Laila Lalami
Periscope (Garnet) 30/7/2015 Paperback
4/5
Bought in Bookshop
The first on the list for the Man Booker Long list. I knew I wanted to get started with some of the chosen long list and when I wandered into the local bookshop near my work The Moors Account was both on my own personal shortlist AND was only £9.99. The story follows an expedition of Spanish soldiers and settlers out looking for gold in the new world of La Florida (sound familiar?). The twist is that the story is told through the eyes of a slave from Azemmour in Portugal.
The book is a fictionalised retelling of a genuine expedition which ended with just four survivors. Laila Lalami's novel is based on a single line in one of the survivor's records: "The forth survivor is Estevancio, an Arab Negro from Azamor."
The story looks into the developing relationship between master and slave when in survival situations. The gradual shift in the relationship back and forth is interesting to follow throughout each adventure in the 8 years that the expedition wanders, lost, through the wilderness. The skills of each man become more important as the situation worsens and improves and the hierarchy of the group continuously changes.
I loved this story, it has one of my style pet peeves which is that there are no speech marks which has been creeping into books more and more these days which I do not see the point of. It doesn't make the story hard to follow, however principally I find it difficult to find my place again if I ended on a chunk of speech and have to scan for the precise word rather than the rough approximation of where I was in the conversation.
Other than the small punctuation issue, I thought the book was descriptive, immersive and gripping. I was pleased with the ending and the story engaged me throughout although it was quite a long story and because there is no real beginning middle and end there is a slightly strange feeling to finishing it as if there is more to tell even though the adventure is over.
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