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“Alaoui’s debut novel follows a Moroccan sex worker whose blunt street-smarts will captivate readers…it’s written with such grace and power that it’s impossible to look away.” —New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)
“A whirlwind story and a lot of fun to read.” —BuzzFeed News, New Fall Books You Won’t Want To Put Down
“If the idea of a ‘female Moroccan Henry Miller’ makes your antennae wiggle, have I got a book for you…By the end of [Straight from the Horse’s Mouth] I was laughing, crying, and Googling ‘sexy djellaba online sale.’ RIYL: Orange Is the New Black, Leïla Slimani, reveling in crudeness but also in tenderness, Charles Bukowski.” —Vulture
“[A] mesmerizing debut…Alaoui’s shimmering prose is funny and original…[Her] tale is one to savor for its language and its verve.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Bold and irreverent…A refreshing character study.” —Kirkus Reviews
“[A] lively debut novel…funny and profane, rich with the sights and sounds of Casablanca.” —Shelf Awareness
“Unique and refreshing, this debut centers modern Moroccan sex worker Jmiaa as she manages family, friendship, and faith with courage, humor, and candor.” —Ms. Magazine
“Jmiaa’s cheek is immediately endearing, as is her dark humor that hides a sordid reality…[Alaoui] brings together cinema and the street, two starkly opposed worlds. The film sets, where Jmiaa is like a bull in a china shop, offer moments of pure jubilation.” —France-Amérique
“This book is so good. It carries you so quickly from despair to roaring laughter and back again. I would happily live in any world Alaoui would like to create for us.” —Daisy Johnson, author of Sisters
“Female friendship, anger, and artistic courage are explored with wit in Alaoui’s bold debut. Jmiaa is a woman living in the toughest of conditions but her inability to be anything but her unvarnished and sharp self steers her to surprising new worlds. A vibrant story of resilience told with refreshing honesty.” —Marjan Kamali, author of The Stationery Shop and Together Tea
“A powerful, original novel…one of the best I’ve read recently and one that will get people talking.” —Tahar Ben Jelloun, author of This Blinding Absence of Light
“The story of a lively young woman, who is funny and courageous, at the heart of a world we don’t often see explored in literature, where Meryem Alaoui deftly leads us.” —Le Point
“Following Leïla Slimani’s Paroles d’honneur, another young Moroccan woman, Meryem Alaoui, looks at a rarely seen side of the society that oppresses women in Morocco. Through the diary of a prostitute in Casablanca, the young author reveals the fragility and the harshness of life for those who are sacrificed, ostracized, left in the shadows.” —Lire