The Monk of Mokha

The Monk of Mokha cover
Good Books rating 4.0

Technical:
  • ID: 180
  • Added: 2025-09-03
  • Updated: 2025-09-03
  • ISBN: 9780241975374
  • Publisher: Penguin UK
  • Published: 2018-01-25
  • Reviews: 3

From the best-selling author of The Circle - the gripping true story of a young Yemeni American man, raised in San Francisco, who dreams of resurrecting the ancient art of Yemeni coffee but finds himself trapped in Sana'a by civil war Mokhtar Alkhanshali is twenty-four and working as a doorman when he becomes fascinated with the rich history of coffee and Yemen's central place in it. He leaves San Francisco and travels deep into his ancestral home to tour terraced farms high in the country's rugged mountains. He collects samples and organizes farmers and is on the verge of success when civil war engulfs the country. Saudi bombs rain down, the U.S. embassy closes, and Mokhtar has to find a way out of Yemen with only his hopes on his back. The Monk of Mokha is the story of this courageous and visionary young man following the most American of dreams.

Reviews


Pull quotes
  • I think knowing Mokhtar or seeing him speak makes this book more powerful.
  • The Monk of Mokha opens with a story about the actual Monk of Mokha, who brewed the first cup of coffee.
  • Eggers gets a lot of credit for the book—and it’s not always positive.


Pull quotes
  • The book delivers on many levels, showing the real region and what people go through every day in a region plagued with war.
  • Most of the book takes place in Yemen detailing many dangerous situations that Mokhtar escapes from.
  • I can’t honestly judge if all of this book is true, but it makes for some enjoyable and dramatic reading.


Pull quotes
  • The basic story is never less than engaging and instructive.
  • Mokhtar emerges as part canny international operator and part super-lucky naïf.
  • Eggers’s book is about a version of the American dream, achieved against political as well as personal odds.
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