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A review by bibliofienna
As Rich as the King: A Tale of Casablanca by Abigail Assor
4.0
A portrayal of naivety innocence in a tragic realistic world.
Sarah is poor and she loathes it, the only way she knows to not be poor is marry rich and her sights fell on Driss who is As Rich as the King.
At the beginning I thought Sarah is the most interesting heroine I've ever encountered. She has this air of entitlement of the finer things in life, she knows what she wants and she worked cleverly to achieve it, she's also smart and confidence. At least that's what I was led to believe until the half of the book, but I have always thought that things could go wrong and felt like her daydreams is too much that I cringe for her. That's when a realization occured that she's actually so naive, she doesn't comprehend how cruel the world can be (because of patriarchy) and sometimes daydreaming marry the rich won't solve a thing. After that realization, I discovered that the environment she grew up from a little child shaped her for who she is and her choices in life. I feel sorry and overwhelming sadness for her and Driss, I want to tell them please be aware and be careful.
The depiction of the characters are realistic with their own aspirations, errors, and looks. This book depicts poverty and its helplessness in a kind of way that makes it all realistically pessimistic, but we also get a glimpse of optimism from Sarah.
Patriarchy and capitalism are the fundamental background running strong here, it's a world where married women are not appreciated, subjected to domestic violence, unmarried newborn mama jailed immediately after giving birth and the baby is orphaned.
There are lots of references to Lolita and Marimar, so I think that's where the writer heads to.
I also would like to think that a couple mentions of Israel is a form of realistic world from the writer. The realistic depiction of a safe haven for Jews and delivered the hidden meaning of how that's how the world works now in the real world. A world where a group of people can feel safe to make their dreams come true, built on the graves of the indigenous people, the Palestinians.
I'm not fond of open endingwhere the last chapter ended in a very sad note but I understand why the author chose this ending, it's befitting for Sarah and Driss' story.
If you love a fiction that is thought-provoking, then you will absolutely love this story.
I obtained the ebook from NetGalley.
Sarah is poor and she loathes it, the only way she knows to not be poor is marry rich and her sights fell on Driss who is As Rich as the King.
At the beginning I thought Sarah is the most interesting heroine I've ever encountered. She has this air of entitlement of the finer things in life, she knows what she wants and she worked cleverly to achieve it, she's also smart and confidence. At least that's what I was led to believe until the half of the book, but I have always thought that things could go wrong and felt like her daydreams is too much that I cringe for her. That's when a realization occured that she's actually so naive, she doesn't comprehend how cruel the world can be (because of patriarchy) and sometimes daydreaming marry the rich won't solve a thing. After that realization, I discovered that the environment she grew up from a little child shaped her for who she is and her choices in life. I feel sorry and overwhelming sadness for her and Driss, I want to tell them please be aware and be careful.
The depiction of the characters are realistic with their own aspirations, errors, and looks. This book depicts poverty and its helplessness in a kind of way that makes it all realistically pessimistic, but we also get a glimpse of optimism from Sarah.
Patriarchy and capitalism are the fundamental background running strong here, it's a world where married women are not appreciated, subjected to domestic violence, unmarried newborn mama jailed immediately after giving birth and the baby is orphaned.
There are lots of references to Lolita and Marimar, so I think that's where the writer heads to.
I also would like to think that a couple mentions of Israel is a form of realistic world from the writer. The realistic depiction of a safe haven for Jews and delivered the hidden meaning of how that's how the world works now in the real world. A world where a group of people can feel safe to make their dreams come true, built on the graves of the indigenous people, the Palestinians.
I'm not fond of open ending
If you love a fiction that is thought-provoking, then you will absolutely love this story.
I obtained the ebook from NetGalley.