In Arabian Nights

December 3, 2007
Shah continues the story he began in his acclaimed memoir The Caliph's House, the tale of his family's move to Morocco, this time focusing on the traditional wisdom stories of Arabia, best known in the West through A Thousand and One Nights. Inspired by his family's long tradition of storytelling ("We have this gift," says his father, "Protect it and it will protect you"), Shah frames his search for identity with traditional Arabian tales, but also with the stories of the men who tell them. As such, he creates a bright patchwork quilt of stories old and new, including his own childhood memories, held together by an engaging cross-country travelogue. Shah's habit of frequently and abruptly switching between plotlines, though it keeps the story moving, can be aggravating, and his picaresque style makes it hard to tell where the real adventures end and the tall tales begin. In addition, women are conspicuously underrepresented, especially for audiences recalling Scheherazade. Still, his characters often prove charming, and his stories are steeped in feeling and a palpable sense of tradition. Illustrations.

Starred review from December 15, 2007
Son of the late Sayed Indries Shah, a well-known Sufi leader and story collector, British writer Shah described his relocation to Casablanca with his wife and children in "The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca". Here, he takes readers on a spellbinding journey from Casablanca to Fez and Marrakech, with emotional flashbacks to a horrific time spent in a Pakistani prison, an ordeal that helped unlock his imagination. His story revolves around an intrepid American who turns up on his family's doorstep in Casablanca because of Shah's previous book. Shah delves into Moroccan society and culture; his experiences will make readers want to trace his footsteps abroad. Although comparisons to Frances Mayes's "Under the Tuscan Sun" and Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence" are obvious, this account is unforgettable because of its author's innate storytelling abilities. Highly recommended for larger armchair travel collections and for collections on the Arab world.Elizabeth Connor, the Citadel, Military Coll. of South Carolina Lib., Charleston

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2007
Shah conducts an intensely felt journey across the face of contemporary Morocco. Setting out from his Casablanca house, he travels across the Sahara to Fez, Marrakech, and beyond. There he encounterseveryday Moroccans, a superstitious lot seething with a pre-Islamic animism that imbues the stories they constantly relate with vibrant life. Shahs Moroccans have inherited the same narrative force that gave the world Scheherazades epic Thousand and One Nights. This storytelling tradition penetrates all aspects of Berber life. Virtually everyone the author encounters compels him to listen, and he cant simply sip a cup of coffee in a caf' or get a shave at the barber shop without someone tugging on his sleeve and launching into a tale. Teeming with sorcerers, enchanted animals, jinns, and dervishes, these fables interrupt one another, another starting before the first has concluded. Shahs Moroccans and the shards of their tales create a brilliant literary mosaic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)