Review: Straight From The Horse’s Mouth, Meryem Alaoui
By Tunaruz
Meryem Alaoui gives a powerful voice to a bold young sex worker through her debut novel, Straight From The Horse’s Mouth. The main character, called Jmiaa, struggles to earn her living in the lively streets of Casablanca until she meets a filmmaker who brings a sudden change in her life.
The book deals with the daily challenges of a prostitute. Jmiaa takes us on a journey of her world, a world in which she has to offer her body for money so that she can take care of her daughter, pay for her pimp Houcine, and also her ex-husband who turned her into a prostitute at the beginning. With her sharp mind and brave soul, Jmiaa draws a vivid picture of her vibrant neighbourhood, the hectic life of the working class, and the women with whom she shares the working nights, drinking, chatting, and waiting for clients. The main character also strives to hide her real profession from her mother.
Throughout the novel, the main character swings between the past and the present with attention to detail. The narrative goes at a fast pace with a lot of events in sequence that the readers do not know what to expect next. The best example is when Jmiaa unexpectedly meets with a young filmmaker, Chadlia, who works on a film and who asks her to share insights into the profession to make certain that the film’s premise is authentic. Later, Chadlia gives a golden opportunity to Jmiaa whose life takes a different turn that she could have never thought of.
The book tackles a taboo subject in the Moroccan scene, and Jmiaa makes us observe with curiosity what lies behind the veil. The story is told from the first-person point of view which makes us get into the real self of Jmiaa and her personality dimensions. At the end of the reading, we can’t help falling in love with the character’s personality. What’s also interesting is how the author blends literature and cinema. Putting the two worlds together adds a unique charm to the work and puts more emphasis on how the real world of Jmiaa is reflected in two different ways.
The translator, Emma Ramadan, succeeds in translating not just the ideas but also the culture and the vibes of the Moroccan working class in Casablanca. She excels at representing the daring personality of Jmiaa with the use of a rich language, which contributed to the huge success of Meryem Alaoui’s novel.
Straight From The Horse’s Mouth is a realistic reflection that invites the reader to perceive the unspoken social dilemmas of an underestimated group “Prostitutes” and the sex work business in Morocco. Not only that but it also casts light on the other side of Casablanca in which the working class fight to earn a livelihood. It is a highly recommended piece of work that will take you on a journey of fiction and reality at one time.
*