A Life Full of Holes: A Novel Recorded and Translated by Paul Bowles (P.S.) [Paperback]

Larbi Layachi (Author)

Book Description

Series: P.S. | Publication Date: December 16, 2008

One of the most unusual literary innovations ever produced, A Life Full of Holes is the result of a singular collaboration between two remarkable individuals: Driss ben Hamed Charhadi, an illiterate North African servant and street vendor, and legendary American novelist and essayist Paul Bowles. The powerful story of a shepherd and petty trafficker struggling to maintain hope as he wrestles with the grim realities of daily life, it is the first novel ever written in the Arabic dialect Moghrebi, faithfully recorded and translated into English by Bowles. Straightforward yet rich in complex emotions, it is a fascinating inside look at an unfamiliar culture—harsh and startling, yet interwoven with a poignant, poetic beauty.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Arabic (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (December 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061565296
• ISBN-13: 978-0061565298
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,711,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A timeless masterpiece of storytelling, January 8, 2004

By 

Mark Terrill "BFM" (Burg / Dithmarschen) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life Full of Holes (Rebel Inc. Classics) (Paperback)

Paul Bowles first began translating the stories of contemporary native Moroccans in 1952, transcribing by hand the tales of Ahmed Yacoubi, several of which appeared in Evergreen Review. In the early 1960's, with the aid of a tape recorder, Bowles decided to pursue the preservation of Maghrebi oral literature. This decision was prompted in part by Bowles' acquaintance with Larbi Layachi, a young Moroccan who was working as a watchman at a café at nearby Merkala Beach. Layachi, although illiterate and not a "storyteller" in the true Arabic tradition, proved to be a master of the tautly spun narrative, and his story, obviously nothing more than thinly veiled autobiography, is told with the same stark, unembellished point of view that formed the basis of the Italian neo-realist cinema, yet virtually without pathos, sentimentality or moralizing of any sort. Basically left to fend for himself at the age of eight, Layachi works a series of jobs as shepherd, baker's helper, laborer, watchman, houseboy to a "Nazarene" gay couple, and as a petty trafficker in kif in the rough-and-tumble streets of Tangier at the cusp of post-colonialism, eventually winding up in jail, sentenced to hard labor in a rock quarry. Adversity raises its Medusa-like head on every other page, in the form of betrayal, denunciation, false accusations, uninformed decisions, corruption, or just plain bad luck, of which Layachi obviously had a very generous helping.
Whereas the typical westerner might have difficulty supporting Layachi's dogged fatalism in the face of constant defeat, failure, frustration and setbacks, the majority of which do seem to be of an unjust nature (despite Layachi's at times pathological tendency to blur the parameters of right and wrong), it's Layachi's very determination to go on no matter what that gives A Life Full of Holes its extremely positive and life-confirming slant. To survive such an uncompromisingly negative chain of events without becoming a burned-out, apathetic nihilist is a true test of faith. And while the Koran is frequently cited to explain or justify particularly heavy blows of fate or irrational human behavior ("It's the will of Allah," etc.), it's also Layachi's ironic and cynical sense of humor that serves as a buffer between himself and life's harder edges and as a comic foil against the perpetrators of ill will. Compellingly told and packed with detail, Layachi's story of survival is also one of simple poetry.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life in a Poor Dusty World, September 13, 2009

By 

Jim F. Baughman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Life Full of Holes: A Novel Recorded and Translated by Paul Bowles (P.S.) (Paperback)

A beautiful, spare story that illuminates life in a very poor culture. It's not often that we get to see, from street level, an exotic world that hasn't been scrubbed clean and fancified for the mindless tourist. I suspect the impact of the story is due as much to Bowles's translation as the storyteller himself. It was a little disappointing to learn that the author, Driss Ben Hamed Charhadi, later moved to the United States.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars loathe to give anything five stars, i couldn't help myself, May 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A Life Full of Holes: A novel tape-recorded in Moghrebi and translated into English by Paul Bowles (Paperback)

here. it's simply a great book, in the introduction i believe paul bowles mentions that a great narrator keeps his narrative thread equally taut at all times and this is precisely what the authour has done. the book is a compelling view of a life in a part of the world that differs wildly from where i was born, told with a coolness that should not be mistaken for detachment. it's a rewarding read and it hleps when trying to put things in perspective.