Worldwide Wednesday #2: Morocco

Every Wednesday I choose a country and then choose a book that is related in some way to that country, and write a bit about it! Last week’s post focused on France, so feel free to take a look at that for a bit more about this weekly instalment.

Today we’re travelling a bit further afield to… Morocco!

I thought I would choose a book that I finished only a few days ago, ‘Hideous Kinky’ by Esther Freud. This book has been made into a film, featuring Kate Winslet- and I think it would be a really interesting book to watch. The book follows a mother and her two daughters on an ‘enlightening’ trip from London to Morocco, where they take part in many new experiences- and where their lives change forever.

The book is told through the narration of the youngest daughter, who is about four years old, and she tells of the mystic ways of the Moroccan people, as well as recounts the things that her mother gets up to in a very childlike, immature way.

I really liked the narration of this novel. I thought it was a really good idea using the narration of the child within this book, as the mother of the children has clearly dragged these children out to Morocco on her own ‘enlightenment’ experience- and through the naivety of the child’s narration the selfishness of the mother’s actions is clear.

The fact that the child also describes everything that her mother does, including many adult things, such as when she flirts with men, means that the reader gets a full picture of the mother’s actions from a child’s point of view. I thought this was a really interesting way of recounting the journey of the mother and her daughters.

I also really liked the descriptions in this book of the exotic world of Morocco, and there were great descriptions of day-to-day life in Morocco, as well as the marketplace and all the food that the family ate, such as spicy tagines.

The culture shock experienced by the family, particularly the youngest child, was also interesting to read about. By using the narration of the child, all the wonders of Morocco were clear to the reader- and I loved this perspective! However, it was also clear how easily children can adapt to a new environment, and before long the eldest sister, Bea, was speaking Arabic and going to a Moroccan school.

What I didn’t like about this novel was the character of the mother. I thought the mother would be a great character: she is a hippy from the 1960s who is clearly trying to escape the monotony of English society- and I imagined her to be a bit wild but still relatable. However, I found her annoying and selfish, and I think her children are victim to her many whims.

At one point, she leaves one of her children behind while she goes on a pilgrimage to a mosque, and when they return, her daughter is no longer living where the mother had left her. In fact, the man they meet in Morocco, and who the mother becomes involved with, often takes better care of the sisters than the mother.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. I absolutely loved the descriptions of the exoticism of Morocco, as well as the way that life in Morocco clearly differed to life in England. Although I wasn’t completely keen on the character of the mother, I thought the child’s narration was brilliant- and I know the character of the mother was supposed to be selfish in her actions.

Have you read anything set in Morocco? What’s your favourite book set in a foreign country? Have you read this novel?

Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below 🙂

Happy reading x