Around the World in 80 Books discussion

Start discussion for The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah here.

About the Book (from GradeSaver)

The story follows the life of Tahir Shah, an Anglo-Afhan immigrant, who travels with his family to Morocco to set up a life there. Shah and his family move to a house called Dar Khalifa (The Caliph's House) that is plagued by Jinn's. Shah details his experience living in the house and the three Guardian's that come along with the house in order to keep the Shah's from the dangers of the Jinn.

About the Author Excerpted from the author's website

Tahir Shah is the author of fifteen books, many of which chronicle a wide range of outlandish journeys through Africa, Asia and the Americas. For him, there’s nothing so important as deciphering the hidden underbelly of the lands through which he travels. Shunning well-trodden tourist paths, he avoids celebrated landmarks, preferring instead to position himself on a busy street corner or in a dusty café and observe life go by. Insisting that we can all be explorers, he says there’s wonderment to be found wherever we are – it’s just a matter of seeing the world with fresh eyes.

Tahir Shah’s books have appeared in thirty languages and in more than seventy editions. They are celebrated for their original viewpoint, and for combining hardship with vivid description. He lives at Dar Khalifa, a sprawling mansion set squarely in the middle of a Casablanca shantytown. He’s married to the graphic designer, Rachana Shah, and has two children, Ariane and Timur. His father was the Sufi writer, Idries Shah.

I actually read this book a couple of years ago when I first started my travels - I like the whole finding yourself/coming home theme...I liked seeing his struggle between the anglo-saxon work ethic and what was portrayed in the book and how he had to deconflict beliefs

I'm still busy reading the book, but what I found interesting so far is the theme of superstition and/or beliefs in Morrocco that are very different to what we are used to in the West. It seems that jinns, evil spirits and magic are very prevalent in the Morroccan mindset. At first I found it bizarre and a little ridiculous, but if you consider that in the West we have similar traditions, like the belief in a virgin that gave birth after immaculate conception, people rising from the dead etcetera, it isn't that strange.

The Virgin and immaculate conception are Christian beliefs not "Western" beliefs. "Western" beliefs maybe things like black cats as harbingers of bad luck, rabbits foot, horseshoes, fairies, imps -- mostly Western European beliefs that became popular American beliefs as well. To put it into context, most Morroccans are Muslim in religion but most Muslims do not believe in djinns etc. Every culture has its beliefs & superstitions which have a radius of influence on others. Furthermore, each person as a different set of superstitions from the different experiences they've had. Shah is an interesting mix of cultures and had an eclectic CV of travel but despite it all as a person in this book he seems a content single being. Will have to see if he keeps his perspective in exploring different cultures without sounding judgemental.

Going to buy the Kindle ebook in a little while :-)

I finished last night. I didn't mind much about the superstition bit. I could even relate a little as the older generation (and some superstitious young ones) of my culture have their own beliefs.

I found that I wanted to know more about how Kamal evades those official procedures and how he came to have those connections with all sorts of odd, often scary-looking characters.

Ramya wrote: "The Virgin and immaculate conception are Christian beliefs not "Western" beliefs. "Western" beliefs maybe things like black cats as harbingers of bad luck, rabbits foot, horseshoes, fairies, imps ..."

What I was trying to say was that because readers from an Anglo Saxon background might find the various beliefs and superstitions mentioned in the book strange, (the culture is very different from the one that I grew up in, for instance) it highlights the fact that any belief (including our own) based on teachings without proof can be inaccurate. We all have to question our own assumptions and ideas on that basis. Maybe the author, as someone who has experienced many different cultures, wanted to draw attention to this.

Still reading. However, if someone hung a cat where my child could see it, however much I understood the culture, I'd have my family on the next train out.

Osho wrote: "Still reading. However, if someone hung a cat where my child could see it, however much I understood the culture, I'd have my family on the next train out."

The cat killings are really creepy. The guardians themselves are way too creepy for me.

Yes it was creepy. Sometimes I wondered if the cat killings were really supernatural in nature.

I wrote in my review that because the author didn't explain more about jinns (possibly because he also doesn't have the answers), it makes them all the more a mysterious force. When he wrote things like he can feel "death" in the room and all that, do you think he really felt it, or was he trying to amp it up?

Another topic is the one of poverty and the author’s own relative wealth. He lives in a mansion in the middle of a very poor community. He tries to help people where he can, but obviously he can only make a difference to a few people. He is powerless to alleviate the hardship of the community around him. We have the same dilemma in Cape Town, where I live. It is impossible to forget the poor, I see homeless people on street corners everywhere. How do you justify buying an expensive decorative door or cedar wood shelves for your library when you know that there are people out there who don’t have enough food to eat? This is not a criticism of the writer, it is something I that think of often in relation to my own circumstances.

I admire here, as in his other books, Shah's ability to soak up an environment and describe details and conversations that heighten both its familiar and alien aspects.

There are many things that I loved about this book such as the homage he paid to his grandfather and the risks he took uprooting his family. I loved many of the secondary characters -- especially the stamp collector. I felt that the story of renovating his house was tedious. The people in his life made the book interesting not the things he owned.

I'd really like to know more about Rachana in all of this.

Osho, I agree with you. How did she keep her patience/sanity? I thought it was maddening to get a plumber in a major American metro to show up on time, but to live in the shambles which Shah describes and the uncertainty of the work ever getting done and the difficulty of getting answers ... ? I realize she did have two small children, but did she spend all of her time at the mansion? Make friends? Have hobbies?
Of course Shah can't explore every single aspect of his journey in great detail and has to choose narrative strands on which to focus, but I do feel like his wife was someone I wanted to know more about.

