Maroką, Kasablanką.
Mano nuomonė - Na, jei knyga mane priverčia pasinaudoti google paieška, jog sužinočiau daugiau apie autorių, apie pačią knygą ar kitas knygoje minimas detales, kas būna įtin retai, vadinasi knyga nusipelno mano aukščiausio vertinimo, nes tikrai mane labai sudomino.
Manau mano mėgstamiausias knygų žanras kai kažkas knygoje papasakoja apie savo gyvenimą, ką būtent ir padarė šioje knygoje autorius Tahir Shah. Knyga nepasirodė nei per ilga, nei nuobodi nei aplamai surasčiau kitą minusą. Visą laiką ją skaitant negalėjau patikėti, jog būtent tokia yra Maroko kultūra, žmonės ir gyvenimas ir vis negalėjau patikėti iš kur pas autorių tiek tiek kantrybės ir nervų...tiek stebinanti, tiek juokinga, tiek įdomi knyga, kurią tikrai rekomenduočiau.
Tikro žmogaus, tikra gyvenimo istorija apie tai kaip jis nusprendė iš angliškos drėgmės persikraustyti gyventi su šeima į margą Maroką, Kasablanką.
Mano nuomonė - Na, jei knyga mane priverčia pasinaudoti google paieška, jog sužinočiau daugiau apie autorių, apie pačią knygą ar kitas knygoje minimas detales, kas būna įtin retai, vadinasi knyga nusipelno mano aukščiausio vertinimo, nes tikrai mane labai sudomino.
Manau mano mėgstamiausias knygų žanras kai kažkas knygoje papasakoja apie savo gyvenimą, ką būtent ir padarė šioje knygoje autorius Tahir Shah. Knyga nepasirodė nei per ilga, nei nuobodi nei aplamai surasčiau kitą minusą. Visą laiką ją skaitant negalėjau patikėti, jog būtent tokia yra Maroko kultūra, žmonės ir gyvenimas ir vis negalėjau patikėti iš kur pas autorių tiek tiek kantrybės ir nervų...tiek stebinanti, tiek juokinga, tiek įdomi knyga, kurią tikrai rekomenduočiau.
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