Review - As Rich as the King - Abigail Assor

 

WINNER OF THE FRANCOISE SAGAN PRIZE
WINNER OF THE BOOKSTAGRAM PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GONCOURT PRIZE FOR DEBUT NOVEL 

"Sarah is poor, but at least she's French, which allows her to attend Casablanca's elite high school for expats and wealthy locals. It's there that she first lays eyes on Driss. He's older, quiet and not particularly good looking-apart from his eyes . . ."

MY REVIEW:

As Rich as the King is a heady concoction - a dizzy journey through 90s Casablanca, a tale of both sides of the tracks, a city laid bare. Assor’s writing is deliciously sensual, poetic and provocative, and loaded with biting truth.

This is a bittersweet love letter to Casablanca, and the city hums with vivid life – the sounds, sights, tastes and smells are paraded before our eyes on every immersive page.

Sarah’s life has been shaped by cruelty and poverty, and her ambition is to attain a place at the very top of city society – with Driss, who is rumoured to be as rich as the king. She falls for his money, but also for his beautiful eyes, which are the green of thyme simmering in a tagine.

Suffice to say, the ride isn’t smooth, and some barriers can’t be torn down for love in a world ruled by the power of money.

Sarah is an unforgettable character, and although she sometimes makes questionable choices, her relationships with Driss and Casablanca pulled me in and didn’t let me go.

Published by Pushkin Press on 3rd August.

My Men by Victoria Kielland

 

From the blurb: 

Seventeen-year-old Brynhild is in a fever - she can't quiet the screaming world inside her. When an intense affair ends brutally, she flees Norway for America at the end of the nineteenth century in search of a new life. Changing her name first to Bella, later to Belle, she is driven from any potential refuge by an unbearable tension that won’t let her keep still. As Belle seeks release in a series of men, her yearning for an all-consuming love erupts into violence.

In this breathtaking novel, Victoria Kielland imagines her way into the tumultuous inner life of the Norwegian woman who became Belle Gunness - America's first known female serial killer. Written in prose of wild, visceral beauty, My Men is a radically empathetic and disquieting portrait of a woman capable of ecstatic love and gruesome cruelty.
 

My Review:

My Men is definitely not a run of the mill crime novel. It is written in a dense literary prose style and is darkly poetic, occasionally chaotic, and at times almost takes the form of a stream of consciousness. The unfocused style suits the depiction of a confused protagonist sliding into madness, but I would imagine this will be a very polarising read. I’m glad I stuck with it to the end, but I know it won’t be to everyone’s taste. Some readers may find the style too monotonous despite the beauty of the prose, and the tale too unremittingly bleak. 

Thanks to Pushkin Press for another unusual and interesing read. My Men is out July 6th.