Leaving Tangier
2 journalers for this copy...
A young Moroccan man, Azel, wants to leave Tangier for a better life in Europe. He observes the lengths others go to, being tricked into joining fundamendalist Islamic groups. Others drown. But he also sees the hypocrisy. Then he meets a rich Spanish man, Miguel, who offers him a job in Barcelona, but what is his price? Azel, already married, must become Miguel's lover.
You can read my full review on Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1573646378 - but these are my favourite quotations about immigration:
I love this quotation about immigration in a conversation between Nazim & Kenza:
"here in Spain, [...] we're different, no longer hemmed in by our taboos, our traditions, and I'm certain it's because we left our own countries that we've been free to become ourselves : we love each other without fear of prying eyes or the cruel words of nosy neighbours and hypocrites. Spain I setting us free, so you and I, the Moroccan woman and the Turkish man, we will get married and forget where we came from.'
'Wait, wait, don't go so fast! You never forget where you came from, you carry that with you wherever you go: you can't cut your own roots that easily. People often think they've changed their way of thinking, but it resists, and I know what I'm talking about! Here, an Arab woman is called upon to change her behaviour, and if she doesn't change, she is ground down, bullied, despised. Don't you see, the question much bigger than we are." --- indeed, being in another country often makes you more patriotic than you ever were at home.
p199 - "there was something terrible about the loneliness of immigration, a kind of descent into a void, a tunnel of shadows that warped reality.... Exile revealed the true dimensions of calamity."
You can read my full review on Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1573646378 - but these are my favourite quotations about immigration:
I love this quotation about immigration in a conversation between Nazim & Kenza:
"here in Spain, [...] we're different, no longer hemmed in by our taboos, our traditions, and I'm certain it's because we left our own countries that we've been free to become ourselves : we love each other without fear of prying eyes or the cruel words of nosy neighbours and hypocrites. Spain I setting us free, so you and I, the Moroccan woman and the Turkish man, we will get married and forget where we came from.'
'Wait, wait, don't go so fast! You never forget where you came from, you carry that with you wherever you go: you can't cut your own roots that easily. People often think they've changed their way of thinking, but it resists, and I know what I'm talking about! Here, an Arab woman is called upon to change her behaviour, and if she doesn't change, she is ground down, bullied, despised. Don't you see, the question much bigger than we are." --- indeed, being in another country often makes you more patriotic than you ever were at home.
p199 - "there was something terrible about the loneliness of immigration, a kind of descent into a void, a tunnel of shadows that warped reality.... Exile revealed the true dimensions of calamity."
Journal Entry 2 by bookguide at BC Meeting 2016 in Castricum, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Sunday, July 3, 2016
Released 7 yrs ago (7/3/2016 UTC) at BC Meeting 2016 in Castricum, Noord-Holland Netherlands
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Released at the annual BookCrossing event on the beach in Castricum, in the beach café Zoomers (that sounds like 's Zomers, summertime, in Dutch).
My standard release notes, to be edited later!
This book has been released as part of the following BookCrossing challenges:
- The Ultimate Challenge - read and release books, with extra points for a monthly theme
- Reduce Mount TBR (To Be Read) - read and release books on the TBR list since before the end of the previous year. My reading goal is 36 books per year.
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge. 2015 goal: 15. This is a 1001 list book.
My standard release notes, to be edited later!
This book has been released as part of the following BookCrossing challenges:
- The Ultimate Challenge - read and release books, with extra points for a monthly theme
- Reduce Mount TBR (To Be Read) - read and release books on the TBR list since before the end of the previous year. My reading goal is 36 books per year.
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge. 2015 goal: 15. This is a 1001 list book.
Picked up at the meeting. I have heard of the author but never read anything by him. Sounds interesting (I like to do some armchair travelling). Thanks for bringing it bookguide!
