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Title: For Bread Alone by Mohamed Choukri, Paul Bowles ISBN: 0-86356-138-1 Publisher: I.B. Tauris Pub. Date: November, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: A life on the fringe
Comment: I liked this book. That surprised me. This speaks directly to strength in narration and artistry of Mr. Choukri, who shows us, in this first volume of his autobiography, the despair brought about by ignorance and poverty. Our young man's apparent lack of hope for a better future is made clear from the start. In his teens, born in Marocco, during the French domination, he struggles to find the rules and reasons for the world around him. I say apparent lack of hope, because after the first few paragraphs we already know that he is sensitive, smart and will attempt to survive as best he can, without any help from his family or society. In this respect, I was satisfied early on, for I sensed it would be all right to attach my emotions to this hero; that he would not betray my confidence. Mr. Choukri's narration is also masterful in the depiction of the most despicable acts of violence both physical and moral. He is detached. So we can also keep our safe distance.
I confess to having a special reason for reading this book. Since I spent some time in the early 1980s in Oran, Algeria, I have been intrigued with the peoples of North Africa. And this book takes place in many of the cities and towns that are familiar to me. What surprises is to see that even though there was a good thirty years difference between the time this story took place and the 1980s, there were vestiges that for some, things still remained. I can only hope that there has been considerable improvement in the past 20 years.
This is a book that makes us think. And even though the subject: a disenfranchised youth in the life of petty crimes in the fringe of society is not unusual in the literature of developing countries, it is important to return to these themes once in a while, getting out of our comforatble, well educated bubbles, and rethink our own contributions to world around us.
I am a better person for having read this book. That's a sign of excellence.
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Title: Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi ISBN: 0201489376 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun, Alan Sheridan, Tahar Ben Jelloun ISBN: 0801864402 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: August, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Morocco since 1830: A History by C. R. Pennell ISBN: 0814766773 Publisher: New York University Press Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: Year of the Elephant : A Moroccan Woman's Journey Toward Independence by Leila Abouzeid, Barbara Parmenter ISBN: 029279603X Publisher: Univ of Texas Press Pub. Date: 1989 List Price(USD): $9.82 |
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Title: Return to Childhood : The Memoir of a Modern Moroccan Woman by Leila Abouzeid, Heather Logan Taylor ISBN: 0292704909 Publisher: Univ of Texas Press Pub. Date: 1998 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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