Amusing, Self-Aware, Unusual Perspective

In a word, this was different. At its core, it’s sort of a colorful slice of life story of the daily life and doings of a Moroccan sex worker in Casablanca. Jmiaa might not have dreamed of sex work as a girl but now she’s unapologetically dealing with the cards she’s been dealt with a sharp tongue, an eye for the absurd, and lot of moxie. If light dealt her lemons, she’s bootlegging a lemon gin and drinking away her problems. Jmiaa is practical, critical, sarcastic, self-aware and basically making the best she can of a very toxic situation with as much pragmatic enjoyment as she can.

This isn’t a particularly action/plot-driven book. It’s very character-centric. But that’s fine because Jmiaa has a lot of personality and a lot of stories to carry this story along. Reading this, you feel like you know her and know about the people she’s inevitably dragging and falling out with. The outcome of the story could only ever have been what it was because her star radiates of the page. Yes this is humorous and amusing, but what makes it especially attractive is that it’s such an eminently human story, told by an imperfect protagonist who knows a lot about the foibles of people and the imperfections of humanity and because of that, it’s a compelling read. Content warnings apply for assault, abuse, and heavy alcohol and drug use. Other than that, highly recommend for something unique, different and actually quite fun and interesting.

The strength of this book is the authenticity and rawness of Jmiaa’s voice. She is contradictory, insecure, jealous, angry, caring, vulnerable, sometimes cruel and truly feels like a fully realised human character. 

While if I were being truly objective, the end of the book might feel like a somewhat fast neat wrap-up in the context of the first half’s slower pacing, by then I was caught up enough in Jmiaa’s character and life that it just made me smile.

This is a quick read about a sex worker in Morocco and how her life changes after she agrees to star in an independent film. The main character is kind of a jerk but she's got a lively voice - it really does feel like someone is telling you a story. Sometimes she interrupts gossiping about one person to gossip about another person!

The downside to the telling a story format is that a lot of the time nothing is happening and things that seem like they should be important plot points kind of get pushed aside. At one point the main character is hit by a motorcycle, which hardly ends up mattering and the reader only finds out about it after the fact. It seems like a weird choice.

The parts once they start filming are great, though, and even though the ending is kind of silly and unrealistic I liked it.