Book Review: The Moor's Account

Here’s my book review for The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’ve read it too. And check out today’s writing prompt at the bottom of this post.

The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami is told like a traditional story from hundreds of years ago yet is anything but traditional. I have never read anything like this novel before, and I'm pretty sure that I will never read anything like it again. It is truly one of a kind. Its prose, its plot, and its characters are all unique and expertly written.

It is of course notable that this novel is told from the perspective of a Moroccan slave who sold himself into slavery to save his family from starvation not long after he had sold slaves himself for profit as a merchant. His character is very complex, believable, and relatable, and is revealed to us as he recounts his childhood, young adulthood, and the lessons of humanity and empathy he learns in the New World, which are what ultimately save him, along with the stories that he tells. 

The stories that are told and recounted throughout this novel consistently remind the reader that not only does history have different stories and accounts of what has happened and why and who the key players were, but that individuals have different stories to tell about their lives too. And that we are ultimately the ones who get to narrate them. So, this novel exemplifies the power of storytelling by punctuating examples of storytelling within storytelling within storytelling, which further accentuates its literary value. 

Another thing I appreciated about this novel is that it doesn't have quotation marks, which constantly remind the reader that there is only one voice throughout the novel: Mustafa al-Zamori’s voice. While he does tell multiple stories and shares stories within stories, you still never forget that it's his narrative that’s being told, and always by him. 

There are depictions of brutal violence and gore and desperation in this novel, which also make it more believable, as you can’t exactly imagine the plights of conquistadors without violence and gore and desperation. Yet such depictions are also sandwiched between vivid descriptions of beautiful scenery and landscapes and examples of love and humanity. It is probably also worth mentioning that while this novel is about a journey and adventure, it is not fast-paced and is not a thriller. 

Overall, I would recommend this book to literary nerds, those who enjoy retellings of lost or ignored histories, and those who want to learn more about Spanish conquests in the Americas in the sixteenth century. 

Here is my favorite passage from the novel: 

“Maybe there is no true story, only imagined stories, vague reflections of what we saw and what we heard, what we felt and what we thought. Maybe if our experiences, in all of their glorious, magnificent colors, were somehow added up, they would lead us to the blinding light of the truth.” (p.320-1)

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Today’s Writing Prompt