A Palace in the Old Village

Tahar Ben Jelloun explores the immigrant experience in this novel of dislocation and longing. The Mohammed of the story, a largely unassimilated Moroccan living in France, retires from an auto factory and dreams of building a palace back home where he will be surrounded by his children and grandchildren. But the world cannot cooperate with the simple, decent demands of a man now lost both abroad and at home. Based on this book, Ben Jelloun appears to be a cold and pessimistic sort on the subject of reconciling Muslim and Western societies. His accounting of Mohammed's genuine devotion to his faith nonetheless serves to humanize a people often seen as stock characters.