The Moor's account - Supernormal Reads

323 pages

English language

Published 2014 by Pantheon Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-307-91166-7
OCLC Number:: 864676623

(1 review)

Brings us the imagined memoirs of the first black explorer of America--a Moroccan slave whose testimony was left out of the official record. In 1527, the conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez sailed from the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda with a crew of six hundred men and nearly a hundred horses. His goal was to claim what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States for the Spanish crown and, in the process, become as wealthy and famous as Hernán Cortés. But from the moment the Narváez expedition landed in Florida, it faced peril--navigational errors, disease, starvation, as well as resistance from indigenous tribes. Within a year there were only four survivors: the expedition's treasurer, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca; a Spanish nobleman named Alonso del Castillo Maldonado; a young explorer named Andrés Dorantes de Carranza; and Dorantes's Moroccan slave, Mustafa al-Zamori, whom the three Spaniards called Estebanico. These four …

Brings us the imagined memoirs of the first black explorer of America--a Moroccan slave whose testimony was left out of the official record. In 1527, the conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez sailed from the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda with a crew of six hundred men and nearly a hundred horses. His goal was to claim what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States for the Spanish crown and, in the process, become as wealthy and famous as Hernán Cortés. But from the moment the Narváez expedition landed in Florida, it faced peril--navigational errors, disease, starvation, as well as resistance from indigenous tribes. Within a year there were only four survivors: the expedition's treasurer, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca; a Spanish nobleman named Alonso del Castillo Maldonado; a young explorer named Andrés Dorantes de Carranza; and Dorantes's Moroccan slave, Mustafa al-Zamori, whom the three Spaniards called Estebanico. These four survivors would go on to make a journey across America that would transform them from proud conquis-tadores to humble servants, from fearful outcasts to faith healers.

1 edition

ralentina reviewed The Moor's account by Laila Lalami

Great premise, didn't love

3 stars

The premise of the book is fascinating: what would a Spanish expedition in the 'new world' look like, through the eyes of a Moroccan slave? I went into the book fearing it would be a hard read, but I should not have worried: the story will carry you through. Some interesting themes run through the book. First, the power of story-telling, and of putting things into writing (be it a map, a chronicle, or a notary act). Second, the way in which power and powerlessness interplay with human nature. Third, the relation between identity, 'race' and belonging. On the other hand, I wished the protagonist, Esteban, wasn't that perfect a man. True, he traded slave in the past, but this is put down to a moment of greediness, in an otherwise gentle, wise, and 'enlightened' character. He restrains from the violence and plundering in which the Spanish explorer engage, powerless …

The premise of the book is fascinating: what would a Spanish expedition in the 'new world' look like, through the eyes of a Moroccan slave? I went into the book fearing it would be a hard read, but I should not have worried: the story will carry you through. Some interesting themes run through the book. First, the power of story-telling, and of putting things into writing (be it a map, a chronicle, or a notary act). Second, the way in which power and powerlessness interplay with human nature. Third, the relation between identity, 'race' and belonging. On the other hand, I wished the protagonist, Esteban, wasn't that perfect a man. True, he traded slave in the past, but this is put down to a moment of greediness, in an otherwise gentle, wise, and 'enlightened' character. He restrains from the violence and plundering in which the Spanish explorer engage, powerless to stop it. These traits put him in the position of the innocent witness, simply recounting what he sees, and judging it from the vantage point of an outsider (or, perhaps, of a XXI century author. Perhaps irrelevant, I couldn't help noticing that the book fails the Bechdel text. While Esteban is respectful of the women in his life, they are always 'alive' only as Esteban's mother, Esteban's lost love, Esteban's wife, etc. Though I understand the book is narrated from his perspective, and it is set in a 'men's world'...I couldn't quite get over it. Admittedly, it is also entirely possible that I missed the points the author was trying to make about these relations.

Subjects

Fiction
Spanish
Early accounts to 1600
Discovery and exploration

Places

Morocco
America