The Sailor from Casablanca by Charline Malaval
Genre: Historical fiction, Contemporary fiction, WW2
Read: 2nd April 2021
Published: 25th June 2020
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Tall, brilliant and ambitious, eighteen-year-old sailor Guillaume has the world at his feet when he steps onto the shores of Casablanca in April 1940. But his dreams of travelling the world are cut short when he dies in a warship explosion in the harbour of Casablanca.
Sixty-five years later in 2005, as Loubna fights to open a cinema in the bustling harbourside city, the young woman discovers the mystery of the sailor from Casablanca . . . and a suitcase full of her grandfather Guillaume's love letters. But could it be that the boy everyone has supposed dead for over half a century is still alive?
And if so - did he run away with one of his countless girlfriends all these years ago?
As Loubna searches for answers, she finds herself swept up in an epic story of love, passion, intrigue and betrayal, set in the enchantingly glamorous heart of Golden Age Casablanca.
MY REVIEW:
Well, that is six hours of my life that I'll never get back.
That is my first thought upon finishing THE SAILOR FROM CASABLANCA. I was so disappointed to reach the end, not because I didn't want it to end, but because I wanted it to end! It has no ending. How can that be? What the hell happened, I have no idea but the entire story I had spent the past six hours being swept away by just fell flat in the end.
It's 1940 and 21 year old Guillaume Straub gives his shore leave to friend Felix where their warship has been docked in the Casablanca harbour for the past two years. He has things he must attend to, he assures Felix, and waves him on his way. And then, the unthinkable happens. A massive explosion from their ship taking the lives of all those remaining onboard...including Guillaume. Felix is breathless. That should have been him. Guillaume had shore leave; he didn't. So he should have been aboard the ship when it exploded. But he wasn't...and Guillaume was.
Devastated at the loss of his friend, Felix travels to France to the Somme where Guillaume's family live to deliver a letter from their captain and his words of condolence. The depth of their despair was almost too much for Felix to endure so instead when they invited him in he shared with them stories and amusing anecdotes of their brilliant and ambitious son. Guillaume, who joined the French Navy at aged sixteen because he wanted to see the world and the Navy was his gateway to it.
But as time goes on Liliane, Guillaume's sister, travels to Paris to see her brother's grieving beloved Ginette only to learn that she has fled the city with "him". Him? Surely not Guillaume? He's alive? That would make him a deserter but he's alive? She cannot wait to return home to share this news with her parents. But it is no longer safe. The Germans have arrived and are taking over the country as their own and with Felix by her side, she flees to his sister's some many miles away (a French place I cannot remember the names), where she will be reunited with her parents. But energised with the hope that Guillaume is alive.
In 2005 in modern day Casablanca, Loubna (I'm not sure we even learnt her surname) has always longed to learn more about her grandfather of whom she knows nothing about. Her father died when she herself was a baby and was unable to impart any knowledge though thankfully her "adopted" grandmother Zayna could. Sadly, all that she could share was that her grandmother uttered Guillaume's name as the father of her newborn son, Tarek, before she herself passed away. Zayna herself didn't even know the woman's name who had given birth in a military hospital and she was merely the nurse who attended her. With no one left to care for the child, Zayna took him home and brought him up with her husband as their own.
Now Lounba is determined to uncover the truth about her grandfather and who both he and her grandmother were. During her quest for answers, she stumbles upon some information that sparks her curiosity about her family history and in digging deeper, she discovers more than could have imagined about her grandfather and the question mark over his death.
Having come into possession a suitcase full of love letters written to the charismatic sailor, Loubna is given an insight into the man that was her grandfather and his escapades. It turns out that Guillaume was something of a Lothario, charming a different woman into his bed every night and then discarding them once they have outlived their use. Was one of these women her grandmother? Is she able to unravel the mystery behind the man and discover the truth about her grandfather once and for all?
I actually thoroughly enjoyed the story and how it was presented to the reader through a series of what is almost like diary excerpts from the various people in Guillaume's life. From his mother, his father and his sister to his childhood sweetheart, his lover and his friend Felix. I love how we are given a perspective of Guillaume through their eyes even if he appears as someone else to another. And I especially love how Guillaume is the main character/feature of this story without ever having to offer his own narrative. The story is told completely through the eyes of all those around Guillaume but never Guillaume himself. It is a very clever concept and immediately draws the reader in. And it makes Guillaume seem more of an enigma, adding to the mystery that surrounds his life and his questionable death.
The setting being Morocco is also such a different concept. But the war was just as alive there as it was everywhere else in Europe, Britain, Africa, Italy and so forth. And the author brought it alive with atmosphere from the harbour to the cinema Guillaume was so enamoured with to the red light district. And then to give it that almost ghostly feel in the modern day Casablanca where everything seems just out of a reach. The streets of Casablanca seemed almost deserted that I could only picture Loubna there, along with whichever friend accompanied her. It was a strange sensation to feel it had once been alive and it now it seemed dead. Although that is not true of the place, which no doubt is generally bustling with tourists and locals, but that is the feeling I got throughout Loubna's narrative...how empty Casablanca felt without the truth of her heritage.
Originally written in French, THE SAILOR FROM CASABLANCA has been translated and despite this I didn't feel as if anything had been lost in translation. I was completely swept away with the story. I couldn't wait to discover the truth and have all the answers to not only my questions but those of Loubna as well. I thought the ending would give me all the answers I was looking for but unfortunately it didn't. Not even a hint. So I am far from satisfied. The ending should wrap, while not everything, enough to give the reader closure and a satisfying conclusion. Of which I have neither. By the time I read the final words I thought - that's it? That's all you have to give me after spending hours lost in this story? I felt robbed and cheated out of a proper ending. And that spoiled the rest of the book for me.
THE SAILOR FROM CASABLANCA is largely and enjoyable story. It's the ending that ruins it...in the fact that there isn't one. I am still just as clueless as I was beginning the book.
I would like to thank #CharlineMalaval, #NetGalley and #HodderAndStoughton for an ARC of #TheSailorFromCasablanca in exchange for an honest review.
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