Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
The Caliph’s House is wonderful because its author, Tahir Shah, is just this guy you want to be friends with, to hang out with. He’d decided to move with his family from England to Morocco, on a whim almost, in an effort to lead a more interesting life, and they buy this massive palace of a house. But it’s in ruins and the story’s just his efforts to get it renovated, painted and livable: a massive undertaking.
What’s next?
Let’s talk about The Caliph’s House. So these last three books were about important things: people trying to get the rest of the world to understand an important subject. These last two are lighter, and The Caliph’s House is wonderful because its author, Tahir Shah, is just this guy you want to be friends with, to hang out with and follow around. The book’s about this house he bought in Morocco. He’d decided to move with his family from England, on a whim almost, in an effort to lead a more interesting life, and they buy this massive palace of a house. But it’s in ruins and the story’s just his efforts to get it renovated, painted and livable: a massive undertaking. And while doing this he gets to find out how businesses are run in Morocco, and the very different ways in which work gets done.
A bit like the school building challenges in Three Cups of Tea?
Yeah, but in this case how to get a palace built. Basically he gets a Moroccan fixer who helps him find workers and explains cultural misunderstandings, some of them quite strange. So for example there are several caretakers that come with the house, and these caretakers believe in the jinns. The jinns are spirits and they can haunt places, take over peoples’ bodies, cause no end of trouble. A lot of the book is about these jinns – good jinns, bad jinns, but mostly the bad ones – and it ends…well, you should find out how it ends. Superstition and how you navigate around it is central to the building project. It’s a funny, entertaining book, and Tahir’s sense of humour in the face of adversity is one of the most attractive things about it.
We’re talking here about cultures that will seem exotic to Western readers, but how do you think they reflect back on our cultures? On England and America?
Well, I’m an American, so I’m coming from an American perspective here, but I’d say that compared to the societies we’ve been talking about, ours tolerates a diverse number of viewpoints – I mean America, for all its flaws, tolerates an infinite number of viewpoints and has infinite diversity.
Apart from the terrorist viewpoint.
Well I think all civilised society should frown on murder. But I’m not saying we’ve got nothing to learn. It’s the opposite. When you visit a foreign place or live there you’re the one who’s learning.
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Jennifer Steil is a writer, journalist and actor currently living in Yemen. She has worked for several newspapers, both in America and abroad, while continuing to perform in theatres where it is legal for her to do so (ie, not in Yemen). Her memoir about running a newspaper in Yemen, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, is published by Doubleday. ‘People who put themselves in uncomfortable situations end up with interesting stories to tell,’ she says. ‘If I’d believed the US State Department website I would never have come to Yemen.’
