Chocolate Creams and Dollars [Hardcover]

Mohammed Mrabet (Author), Paola Igliori (Editor), Paul Bowles (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1899

fiction, Morocco, tr Paul Bowles, photos P Taaffe

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1965 Mrabet, a Moroccan, met Bowles in Tangier; the American writer and composer began taping Mrabet's stories and translating them from Moghrebi into English. This loosely autobiographical and dreamlike work, written in the mid-'70s, centers on a young Moroccan named Driss who uses his position as houseboy to an affluent Englishman to amass a small fortune. Driss cheats his employer and the houseguests at every turn; a prudent money manager and born entrepreneur, he buys a fleet of fishing boats and gradually rises to village prominence despite the townfolks' suspicions that his wealth comes from prostitution. Drug-inspired sexual acts abound, but the narrative is deliberately bloodless and melancholic. At once beautifully atmospheric and disturbingly flat, this arresting, almost hallucinatory novel gains additional power through Taaffe's haunting prints and photographs.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This semiautobiographical novel by Moroccan storyteller Mrabet offers glimpses from the life of a young Moroccan at the service of an affluent European, with the northern Moroccan scenery as background. The stories are both amusing and sensual. North Africa has been one of the last theaters of nostalgia for many Westerners. Yet the tension between two cultures surfaces again and again throughout the stories Mrabet tells. This heavily illustrated novel is one of many works translated from the Moghrebi by the American composer and writer Paul Bowles. Recommended for most libraries.
- Ali Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 186 pages
• Publisher: Inanout Press (December 30, 1899)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096251196X
• ISBN-13: 978-0962511967
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 7.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,451,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A priceless peice of moroccan magic, September 9, 2000

By 

John McCormack (Mahopac, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chocolate Creams and Dollars (Hardcover)

Mrabet is a fantastic story teller.So good, in fact , that when his books first came out critics claimed they were written by Paul Bowles himself. Which isn't true, Bowles merely recorded and then translated the stories. This particular book is largley autobiographical, dealing with Mrabet's life trying to surrvive in his native land. We get a glimpse into the inner-workings of his mind and Morrocan culture as well with its exotic rituals, black magic, spells and anti-spells, and blurring of fantasy and reality. Mrabet lays down the line raw and simple, understateing much of the action, which makes the brutal, violent scenes all the more abrupt and shocking. It's eastern sensibilities slam up against our own western cultural perceptions and shatter them with a kind of quiet, primal delight. Every fan of Bowles needs to own this book.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mystical journy into a middle-eastern mind, September 4, 2000

By 

John McCormack (Mahopac, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chocolate Creams and Dollars (Hardcover)

Paul Bowles, aclaimed author of The Sheltering Sky, actually recorded Mrabet's tales and then translated them. Being set in North Africa, and deriving from a tradition of oral story telling, this book is an exotic adventure. The stories are brutaly honest, often violent and startling ; peices of middle-eastern magic float up from every page. Writeing fom such a culturally different veiw point, Mbaret does an exellent job of takeing westeners into the unique mind-sets of his characters. Over all, an amazing journey if your mind is open enough to take it.