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In 1949 Peter Mayne establishes himself in Marrakesh, with the purpose of writing his novel (in order to provide himself with an income). This book - The Alleys of Marrakesh is developed from his diary, which catalogues the events of his year spent there.
This quick to read book does some things really well. It certainly transports the reader to Marrakesh, and very well describes the atmosphere, the way people live and their community and cultural interactions. Even more, Mayne provides excellent descriptions of the people who befriend him, the people he interacts with, and the people he observes.
The thing Mayne does not do in this book - is share much of himself.
There is no doubt Mayne is committed to his immersion in the Marrakesh way of life. He avoids the tourist spots (in fact only sees many of them when his friend from Britain joins him for a couple of days, and drags him around the sites), he mostly avoids ex-pats and he really does make an effort to live as the Moroccan people in his neighbourhood do. He actively learns the language, employed not only a tutor, but a man to talk to, so that he can learn the vernacular as well as the formal speech. He embeds himself in the cafe culture of Moroccan men, and visits the hammam to bathe (there is an excellent explanation of his first visit - worth reading the book for this alone). He makes a real effort at learning the etiquette - although this seems a hopeless task, with so many variables!
I enjoyed reading Mayne's book - for its descriptive qualities of his friends and (literally) The Alleys of Marrakesh! Other reviewers have noted that nothing much happens, or that it hasn't aged well. I don't agree, although I have no hesitation is describing it as ‘charming', which I guess means I forgive its minor failings. The only failing I will mention, is his regular use of French in the dialogue. While for you clever language masters who have a basic understanding of the language, this French is probably so simple it does not pose an issue, for a heathen like me to whom languages are only fleetingly learning a couple of ‘hello-phrases' quickly lost on departure of the country, I lost the thread a number of times. I detest having to use google translate to check things, so I move on, hoping to pick up the conversation. To be fair in nearly all cases I muddled through, and I suspect that Mayne added English after the French, but I don't really know!
A couple of quotes I marked down while reading - both of which chart his coming to terms with the Islamic faith.
P87
How can I make money and yet continue to live? That is my problem. Living means leisure and leisure is exactly what a job denies you. Moors know this an pop in and out of jobs as their stomachs are empty or full; but I am sill a long way from reaching that happy state. They don't care what happens and are satisfied in any case that God will determine their futures as He pleases. So they don't have to strive for success, and this is what makes living amongst them such a wonderful relief.
It's no good trying to judge by Western standards - they don't fit.
