The Moors Account by Laila Lalami: A Historical Novel of 16th Century America

Keith Bankston: Loved the themes throughout the story! I don’t know why there is a work count requirement, this isn’t a college essay.

United States on Sep 07, 2023

M Clark: This historical novel tells the story of the failed Navarez expedition from the mid-16th century. There were only four survivors who survived by walking all the way from Florida to Mexico. The novels provides an account of the survivor's journey told by Estevanico, an enslaved North-African Moor. The novel is fascinating and is very critical of the early Spanish explorers.

Germany on Feb 17, 2023

nageenabangers: Very real. Buttata's journey. Well written with the highs and lows of survival, treatments of people and freedoms. Touching explorations of the Spanish conquest.

United Kingdom on Nov 23, 2020

Ed: **This review has been posted to my personal blog (edwardrickford.com) and to Goodreads**

Historical fiction is a relatively small genre. Most bookstores in the US do not have a historical fiction section and the genre is not nearly as popular as fantasy or science fiction. Owing to authors like Laila Lalami, that could soon change. The Moor’s Account serves as her first foray into historical fiction and represents a towering accomplishment for the genre.

Set during the early days of Spanish colonization of the Americas, the novel follows the travels of a Moorish slave referred to in primary sources as Estebanico. Her decision to focus on Estebanico, referred to in the novel as Mustafa al-Zamori, is just as laudable as it is noteworthy. Had she written the novel from the perspective of Vacas or Navarez, she would have had far more resources at her disposal in terms of research tools. Despite the difficulties involved, Lalami chose to make Mustafa the protagonist of the novel and gives readers a character who provides some fascinating perspective on matters regarding race, war, and religion.

The story begins with the Navarez expedition having just landed in...

United States on Mar 29, 2019

Urenna: Thirty-year-old, Moor Slave, Estebanico, had been in bondage five years. Prior to his enslavement, he lived in Azemmur, Morocco, with his widowed mother, sister, and twin brothers. When a drought hits the country, he did a selfless act by selling himself into slavery to help his family.

A Castilian forced him to give up his birth name, Mustafa Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abdussalam al-Zamori, after he purchased him from Portuguese traders in Seville.

Later, his master, after losing in a card game, paid his debt by selling Estebanico to a nobleman, Andres Dorantes. Captain Dorantes and Estebanico sailed to the New World with Spanish conquistador Panfilo de Narvaez, in 1527. In several ships, five-hundred men landed in La Florida in 1528. Estebanico named it the Land of the Indians.

Narvaez and a small scouting party from each ship, which included Dorantes and Estebanico went ashore.

A masterful schemer, Narvaez plotted evil against the Indians in his quest for gold and land. Disastrous results followed. He appeared as an ineffectual and close-minded leader, who imperiled the lives of his men.

In 1536, eight years later, Estebanico, Dorantes, Castillo and...

United States on Jan 25, 2016

Rev Sarah: I soon forgot that this is not an original account and could hear an authenticity in Mustafa's voice. The Narvaez Expedition is not familiar to me and anything I encounter about it after this will have the Moor's Account as a litmus paper. I hear deep resonances with Things Fall Apart by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe - the painful erosion of culture, identity and dignity when faith is imposed as an instrument of empire rather than offered as a possibility, a gift, a blessing. (A small irritation is the lack of punctuation for conversation).

United Kingdom on Dec 11, 2015

Angela O'Brien: This is a cleanly written book about the invasion of Florida America by the Spanish in the sixteenth century. It is very much a story - the focus is on narrative and I was engaged throughout. A group of Spanish conquistadors, one attended by his Moorish slave find their expedition ruined by poor decisions and their inability to live in the foreign climate. The band is severely diminished and those that survive live with various Indian tribes for a time. It is in part a discussion about the morality and folly of the invasion. The use of a black Muslim slave, truly an outsider in every way, is a useful conceit. My criticism is that I did not find that the characters were as compelling as the story. I finished the novel without really engaging with any of them - just a little too black and white with the fairly self evident ironic statement on colour and morality.
This novel is based on an actual expedition and some historical characters. Clearly there is significant research behind the writing of this novel. I wondered if that was the reason why the characters were, to my mind, subservient to the story. Lots to talk about for book groups. Highly recommended but not my top read...

Australia on Nov 01, 2015

Mac McAleer: This is a fictionalised story of real events that happened in the early years of Spanish America. An expedition was sent to the new land of La Florida. It ended in disaster, with only four survivors, three Spanish noblemen and one slave. This story is compelling and the writing is clear. It is sensitive to the plight of the slave. It describes the insensitivities of the Spanish noblemen and their barbarous attitude to the Indians. The story starts with: “This book is the humble work of Mustafa ibn Muhammad ibn Abdussalem al-Zamori, being a true account of his life and travels from the city of Azemmur to the Land of the Indians, where he arrived as a slave and, in his attempt to return to freedom, was shipwrecked and lost for many years.”

Mustafa ibn Muhammad was born in Barbary (Morocco). He had been a successful merchant, but through misfortune became a slave. He was renamed Esteban, a Christian name, which was later infantilised to Estebanico, the name for a boy. He was also called El Moro because he was a Moor and El Negro because he was black. His new master took him across the Atlantic to join an expedition to the new land of La Florida. This was a large...

United Kingdom on Aug 11, 2015