PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • The imagined memoirs of the first black explorer of America—this "stunning [book] sheds light on all of the possible the New World exploration stories that didn’t make history” (Huffington Post). In these pages, Laila Lalami brings us the invented memoirs Mustafa al-Zamori, called Estebanico. The slave of a Spanish conquistador, Estebanico sails for the Americas with his master, Dorantes, as part of a danger-laden expedition to Florida. Within a year, Estebanico is one of only four crew members to survive. As he journeys across America with his Spanish companions, the Old World roles of slave and master fall away, and Estebanico remakes himself as an equal, a healer, and a remarkable storyteller. His tale illuminates the ways in which our narratives can transmigrate into history—and how storytelling can offer a chance at redemption and survival.

The Moor's Account was a positively received book, but opinions ranged from ok to excellent. This was a novel for the plot-minded NUBClub members for sure. Lalami's novel is dynamic and riveting in terms of plot -- the story of the Narvaes expedition through Florida in the eyes of the Moroccan enslaved man named Mustafa (renamed Estabanico) sees interesting internal conflicts, tragic occurrences, brushes with death, and striking reversals (notable the four survivors' roles as faith healers at the end of the expedition) that kept most of us engaged for the length of the book. If you are looking for an entertaining novel with some good writing sprinkled throughout, The Moor's Account will not lead you wrongly. But some of us at NUBClub found the themes of the book underexplored. There was a lot of potential in the set-up to examine colonialism and culture from several perspectives, but we felt Lalami did not go deeply enough on any of them given their promise. Mustafa's study of language and storytelling adds a power to it, but there is a strange lack of perspective on the indigenous groups that they encounter. The book offers a number of different perspectives in the Spanish expeditioners on how to interface with cultures, but none of those resolve in interesting ways. While the plot is compelling, there are just so many chances to make the points about colonialism, perspective, and identity stronger that Lalami does not take. So while the plot-minded of NUBClub loved the book, the more literary of us felt that it wasted its potential, and the novel left us flat. Depending how much heavy theme you need from your adventure story from the captive's perspective, you'll either enjoy the novel or leave vaguely disappointed.