The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca | 
 enlarge | Author: Tahir Shah
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $13.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 10580
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0553383108
Dewey Decimal Number: 916
EAN: 9780553383102
ASIN: 0553383108
Publication Date: December 26, 2006
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Product Description
In the tradition of A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun, acclaimed English travel writer Tahir Shah shares a highly entertaining account of making an exotic dream come true. By turns hilarious and harrowing, here is the story of his family’s move from the gray skies of London to the sun-drenched city of Casablanca, where Islamic tradition and African folklore converge–and nothing is as easy as it seems….
Inspired by the Moroccan vacations of his childhood, Tahir Shah dreamed of making a home in that astonishing country. At age thirty-six he got his chance. Investing what money he and his wife, Rachana, had, Tahir packed up his growing family and bought Dar Khalifa, a crumbling ruin of a mansion by the sea in Casablanca that once belonged to the city’s caliph, or spiritual leader.
With its lush grounds, cool, secluded courtyards, and relaxed pace, life at Dar Khalifa seems sure to fulfill Tahir’s fantasy–until he discovers that in many ways he is farther from home than he imagined. For in Morocco an empty house is thought to attract jinns, invisible spirits unique to the Islamic world. The ardent belief in their presence greatly hampers sleep and renovation plans, but that is just the beginning. From elaborate exorcism rituals involving sacrificial goats to dealing with gangster neighbors intent on stealing their property, the Shahs must cope with a new culture and all that comes with it.
Endlessly enthralling, The Caliph’s House charts a year in the life of one family who takes a tremendous gamble. As we follow Tahir on his travels throughout the kingdom, from Tangier to Marrakech to the Sahara, we discover a world of fierce contrasts that any true adventurer would be thrilled to call home.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
 Another "domestic" travel book May 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Until fifty or so years ago, the paradigmatic "travel" book was an account of a solo adventurer's trials and tribulations traveling to and through relatively unknown and often moderately dangerous foreign lands, surviving on a shoestring and his or her wits and character. The best of these books made for exciting reading. As the world has gradually become smaller and more westernized, travel books have gradually become tamer and less exciting, so that by now the paradigmatic "travel" book is practically domestic in nature. It recounts a stretch of time, often a year, during which the author, often with family in tow, actually takes up residence in a foreign city or region -- for example, Peter Mayle in Provence, Adam Gopnik in Paris, and innumerable Brits and Americans in Tuscany. The best of these modern travel books are pleasant and many are instructive, but (alas) they never are exciting. THE CALIPH'S HOUSE: A YEAR IN CASABLANCA is another of these contemporary "domestic" travel books, although the setting, Morocco, is more exotic than Provence, Paris, or Tuscany.
In THE CALIPH'S HOUSE, Tahir Shah tells the story of moving his family (wife and two very young children) from the U.K. to Casablanca and into a dilapidated, rambling old house and compound (rumored to once have been the residence of a caliph), which he then spends a year restoring. The restoration is complicated immeasurably by what seems like the ten plagues of Egypt, including rats, mysteriously appearing slime, hordes of workmen who seem to want to move in rather than finish their work, and (worst of all) jinns. The book is driven by the recurring cultural clashes and misunderstandings between the rational and efficient Tahir Shah and the Moroccans, with their propensity to blame all mishaps and misfortune in the world on jinns, their absurdly byzantine bureaucracy, and their stubborn adherence to traditional, centuries-old ways of doing things. Rather than relying on his own wits to overcome the obstacles he encounters, Tahir Shah gets by on seemingly inexhaustible financial resources and the savvy of his street-wise Moroccan executive assistant, Kamal. Far from the heroic adventurer, Tahir comes across as a bit of a doofus. The only person of heroic or noble character that we are introduced to is Tahir's deceased grandfather, Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, a Pashtun Afghan who lived his last years in Morocco after a career as a diplomat, world-traveller, and writer.
Tahir Shah's writing is above average, but hardly distinguished. THE CALIPH'S HOUSE makes for a pleasant and instructive read, but nothing more. It did, however, end up coloring my view of Morocco. Before reading the book, Morocco was fairly high on my wish-list of places to go; it is now a few slots lower on the list.
A Year in Casablanca indeed May 14, 2008
Tahir Shah has written another charming book about his experiences in a strange and wonderful land. He manages, once again, to both render and strip away the mystery of the subject of his book: Casablanca and, to a lesser extent, Morocco at large.
The book is (purposely I gather) written in the same form as Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence, right down to the hand-drawn sketches. Each chapter follows his experiences, together with his wife and children, in a purely chronological order, during his first year living in, and restoring, the Caliph's House in Casablanca.
The book is great and full of insights and wonderful little anecdotes. It's peppered with colourful characters and histories and is, to my mind, quite deeply personal as well. I suspect that some artistic license has been taken by Shah for the sake of the story and to keep the drama high (surely he's not still surprised by references to Jinn after month seven...) but it's all perfectly acceptable.
I look forward to getting a copy of the sequel shortly and can also recommend another of his books, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, for a fascinating and unique look at the culture of magic and mysticism in India.
Not the Usual Home Remodel January 8, 2008
The foreign home restoration genre takes a real turn with Tahir Shah's experiences in Casablanca. His patience was amazing. I would have gone stark raving mad. I enjoyed his writing and have gone on to other books written by him. His wife must be a saint to have put up with all of the Caliph's House problems.
 Great cultural story November 23, 2007
After spending time in Morocco and doing business with a Moroccan, this book and Shah's writing of his experiences has helped me to better understand some of my own experiences and appreciate my role in learning about the culture. It is a current, true to life, mostly lighthearted look into today's Moroccan culture. It is a fast read and one I would say for anyone thinking of visiting Morocco or wanting to know about the culture, it would be well worth the investment of time.
Enchanting October 31, 2007
I have read sveral of Tahir Shah's books. He is an incredibly gifted writer. This book is probably his best, though I also liked In Search of King Solomon's Mines very much. His writing is very smooth and natural- it's almost impossible to put this book down and I am eagerly anticipating his next book. I am truly surprised he suvives his adventures in general. In this story he risks everything financially on the purchase of a house in Morocco and would have lost everything without several strokes of very good luck. In other books he risks his life- often several times. I loved the parts about Jins. One thing I get tired of his constant overplaying of his Afghan roots. One grandfather was Afghan, a Pashtun, that's it. He is "75%" British and was raised in the UK.
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