Reviews

The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami

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hollydunndesign's review against another edition

3.0

Laila Lalami’s historical novel The Moor’s Account isn’t something that I’d normally pick up, as historical fiction isn’t something I read a lot of. This was an interesting read though. It’s a fictionalised account of Estebanico, a Moroccan slave who travelled to what is now Florida with an armada of Spanish conquistadors. The expedition was a failure - most of the men succumbing to disease, starvation and various other accidents. Three of the men who survived were noblemen, all of whom wrote their own historical accounts. The fourth was Estebanico. One of the interesting things that this novel explores is the breakdown of class barriers when the men are struggling to survive. The relationship between master and slave changes dramatically in the circumstances. The Moor’s Account is very well researched and well written, but for me it lacked a level emotional connection, but perhaps that’s because I was comparing it to fellow Man Booker longlisted book, A Little Life.

jenscott's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a really well done historical fiction that I never would have read if it weren't for my book club. It was a really interesting perspective of an actual expedition of Spanish Conquistadors and their interactions with the Native Americans. It took me a while to get through this book - there's some difficult content, so I read it in chunks - but I'm glad I read it in the end.

abell22's review

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

grove9ruby's review against another edition

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Nothing was bad about it. And I can't even say it was uninteresting, but for some unknown reason I feel asleep too easily after reading a single page. I wanted to like it.

crisr8's review

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4.0

Interesting perspective on a time I’ve never read about. A story to give space to mull over issues of enslaving others, pride and greed, and the violence of colonization.