A Palace in the Old Village

A Moroccan immigrant to France longing to go back to his village upon retirement may not seem to be such an original concept for a novel, but under the nuanced and fluid writing of Ben Jelloun, it becomes a unique and intimate portrayal of death. This 176-page novel is easily read in one sitting as we follow Mohammed through memories of his life as an invisible member of both his society and his family, a man at peace when reading the Qur’an, but not at peace with his fellow Muslims, Arabs and Africans in the ghetto-like Paris suburb where he lives.