A Year in Marrakesh |
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Peter Mayne
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Pages: 190 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0907871089
Pub: Eland Publishing Ltd
Pub date: 2002-10-30
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2702
Reader Reviews:
A small, sharp, lovely thing (23/24 people found this helpful)
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.
Fear and Loathing in Morocco (71/73 people found this helpful)
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.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> History -> Countries & Regions -> Africa -> Northern -> Morocco
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> Countries & Regions -> Africa -> Morocco
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> Countries & Regions -> Africa -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> Countries & Regions -> Asia -> Southeast Asia
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> Travel Writing
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> General AAS
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Condition (condition-type)