The Sheltering Sky: A Dark Postwar Classic of Alienation and Existential Terror in North Africa

Had to listen to this after reading the short story "A Distant Episode" by Paul Bowles. The story blew me away, as did the novel. Foolish Americans get into trouble in the middle east--a made up country, made up cities, but the author knows his territory. For those who like dark and fatalistic fiction. Edward Said said that Paul Bowles was the epitome of Orientalism, because his Arabs, esp. the nomadic ones, are so dangerous. They live by totally different customs and values. The westerners are so clueless and sure of themselves they walk right into dangerous and even fatal situations. Narrator was excellent. Stylistically brilliant-had me hanging on every word. I rarely write reviews of audio books but this one really affected me.

In February 2018, the book discussion group at the LGBT Center in NYC had a good group to discuss "The Sheltering Sky" by Paul Bowles. This was a very interesting discussion. A few readers didn't care for the book, a number of readers didn't like it at first but then loved it - something clicked and it became a terrific novel, and some of it just liked it from the beginning. The most common complaints were about the style, which Bowles is famous for in "The Sheltering Sky," which some found flat and off-putting. This is a huge, meandering novel that takes a while to figure out what's going on, and then the discovery is that not much happens or, actually, a lot happens but it's largely indirect and unexplained actions that cure to a devastating double ending. "The Sheltering Sky" revolves around three central characters. Port is the rich traveler (never a tourist) who heads deeper and deeper into Africa, but so unplanned and apathetic about his travels that he never gets his shots that are essential to survival in the savage environment. Kit is Port's wife who does whatever she needs to do at the moment and survives wherever she lands. She apparently goes completely crazy at the end of the novel, but she's always a little unstable. Tunner is their handsome friend who tags along, who's in love with the (mostly) unavailable Kit. Minor characters include the creepy and thieving Eric Lyle, who is tortured by his horrible and abusive xenophobic mother (what the hell is she…