This fantastic, cleverly crafted novel is based on the ill-fated Narváez expedition (1528-1536) in which a large group of Spanish conquistadores and auxiliaries embarked upon a mission of exploration aimed at establishing settlements in what is now Florida and discovering gold. The only account of t...
You know what? Forget this. This is so boring I can't put it into words. I could hardly stay awake. I had to reread several pages because I would zone out. The only part I was interested in was Mustafa's past. I gave zero craps for the genocidal Castilians. They got what they deserved, the greedy...
A novella about a Sudanese man who returns from studying abroad and meets a sex-crazed psychopath who also lived in Europe and wants to tell the narrator all about his encounters with women, aka “his prey,” in which he encouraged them to exoticize him and finally drove them all to suicide with the p...
3.5 starsSolid storytelling and a clever premise. A few of the characters fell flat for me, and it ends with something of a whimper, but it's well-paced, and the historical details she weaves into the story are fascinating.
http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2012/01/review-season-of-migration-to-north-by.html
http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2009/05/review-secret-son-by-laila-lalami.html
Sensually written, turning Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" on it's head in its narrative style, and drawing us in to the character of Mustafa Sa'eed. This book is a treasure in craft, the motifs, symbolism, and style are there. An interesting Post-Colonial read, and one that will stand the test of time...
Season of Migration to the North is a complicated, twisting novel about -- at the most basic level -- sex, sexism, power, manipulation, vanity, and love. It’s also about admiration, perhaps undeserved but unquestioningly given, and is too a novel of political vengeance against individuals who are n...
Though set in Morocco, not Mexico, and the body of water crossed is the Mediterranean, not the Rio Grande, the stories of the desperate immigrants told in this book are eerily similar to those of many new Texans. The writing is lovely and the stories are captivating.
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