TAHAR BEN JELLOUN
Five of us got together on Saturday. We had to thread our way through the throngs staking out their places for KBOOM and the ticket buyers/sellers for the big baseball game. Despite all of that we had no problem getting our usual table at Delancy Street without a reservation.
Most of the discussion was about how unsatisfying the second part of the book was compared to the first. We also wondered about the prologue and the letter at the end. One interesting feature that was mentioned was how Morocco was compared to Sweden, almost like the comparison between Ali and Memet. Another aspect that was discussed was the way the author described the rivalry between the wives. It was felt that it would have been better for the author to include their take on the friendship directly in the book rather than have Ali and Memet describe what they thought was the relationship between the wives.
The general consensus: this is a book worth reading but not worth lingering over for a second month of deliberation.
Next book: THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST
