For Bread Alone

Born in 1935, Mohamed Choukri was a Moroccan author, known for his three part autobiography, of which this is the first part. From a small village in the Rif mountains, Choukri came from a very poor Berber family. When he was very young the family walked to Tangier, and for a number of years he remained with his parents, despite his father being abusive to Choukri, his brother and their mother. At times the abuse was very violent - he father killed his brother who was at the time very unwell, and Mohamed took to living in the streets for a time.

His life as a youngster was very hard. There was no schooling available to him. His father set him up in jobs and took the pay directly, and beat him regularly. For a period his father was put in prison, and Mohamed lived with his mother, helping her sell vegetables in the market, but when his father returned, the beatings continued. He spends time in Oran, in Algeria, but always seems drawn back to Tangier, and to the grasp of his father.

Again living away from his parents, Choukri catalogues his life in a series of “situations” where he settles into a routine - work, or a place to live - until something goes wrong, and he moves into a new “situation”. When something goes wrong, he optimistically looks at it as time to move to a new phase of life. This book covers his early life up until he is around 20 years old. His experiences as a beggar, a thief, a smuggler, a vegetable seller or a trader shows a real side of the life of the underprivileged in Morocco. It is simply written, but powerful. Brutal, yet brutally honest, Choukri shares his growing up, the poverty of living day to day, his experiences (especially with sex), his battles, the violence that is commonplace in his everyday life.

As this book ends, Choukri has bought himself a book, and is determined to learn to read and write. He later becomes a teacher, and then an author.

At only 150 pages, this is a quick read, and while the content is disturbing and far from uplifting, it is a compulsive read, and I found it hard to put down.

4 stars.