The Moor's Account

This is a well told story of a 16th century North African man, Mustafa, who sells himself into slavery to alleviate his family's poverty during an occupation and drought, and ends up accompanying a Castilian nobleman on an ill fated voyage to the New World in search of gold and other plunder. The story is told through the eyes and voice of Mustafa. As we follow his experiences on the expedition, we also learn about his past and how he came to be a slave. We also see the leaders of the expedition through his eyes. As the expedition breaks apart and the companions meet various forms of hardship and disaster, the relationships between them change. This is the heart of the novel, and I thought Laila Lalami did it so well. With the subtle and not so subtle changes in relationship as circumstances change in the story, she illuminates the effects of colonialist attitudes, slavery and racial prejudice on people and the lives they are able to live.

I really enjoyed this novel's beautiful storytelling, but I learned from it too.