Book Review
Mar. 14th, 2015 04:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Moor's Account
by Laila Lalami
Lalami presents us with a fictional memoir of Mustafa (also known as Estebanico), a Moorish slave who took part in the disastrous 16th century Narvaez expedition to Florida. The first year of exploration (and attempted conquest) reduced the original force of a few hundred down to only four survivors. Mustafa and three Spaniards then travel throughout the south living with various Native American tribes and gradually making their way towards northern Mexico. As they go, their relationships with each other and the continent's inhabitants change drastically.
The Moor's Account was very good. I found the alternative view of the exploration of North America to be very compelling and much more interesting and nuanced than what I learned in school. The Spanish explorers are brave explorers, but they are also arrogant and brutal men who walk in and just assume that they are entitled to subjugate everything and everyone there. They think nothing of visiting cruel violence upon the Native Americans, stealing their possessions, and taking over their villages and land. I particularly liked the portrayals of the Native Americans - each tribe is distinct in its way of life and its manner of interacting with Mustafa and his companions. It's also very clear that there is already a civilization in place, with its own web of cultures and political landscape.
Mustafa is a terrific character and narrator. I admired his determination to gain his freedom and the way he navigated his situation as both a slave and a survivor of the expedition. His use of stories and storytelling was also a wonderful thematic through-line for the book - it speaks to the power of stories and the way we tell them.
by Laila Lalami
Lalami presents us with a fictional memoir of Mustafa (also known as Estebanico), a Moorish slave who took part in the disastrous 16th century Narvaez expedition to Florida. The first year of exploration (and attempted conquest) reduced the original force of a few hundred down to only four survivors. Mustafa and three Spaniards then travel throughout the south living with various Native American tribes and gradually making their way towards northern Mexico. As they go, their relationships with each other and the continent's inhabitants change drastically.
The Moor's Account was very good. I found the alternative view of the exploration of North America to be very compelling and much more interesting and nuanced than what I learned in school. The Spanish explorers are brave explorers, but they are also arrogant and brutal men who walk in and just assume that they are entitled to subjugate everything and everyone there. They think nothing of visiting cruel violence upon the Native Americans, stealing their possessions, and taking over their villages and land. I particularly liked the portrayals of the Native Americans - each tribe is distinct in its way of life and its manner of interacting with Mustafa and his companions. It's also very clear that there is already a civilization in place, with its own web of cultures and political landscape.
Mustafa is a terrific character and narrator. I admired his determination to gain his freedom and the way he navigated his situation as both a slave and a survivor of the expedition. His use of stories and storytelling was also a wonderful thematic through-line for the book - it speaks to the power of stories and the way we tell them.
