Although written as a novel, and listed in fiction, this account of life underground in a concentration camp in Morocco is based on interviews Ben Jelloun did with a survivor. This is a harrowing yet beautifully written book. In 1971, an attempted coup was planned against the king of Morocco. The coup failed, and the participants were sentenced to jail, which became for some, a small underground cell, where survival was not possible except for a very few, who lasted twenty years. In 1991 they were released due to international pressure.

The narrator takes us through the thought processes that enabled him to survive. How he erased the images of his family from his mind, how he prayed and was transported away, how he completely separated his body from his mind. He held no thoughts of revenge or hatred and really became a completely pure person, understanding only what is required to survive. And while this is disturbing, watching most of the prisoners die, ultimately it is uplifting, as this one man survives amidst the most horrible conditions. That a person is capable of being that strong and that religious, was quite beautiful. (read and reviewed in 2008) ( )

In der Folge des gescheiterteten Putsches von Skhirat gegen König Hassan II. im Jahr 1971 wird im marokkanischen Tazmamart ein Gefangenenlager geschaffen. 58 Offiziere werden in teilweise unterirdischen Zellen, welche nicht einmal mannshoch sind, bei mangelhafter Verpflegung und fehlender ärztlicher Versorgung in unmenschlichsten Bedingungen über 20 Jahre lang gefangen gehalten. Tahat Ben Jelloun schildert aus der Perspektive eines Gefangenen das jahrzehntelange Dahinsiechen und Sterben im Verlies von Tazmamart und gibt damit den Opfern dieser grausamen Bestrafung und der himmelschreienden Menschenrechtsverletzungen Sprache und Gesicht.

Tahar Ben Jelloun hat ein enorm wichtiges Buch zur marokkanischen Vergangenheitsbewältigung geschaffen, welches den Leser von der ersten Minute an fesselt und bedrückt. Beeindruckend sind die Schilderungen des menschlichen Leidens aber auch der Gegenstrategien mit denen die Inhaftierten auf psychischer Ebene dem Elend zu entkommen versuchen. Taher Ben Jelloun zeigt den Wert des Lebens selbst am dunklesten Ort der Erde und lässt den Leser nicht nur am Leid sondern auch am erlebten kleinen Glück der Häftlinge in Form von Gesprächen oder Vogelgezwitscher teilhaben. ( )

A dark history told through the creative eyes of the author, in the guise of one of a group of prisoners who spent over 18 years in complete darkness in Morocco. There are moments of sheer beauty throughout this book, only occasionally marred by the dissolution of disbelief when, for example, a guard's face is described, wrenching the reader away from the impenetrable darkness of the author's world. A great book nonetheless. ( )

"Most of those who died did not die of hunger but of hatred. Feeling hatred diminishes you. It eats at you from within and attacks the immune system. When you have hatred inside you, it always crushes you in the end."

This book is based on the testimony of Aziz Binebine, a young officer cadet, who in 1971 took part in the coup to overthrow King Hassan II of Morocco at his 42nd birthday celebration at his Skhirat palace. The plot failed, the king survived but almost 100 guests died. Despite claiming, like most of the coup participants, to have had no prior knowledge of the plot or having fired no shots Aziz Binebine was sentenced to 20 years in the hellhole prison at Tazmamart with 57 other men.

At Tazmamart the cells were 10ft long and 5ft wide, with ceilings so low the prisoners were unable to stand upright and worse of all were underground so in constant darkness. Each tomb had an air vent, a tiny hole in the floor that served as the lavatory and were crawling with scorpions the men could hear but not see. There was no medical attention, no exercise, and no light. The only time they were allowed out was to bury one of their fellow in-mates.

It took thirteen years before the outside world learnt that Tazmamart existed and another five years before it was shut down by which time there were only 28 survivors.

Despite it's grim background this can by no means be seen as outwardly political neither is it autobiographical although it is told in the first person. Rather it speaks of man's ability to adapt and will to survive. Rather coincidentally I re-watched the movie "Lucy" last night. In that film Morgan Freeman's character talks of human brains desire to propagate if conditions are favourable or to seek immortality if they are not.

To survive and to stay sane, each in-mate takes on a certain role. One becomes a talking clock, another recites passages from the Qur'an, whilst another invents a card game with imaginary cards. The narrator,Salim, becomes the groups storyteller, recounting stories from books that he's read or films that he's seen. He is not religious when he arrives in Tazmamart but to escape the torments of his body he must take on a certain religious mysticism, lose all memories of hate in his past,and seek out the hidden depths of his mind. Horrible deaths alternate with inspired collective efforts to stay alive.

Through Salim the reader realises that ideas can never be imprisoned, they are free to travel everywhere and anywhere, that the human spirit can adapt to almost any circumstances, that it is hatred not love that holds us back. Despite the grim background I found this an up-lifting tale, a shaft of light in a world of darkness, I really enjoyed the author's writing style and as such I would highly recommend it. ( )

This book was a hard, hard , hard read. Based upon true events, it is the story of an inmate of the Tazmamart Prison. Aziz was a soldier who took part in a failed assassination attempt on King Hassan II of Morocco. Hassan ordered his political enemies to be held in an underground desert concentration camp where they were kept in 6 x 3' cells devoid of light or proper ventilation. Aziz and twenty-one other prisoners locked away without proper food or sanitary conditions. Many men went insane or died from uncontrolled illnesses and starvation. After nearly two decades in captivity, only four survived their experience. Because Ben Jelloun takes Aziz's experiences and fictionalizes it with a first person narrative the story becomes even more intimate and heartbreaking. ( )