The Indiependent’s Favourite Books

Hideous Kinky // Ester Freud

Despite its name, Hideous Kinky is not ‘hideous’ or ‘kinky.’ but almost like a compilation of the narrator’s important moments during her time in Morocco. When I first read this book, I was really into travelling and learning about different cultures. I mean… I still am, but this book is from a child’s perspective and the imagery seems a lot more personal than the boring encyclopaedias I had, something that made it personal and enduring. The descriptions of the towns and buildings aren’t over the top but they’re detailed enough to paint a beautiful picture in your mind.

Hideous Kinky centres on an unnamed child and her adventures through Morocco with a free-spirited mum and an older sister, Bea, who she likes to play word games with. Throughout the book, the characters’ personalities are built up slowly and pieces of information are leaked through the narrator’s point of view. It doesn’t give us much information aside from what the child finds interesting, but isn’t that how real life is? To only focus on our point of view and to not venture beyond the realms of the unknown? The characters in this book may appear odd, but in the narrator’s eyes they’re all important to her, with all of them teaching her something new. From learning gymnastics to getting rid of fleas from a dog, each character has their own special significance. One of my favourite characters is a con man called Bilal. He’s with the narrator for the majority of the story and what is likeable about the character is how he’s like a surrogate father to the children and empathetically cares for them a better than their own carefree mother.

There’s not much of a plot to this story but I like that because I can read from any chapter. One of my favourite chapters is where a friend of the family comes to visit and her clothing is stolen by the Henna Ladies downstairs. This book is full of little comedic scenes and subtle things like that to make a great book.

Words by Ashleigh Jim

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