الريح الشتوية by مبارك ربيعMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Disclosure:
I come across this book during my browsing inside the National Library in Morocco, I was in touristic tour in Morocco. I have bought this book with 6 Euro. It was written in Arabic with a paperback format.
My Plot:
The Story takes place in Morocco during the French protectorate, and the setting was in Place called "GARAGE ALLAL" In Casablanca, El Arbi Al Hamdouni was in the Souk waiting for his wife and children to come from the countryside, It was a desperate situation, complete poor environment with lack of all the life necessities, dirt everywhere, the writer move from the situation of the Protagonist to tell us about Amirat, a countryman who fled from the hand of thieves inside the City of Casablanca, though, after a while El Arbi's Family had come at last, After salutation, It was decided that they will dwell in Quarian Central, a Shantytown outside the main city of Casablanca. The new life that the family had led was somehow weird, they encounter several types of people that never come to their minds, They met an old woman who was working as a charity askers, poor people who sacrifice anything for the sake of money, Life inside Casablanca turned their life upside down, In the end, the Protagonist will die, and his two children will become participants in the National League of Liberation, after many years all the characters will have a big change, Aicha Tallaba, will turn to be a brothel manager, where most of its client were French and European soldiers, Emara El Khayn as they call him will set a fire on the Shantytown and the whole Inhabitant will go against the current. Meaning the revolution took place starting from this incident.
Positive and Negative aspects:
I would really confess that this is the most realistic story that I had during my literary career, It was a nice depiction of the main components inside the Moroccan society, Poverty, Demoralization, Degradation, Human rights abuse all these aspects were present in the Events of Rih Chatwiya, Besides the main aim inside this story was to recover the social image that Moroccans forget during Colonization and After the Independence, It was a strategy of how to resist poverty and to look for a better life. Concerning the Negative aspects, It would be obvious that the novel was an Ethnic attack between Arabs as a main protagonists and Europeans as Antagonists, It was believed that the main cause for the Character's suffering was Colonization without stating other reasons including the low management of the national cause and the corruption that was growing inside their national state.
My Personal Reaction:
I personally didn't agree with the writer's final intentions, It was obvious that the story was a weapon against every European presence in the state, Besides the story writer was not so objective during the writing of this book. I held the position that I as a reader could not bear such attack and such violent description of poverty. Personally I feel sad about the death of the Protagonist, about the environment where he lived, and about the forcible denial of the French authority by taking his land without any proper cause. Finally I would say that if this is the real situation where Moroccan lived than I would confess that they led a very miserable life full of tragedy.
Recommendations:
The Story was so tragic, so I don't recommend it to people who seek enjoyment, However I would recommend it to people who seeks the true life of a certain people, The Book is written in Arabic so I recommend to people who are interested in Arab literature and Moroccan history, Finally I recommend it to people who fall in love with realistic novels.
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