Look and Move On by Mohammed Mrabet and Paul Bowles

Mrabet started out in life as a Moroccan equivilant of Del-Boy, if such a thing can be imagined. He spent his formative years seducing women, living off dodgy deals and being shown around the world by affluent friends (OK maybe that bit is nothing like Del-Boy.) This book, like all of Mrabet's other works, is translated from an oral telling from the Moroccan by Paul Bowles, an American writer in his own right. This technique seems to lend itself to Mrabet's discordant and disordered style of storytelling and I was somewhat concerned it would not easily transfer into an autobiographical account of Mrabet's life - gladyly I will admit I was wrong.

The story has a slight Tarzan-esque feel to it an as much as where Mrabet's streetwise demeanour allows him to live a life of near luxury in Morroco, on his two journeys to America he is very much a fish out of water. However this does not mean that he does not have a tale to tell - the man befriended Tenessee Williams for example - whilst also allowing his 'native' culture to impact on the Americans he meets, killing and cooking robins for example.

As well as channeling Tarzan, the protagonist of Look and Move on also has the odd whif of Mark Twain's boy heros. The down to earth and obstinate persona that Mrabet portrays allows him to contrast his form of culture to the capitalist one that he finds himself in. On top of this just as Twain's work is a coming of age tale this story has many of the same qualities and after his return from America we see Mrabet settle down and learn from the mistakes he has previously made. However this is not the end of Mrabet's unique tale.