The Storyteller of Marrakesh by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya
Each year, the storyteller, Hassan, gathers listeners to the city square to share their recollections of a young, foreign couple who mysteriously disappeared years earlier. As various witnesses describe their encounters with the couple—their tales overlapping, confirming, and contradicting each other—Hassan hopes to light upon details that will explain what happened to them, and to absolve his own brother, who is in prison for their disappearance. As testimonies circle an elusive truth, the couple takes on an air as enigmatic as their fate. But is this annual storytelling ritual a genuine attempt to uncover the truth, or is it intended instead to weave an ambiguous mythology around a crime? The first in an ambitious cycle of novels set in the Islamic world, The Storyteller of Marrakesh is an elegant exploration of the nature of reality and our shifting perceptions of truth.
"An enigmatic fable in the tradition of The Thousand and One Nights...[Roy-Bhattacharya] has clearly immersed himself in the richness of Moroccan life and history. It makes a lively home for his questing imagination." -- The New York Times Book Review
"Steeped in the ambiance of Marrakesh, this exotic metafictional tale marks Roy-Bhattacharya’s U.S. debut and will appeal to readers of complex narratives by unreliable narrators. Lovers of mysteries with ambiguous endings will also enjoy this novel." -- Library Journal
"[A] broad, discursive, plausible, and often beguiling presentation of a contemporary Islamic culture little changed by centuries, geopolitics, globalization or religious enmity. Roy-Battacharya’s descriptive powers are acute, and Marrakesh, the Djemaa, the Sahara, and the High Atlas Mountains are vividly rendered through all the senses. In a time when tensions between Islam and the West are fevered, The Storyteller of Marrakesh offers an agreeable change of pace." -- Booklist
"Steeped in the ambiance of Marrakesh, this exotic metafictional tale marks Roy-Bhattacharya’s U.S. debut and will appeal to readers of complex narratives by unreliable narrators. Lovers of mysteries with ambiguous endings will also enjoy this novel." -- Library Journal
"[A] broad, discursive, plausible, and often beguiling presentation of a contemporary Islamic culture little changed by centuries, geopolitics, globalization or religious enmity. Roy-Battacharya’s descriptive powers are acute, and Marrakesh, the Djemaa, the Sahara, and the High Atlas Mountains are vividly rendered through all the senses. In a time when tensions between Islam and the West are fevered, The Storyteller of Marrakesh offers an agreeable change of pace." -- Booklist
Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya was born in Jamshedpur, India, and lives in New York. His first novel, The Gabriel Club, was published in eight languages in sixteen countries.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780393070583 |
| ISBN 10 | 0393070581 |
| Title | The Storyteller of Marrakesh |
| Author | Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | WW Norton & Co |
| Year published | 2011-02-04 |
| Number of pages | 341 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |