The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca

Anyone who has ever taken on the challenge of remodeling an older home will shake their head in wonder at the fortitude of Tahir Shah in facing the monumental task of modernizing a rambling, but beautiful old wreck on the edge of a slum in Casablanca. Even more astonishing was his wife's patience with this never-ending, jinn plagued task. He left his London flat with his wife and two small children to live in his future dream home (read money pit). No matter the culture, carpenters, masons, plumbers and the rest of that lot share a universal brotherhood that could drive the sanest home owner mad. Shah eventually surrenders his western attitudes and relaxes into the wheeling-dealing world that is Morocco.

This is the simple story of a man who buys a house in Casablanca. Just kidding, the mere act of buying sets off a chain of events that sends the reader headlong into the intricacies of Moroccan history, society, and culture. Tahir Shah has no idea what he's in for, but luckily, he lives to tell the tale. From bothersome guardians to a shady assistant to an actual exorcism involving a live goat, this book is weird and wonderful and makes for a pleasant afternoon read.

Everyone has a story of an event in their lives; how they met their sparkling spouse, how they came into their fascinating occupation, how they started an odd hobby for which they are extremely passionate. The most interesting stories are the ones that are life changing; an abrupt 180 degree turn from where they used to be. A hobby turning into a business so they can quit their dead end job, for example. Tahir Shah has such a story in The Caliph's House. The London based travel writer was looking to move to Morocco. Tired of grey weather and bland food, he wanted to get back to the culture of his ancestry. After many false starts a classmate of his mother's contacted him out of the blue in 2004 with an offer he couldn't refuse: the sale show more of Dar Khalifa, the once home of a Caliph, a spiritual leader of Casablanca. Even though this is a story about living through a house renovation it goes beyond tiles and plumbing. Shah explores what it means to buy and restore a house in a post 911 society. Morocco struggles to be a paradise of tolerance. At the same time, Shah becomes intimately and intensely aware of "how things get done" when he hires a man of ill repute to be his right hand man. Encounters with thieves, possible murderers, even the mob are the norm. But, it is the exorcism that readers all wait for with breath held. Who in their right mind would slaughter a goat in every room of a mansion-sized abode? show less

Hilarious account of the author's first year in Casablanca. Tahir Shah had enough of the grey British weather, and decided to move to the country that he spent the summer holidays of his youth in, Morocco. He bought a house in Casablanca, a giant house, that desperately needed to be renovated (his opinion), and to be cleansed of jinns (the opinion of the three guardians that came with the house). The renovation of the house is the thread that keeps the story together. A story that is about cultural differences and misunderstandings, but also about the multiple facets of Moroccan life, about the grandfather of the author, who spent the last years of his life in Tangier, about the expat community, about family tensions, and very much show more about the jinn that lives in the Caliph's house.

I found this a very entertaining book. It made me laugh out loud several times in the story. It also gives the outsider a view into Moroccon life, even though it is seen through the eyes of another outsider. I read this after a journey to Morocco, and wish I had read it before, because I feel that I would have looked at things differently. show less

Tahir Shah wearies of London and its safe banality. He finally convinces his pregnant wife to buy a disaster of a mansion in Morocco and relocate there with their young daughter. From the beginning, their adventure feels doomed. Cats are found hanging by ropes from trees, strangled. The next door neighbor is the mysterious head of the Casablanca Mafia. Renovation efforts are led by a team of workers who can’t seem to complete anything. Everyone seems to believe in diabolical jinns, spirits who live in the mansion and who appear to want the family to abandon the house. Banality starts looking better and better to Tahir.

In an attempt to realise his "delusions of grandeur", Shah moves to Morocco with his family of four, from London, buys an expansive house set on an acre of ground and starts renovating it to make it more habitable. Apparently the house had been vacant for ages. This delightful memoir spans the year of renovations and of coming-to-terms with the sometimes outlandish customs of the locals. This was well-written and very entertaining!

Tahir Shah's memoir is a fascinating glimpse into the every day life of an family living in a rundown mansion in Casablanca. Tired of the dull gray life of London, Shah buys a rambling home and moves his family into one of the mansion's rooms. He contracts with architects and artisans to renovate the house, but the presence of spirits, or Jinns, makes even the most simple job complicated. There is humor on every page as Shah struggles to understand life in Morocco.