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Binding: PaperbackEAN: 9780553816808 Edition: New edition ISBN: 0553816802 Label: Bantam Books Manufacturer: Bantam Books Number Of Pages: 368 Publication Date: February 01, 2007 Publisher: Bantam Books Studio: Bantam Books Related Items:
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 Rating:  - Lucky Old CaliphSomewhat self-regarding and self-congratulatory. Lots of 'how awful life must be in Britain and how wise I am to get away from it all'. Some very odd ideas of life in London - 'thick fog and black ice in winter'? Not been a thick fog in London for 3 decades, and relatively few black ice patches. The story keeps the interest going, though no cliche is left unturned. Luckily, the author seems to have a bottomless well of dollars to pay for sixty workers at any one time, even at Moroccan rates. Slightly easier to get away from that terrible ordinary existence in London if you have such loot. Most Moroccans I know can't afford a car, let alone a Caliph's House and their daily existence rather lacks the freedom to choose 800 feet of cedar wood for their library. Lucky, too, to have such a compliant wife and children who seem to be always in the background, rarely in the foreground. Incidentally, don't be put off driving in Morocco. It isn't lethal, it's perfectly ordinary and far less fast than in the UK or France. So, reasonably engaging but keep the critical eye for the author's opinion of himself and his judgements. Rating:  - Facinating, well written and throughly enjoyable.Often in life the journey is more enjoyable than arrival at the final destination, and this is true to the Caliph's House. The story is a journey through every day Morrocan life and culture, and high lights the differences with western ways and culture. The Caliph's House is a ramshackle assortment of buildings, and its restoration, despite the jinns evil intent, is Tahir Shahh's dream. Difficult to put down, amusing and informative. Rating: - Every page a joyous adventureWhen I picked up this book I found it very hard to put down. Entering the sixth year of renovations on my own period house on the coast, I had to admire Tahir for just simply taking it all on. Yes I know he had the money and did little physical work himself, but the amount of effort required to just get someone else to do even the simplest of jobs in the way he wanted them done, brought back many horrendous memories. Workmen (especially builders) throughout the world must have all inherited the same genes somewhere along the line. A different culture, language, work ethic and a way of life steeped with superstition and weird and wonderful customs, made the renovation of the Caliph's House a once in a lifetime project. If this man moves on with his family, he surely has a backbone of steel. Don't consider that this book will be an encyclopedia of DIY hints and tips, it's more a guide on how to maintain an open mind and how to be be a project manager. Who knows, if more widely read, it could be the sole cause of a slump in the Moroccan real estate market ! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this convoluted tale of overcoming adversity and can highly recommend it to everyone. Rating: - Home renovation at its best.Moving house can be traumatic at the best of times. Moving to a different country can be even more so, there's the language to contend with, the clash of cultures and if you're unlucky a whole host of Jinn to excise. Tahir Shah, an Afghan by blood but an Englishman by nature writes the most exquisite upper class prose of his move to Casablanca. He turns the normally dull subject if house renovation into the most fantastic series of adventures that deal with the mundane issues of bribing various officials to the adventures bordering on the supernatural where he deals with the various Jinn's that plague his stay. Expect to learn a lot about the culture and customs of Morocco, but this is not the sort of travel writing to profoundly move you or inspire you. This more the sort that makes you chuckle gently as you read away a blissful Sunday afternoon. Rating: - Under the Moroccan SunShah is a master of the insightful, funny, exotic travelogue, and I've greatly enjoyed his adventures in India ("The Sorcerer's Apprentice"), Peru ("Trail of Feathers" aka "House of the Tiger King"), and Ethiopia ("In Search of King Solomon's Mines"). Those three books are masterpieces of the genre, and his latest escapade in Morocco carries many of the same qualities, but is a notch less enjoyable. Others have characterized this book as a Moroccan version of "A Year in Provence" or "Under the Tuscan Sun", which is a rather apt comparison. Shah spent childhood vacations in Morocco visiting his Afghan grandfather, and years later, as an adult Londoner, found himself craving a different life. Thus, he embarked on the scheme recounted here -- to purchase an old villa in Casablanca and restore it to its glory. Naturally, this proves vastly more difficult than it initially appears, and Shah details each step in gloriously hilarious detail. Along with the house renovation, there is a subplot involving Shah's attempt to track down where his grandfather lived out his last days. This, along with the friendship he develops with an elderly local stamp collector adds an element of poignancy to what might otherwise be a one-note comic romp. Much of the humor comes from the cross-cultural miscommunication between the rational Shah and the various Moroccans he encounters. High on the list of confounding people are the three caretakers who've lived on the property since time immemorial and are worried by Shah's sudden appearance. Their insistence that the house is plagued by an angry genie is a running thread which culminates in a kooky exorcism. Other obstreperous people include a local mobster type, who apparently has had his eye on the villa and is working behind the scenes to deny Shah's legal ownership, various bureaucrats who may be in his pocket or may be just naturally unhelpful (no doubt a legacy of the French tenure), and a slick but evasive architect. And naturally, there are the various bumbling contractors who operate on their own schedule, one apparently measured in years rather than weeks or months. Then there are some scary Wahabi Gulf Arabs who lurk in slums that surround the villa. As the difficulties mount, Shah realizes the necessity of a "fixer" to help him navigate his new environment -- such as getting his furniture and books through customs and locating building materials on the black market -- but finding one that's trustworthy turns out to be yet another labor of Hercules. Although I did enjoy this book and would certainly recommend it, it suffers in two respects. One is the framework: a wealthy Westerner moves to a foreign place to live and restore a property to its former glory. While there's obviously an element of privilege in his ability to travel to distant lands, it's rather more pronounced here and to a certain extent it's hard to sympathize with such an endeavor. Secondly, his other books have all been adventures of his own creation in which he is the naive outsider who may or may not emerge unscathed. Here, he drags his wife and baby along for the ride, and it becomes hard to ignore the stench of self-centeredness that wafts from his family living in extreme discomfort for an extended time, if not outright danger (although the rats running around the property made me cringe for the baby). Next time, I hope he leaves the wife and kid at home instead of dragging him into his madcap schemes.  Try searching the Internet for "The Caliph's House" or Ebay for "The Caliph's House". You might also be interested in the following great products:
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