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Messaouda
French
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 16, 2015
Strong and brutal. Ruthless. Sad. Touching. Yet powerful and beautiful, poetic language.
October 21, 2020
This is the first time I've read a book from Moroccan author Abdelhak Serhane. The author belongs to a generation of Moroccan authors, who wrote in French langage a semi-autobiography about their childhood. While most stories were set in the city of Fes, this story is set in the small city of Azrou during the 50's mostly.
Readers follow Abdelhak, born and raised in a poor family in Azrou during the last years of French occupation in the 1950's. His family is dominated by the father, always demonstrating violence to his children and wife whether physical violence against all, verbal violence against all or sexual violence against his wife within the comfort of the house. Outside the house, the father and all men alike are shown as hypocrite acting as sexual predators and behaving religious only when needed.
From the beginning, the author wrote a diatribe against society denouncing false strong adult men being violent all the time in several ways, angry at weak submissive women like his mother, and critical of religious men. The tone is similar from start to end: brutal, explicite, and dark.
It is a unique book compared to other books set in Fes. It is a traumatizing chilhood Abdelhak lived.
Readers follow Abdelhak, born and raised in a poor family in Azrou during the last years of French occupation in the 1950's. His family is dominated by the father, always demonstrating violence to his children and wife whether physical violence against all, verbal violence against all or sexual violence against his wife within the comfort of the house. Outside the house, the father and all men alike are shown as hypocrite acting as sexual predators and behaving religious only when needed.
From the beginning, the author wrote a diatribe against society denouncing false strong adult men being violent all the time in several ways, angry at weak submissive women like his mother, and critical of religious men. The tone is similar from start to end: brutal, explicite, and dark.
It is a unique book compared to other books set in Fes. It is a traumatizing chilhood Abdelhak lived.
January 11, 2023
La violence , le cruel, le brut désarçonnant d'un récit qui révèle à celui qui ose le franchir la plus délicieuse des offrandes: Une poésie écrite de sang, empreinte de rêve, au goût amère de la vie..
Un récit qui rappelle les milles et une nuit, où le Fou, le Fakir la Femme le Fils ,et d'autres,s'emboitent la parole, pour rompre l'omerta et dévoiler les inégalités et les injustices; pour raconter les histoires que personne n'ose raconter, pour dire la monstruosité des hommes, la misère des femmes, le calvaire des enfants et amorcer les travers de la colonisation..
Un récit qui rappelle les milles et une nuit, où le Fou, le Fakir la Femme le Fils ,et d'autres,s'emboitent la parole, pour rompre l'omerta et dévoiler les inégalités et les injustices; pour raconter les histoires que personne n'ose raconter, pour dire la monstruosité des hommes, la misère des femmes, le calvaire des enfants et amorcer les travers de la colonisation..
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews