The Arch and the Butterfly by Mohammed Achaari

I have mixed feelings about this book. I wasn't quite captured after the first reading, but scanning through the book again made me see it from a completely different perspective. I was deeply touched by the words the author had put next to each other and the ideas he had exposed and reflected upon. This isn't any ordinary, easy or straight forward book as it might seem, but it's rather a valuable Moroccan historical, social economical as well as philosophical chef d'oeuvre to say the least. No wonder this  book won the Booker prize in 2011. The prize had nothing at all to do with me choosing the book  to read. With all due respect to the juries and organizers of this prestigious award, I chose this book because the author is Moroccan and Morocco has a very dear place in my heart. If you have visited or lived in that country you would definitely understand. Who knows maybe you might even experience the same joy I felt every time the author mentioned the name of a city, especially my most favorite one: the one and only "Marrakesh" or as I like to call it " the city of one thousand and one nights".

! إن الخروج من الطفولة هو التكرار الأبدي لمسألة الخروج من الجنة

Growing out of childhood is the eternal repetition of leaving heaven

My first impressions of the book were pretty negative as mentioned above, because mainly, I was unable to tell what was the story all about or even follow it. At one point I thought it was about Youssef, at another that it was about his son who died in Afghanistan or his dad or his gay friend or his other friend and his sister. I even thought it was a book about repression and corruption in Morocco. At the end I figured it out, but in between there was too much digression in the plot that made the book confusing and boring at several instances. It's such a shame that the beauty of the book decreased as the author increased the number of characters.

Moreover, the author presented Youssef in a very peculiar way: sometimes he was a cruel son, at others he was a husband void of love. Then he was this lover who apparently had two women in his life. Youssef had many personality traits one would hate him for and no charisma to get you attached to him. If we want to summarize it, for me he was totally despicable and I believe that because I hated him, my judgement of the book was seriously affected. I was biased: I hated the book while reading it because I hated the main character.

But then again, after I had finished it, and on my second evaluation, I have found the beginning and end of this book to be among the best ever written (or the best that I have ever read). What better way to captivate the reader than to start telling the story of a man who has lost all emotional feeling as well as the sense of smell? Who has ever imagined such character?  Who would not want to know what is going to happen next? The brilliant idea gave rise to a very fertile space for writing and imagination that literally took over me while reading the book. Also, the strength and beauty of the end (that arouse from the surprise effect and the connections that were established/completed) reflected the strength and elegance of the author's pen as well as his creativity. I will not give any more detail about the ending because there was too much ingenuity put into it that in my opinion, deserve not to be spoiled. (Yes, it's that good)

What I liked most in this book was discovering this interesting, intellectual person that wrote it. His own life experiences, education, travels as well as jobs (former minister of culture among others) can be felt in his book. I also greatly appreciated the ideas or reflections on different subjects that he successfully enriched his text with (numerous new ideas that could take more than one review to address).

Finally the major point I would like to highlight, is that the book might come in handy for those who wish to visit the monuments of Volubilis, a roman city near Meknes, between Fes and Rabbat. My mom being a history teacher and having passed her passion over to me, I found a lot of pleasure in reading this part of the book, especially because I haven't been to these sites yet. I can only thank the author for making this part as clear and enjoyable as it can get and kudos for all the elaborate historical, archeological as well as touristic detailed description. The author's effort and skills really worked on me for I felt as if I had literally flown over to Volublis, physically exploring the city before getting back to my bed to finish the book. It was just heavenly.

Hope this helps you in your reading decisions.
Isabelle