Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14164 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 190 pages

Review
"I know of no other book that paints such an endearing portrait of life among Muslims. The author's warmth and humanity illuminate every page, and to keep the ball rolling, it is deliciously witty. A classic."
--The Week, 8 August 2009

The Herald Express
The text is lively and humorous, and the author recalls many a larger-than-life character and amusing incident

Tatler
Few writers have evoked the spirit of place as brilliantly as Peter Mayne

Customer Reviews

Fear and Loathing in Morocco
Alright, so the title of this review is a little disingenuous, but this is a lost gem of leftfield travel writing with more than a little in common with 'beat' authors. Taking the North African hippy trail before it was even established, Mayne (NOT A Year in Provence's Peter Mayle) rented a room in Marrakesh's Medina (old town) with the aim of writing a novel. This novel has not survived but his journal of the time has, and it makes a brilliant read. Funny, self-deprecating, beautifully descriptive and packed with pungent characterization (but without any syncophantic obsession with his locale - Mayne loves his environs and Moroccan friends but that does not stem criticism if he feels it deserved).

I cannot recommend this enough. For anyone with any interest in travel, North Africa, Kerouac's On the Road, Hunter S Thompson or a good tale well told.

A small, sharp, lovely thing
The writer's year in Marrakesh was not about seeing the sights and learning the history - rather, it was about his engagement with the real people of his neighbourhood as he gets drawn into their lives. A clearer picture than you get from the pompous, passive travel writing that casts an eye on a culture and tells you what to visit there. Thoroughly engaging.

Utterly appealing
Having lived in colonial India and Pakistan, Peter Mayne having what would be viewed as a "mid life crisis" these days decided to move to Morocco with the intention to make it his permanent home and to fund himself by writing a novel. Whilst it seems the novel never made it to publication, this book is written from his personal journals on life in Marrakesh - trying to live and be accepted by the locals, learn Arabic, make friends and understand life there.

Mayne was in Marrakesh in the late 1950's but the book almost seems as if it could have been written recently. I have not been to Morocco but had no trouble imaging myself there. As someone who has gone through the challenges (and delights) of living in a country other than my own and learning a foreign language I really appreciated the book from that perspective. He allows himself to try and understand the place and the people - warts and all - without being judgemental. His style in the book is summed up in his reflections on his friends as he prepares to leave Marrakesh: "All these lovable, good people who would be surprised to be called anything of the sort. They, who have never gone away - how should they know what parting means, that it means dying a little."

The text includes Arabic and French which adds to the flavour and that feeling of not understanding. I suspect if I remembered more French I could have enjoyed it even more. Mayne does a good job of allowing you to follow the theme even though you don't understand all the words rather than simply translating everything.

Very enjoyable. I thoroughly recommend it.