Just started and I already want to visit Fès and Marakesh and Casablanca. Maybe my daughter and I can visit together when she is older. Take me away.

Just read this part of the book:
...Zohra said the jeep had baraka because it was green, the color of Islam. She said that was why people were looking at it. It was, she whispered, the wisest purchase of my life.

"How can you be so sure?" I asked doubtfully.

"Because Amina says so."

It was a good moment to find out more about the Jinns.

"Tell me, Zohra, where is Amina?" I asked.

"She lives on my left shoulder," she said.

"Can you see her?"

"Oh yes, of course I can."

"What does she look like?"

Zohra thought for a moment. "She's got a beautiful face," she said. "She looks like an angel, and..."

"And what?"

"And she's a hundred feet tall."

Just finished this, and I loved reading about his house renovation challenges, especially how he came to "accept" the jinns and arrange for an exorcism. It's intriguing how much living immersed in a different culture can change a person. Was his life in Casablanca actually just as stressful as London, but in a different way? What made it worth all that hardship he put his family through? I also wonder what made it worth it to Rachana.

I have House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East and it will be interesting to compare to 2 for similar themes

I am not finished yet but I am just enjoying the witty scenarios and a lot have wrote how could he or his family stick it out. I think it has something to due with the author as a person. I feel like this is someone truelly experiencing life. Him and his family are immersed on a daily adventure and he is following a dream. Even through all these unknowns he is living in a way that I would think is feeding the soul. What better way to live. I think this is partly what I am so drawn to. And he is an author, it has obviously made for great writing material which in turn has made him money so he can still support his family:-) I find the book totally inspiring and brave. But I am only half way....?

About halfway through and the cultural snippets are fascinating, but I'm not enjoying the writing or maybe it's the storyline. While I admire the narrators willingness to cop to his own idiocy along the way, I'm finding his complete lack of a plan to be very puzzling/frustrating. And as others have said, what about Rachana- really, she lived in one room with two kids for a year!? But overall I'm enjoying it, curious if all these threads get resolved.

Since Tahir travels a lot, in a semi-planned way similar to the renovation, I suppose Rachana knew what she was getting into when she married him. :)

Osho wrote: "Since Tahir travels a lot, in a semi-planned way similar to the renovation, I suppose Rachana knew what she was getting into when she married him. :)"

She strikes me as an incredibly patient and tolerant woman.

Also I was wondering what her cultural background is. Is she tolerant or by nature is it a marriage somewhat based on a subserviant wife? I don't know but isn't his background Afghani and are they at all Muslim?

I think his family tradition is Sufi, but I'm not remembering clearly.

Yes baaing read something about his grandfather was Sufi. But I don't know much about it, well really nothing at all.

Yes I remember reading something about his grandfather was Sufi. But I don't know much about it, well really nothing at all.

Sarah wrote: "I am not finished yet but I am just enjoying the witty scenarios and a lot have wrote how could he or his family stick it out. I think it has something to due with the author as a person. I feel li..."

Well I just finished and I stand by my conviction in my last statement above. I think I had hit the nail on the head. For it was essentially paraphrasing the last few paragraphs of the book. I loved this book. This was a very enjoyable read to me. It was not a book I think I would have come across on my own. So I am so glad that this book was chosen as a group read. Infact I would like to check out some other stuff written by this author. This is what this group is all about -- I was able to travel to Morocco and experience this great culture.

I completely agree, Sarah! I really felt transported to Morocco the whole time I was reading and I am very interested in reading some of Shah's other works. I joined this group very recently so this was my first group read and I am very impressed! I am definitely looking forward to more great group read picks!

Sarah wrote: "Also I was wondering what her cultural background is. Is she tolerant or by nature is it a marriage somewhat based on a subserviant wife? I don't know but isn't his background Afghani and are they ..."

I think I read somewhere that his wife is from India.

What Shah did in plunging himself into another culture and taking a big leap of faith is something I like to think I could do, but as much as I wish I were like him, it's not my nature. I need to have a plan, a safety, a Plan B, Plan C, Plan D ....
I love to travel and I love meeting people from other places and learning about other cultures and I'm excited to see places unfamiliar to me. But to uproot my whole life and just go with it, I don't think I have the fortitude to do so voluntarily. It's a trait I wish I possessed.
But I suppose I will live vicariously through Shah's books. I'm definitely going to be reading some more.

Although I can't say this was one of my favorite books, it was an interesting read that challenges us to live outside the box. My favorite part was trying to figure out how the sayings that begin each chapter related to the chapter itself... which was sometimes a challenge!

Finished! Would definitely recommend it as a light read for beach or travel. The cultural tidbits make it worth reading alone. Following up on someone's comment, I know I could never do this- so I admire the risk taking if not the execution :-)

I read this book last night. For the most part I really enjoyed it. I've always wanted to go to Morocco! Not to live - just to visit. It was enjoyable to read about his adventures trying to settle in a totally foreign (to him) country. The things that really creeped me out was the cat killings (after the first one I just skipped over those parts). Same with the goat and ram killings. I can't imagine him keeping his family there after these events! And when his daughter found "her" goat beheaded! She's probably scared for life... And people kept telling him the spirits wanted to kill his children?! I'd have been on the next boat (or plane) out of there. Now that I think about it, did he just leave his wife and kids alone there alone when he would travel?