Product Description

The Sheltering Sky is a landmark of twentieth-century literature. In this intensely fascinating story, Paul Bowles examines the ways in which Americans' incomprehension of alien cultures leads to the ultimate destruction of those cultures.

A story about three American travelers adrift in the cities and deserts of North Africa after World War II, The Sheltering Sky explores the limits of humanity when it touches the unfathomable emptiness and impassive cruelty of the desert.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30497 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-01
• Released on: 2005-09-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.com Review
American novelist and short-story writer, poet, translator, classical music composer, and filmscorer Paul Bowles has lived as an expatriate for more than 40 years in the North African nation of Morocco, a country that reaches into the vast and inhospitable Sahara Desert. The desert is itself a character in The Sheltering Sky, the most famous of Bowles' books, which is about three young Americans of the postwar generation who go on a walkabout into Northern Africa's own arid heart of darkness. In the process, the veneer of their lives is peeled back under the author's psychological inquiry.

Review
"[The Sheltering Sky] is one of the most original, even visionary, works of fiction to appear in this century." -- --Tobias Wolff

"It stands head and shoulders above most other novels published in English since World War II." -- --The New Republic

From the Inside Flap
The story of three American travelers adrift in the cities and deserts of North Africa after World War II examines the way Americans apprehend an alien culture and the way their incomprehension destroys them.

Customer Reviews

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its only days later after finishing this book yet somehow i keep ging back to it in my mind. The desolution in the desert and the sheer force bowles thrusts these characters upon you- love or hate them they are all there, so honest and intriguing in their personal journeys. this book is unlike any other i have read. pg 186 when kit and port sit beneath the maple trees is my favorite part in the book where port shares his philosophy on death and how we take it for granted how fragile life is. "Because we dont know when we will die we get to think of life as an inexhaustable well"... this scene and book makes me appreciate life more. rest easy mr. bowles and thank you.

One of a Kind
I just finished reading this book for a second time and was again struck by how effectively Bowles communicates his themes. We all have tensions and disappointments with our societies, countries, families and friends, but Bowles reveals the terror of complete alienation that happens when we leave it all behind. If you've ever wondered what it feels like when your protective bubble pops, you'll like this book. The plot, characters, and settings in this novel are merely vehicles for communicating this idea. Bowles is poetic: his impact grows within the reader as his words are absorbed.

In response to a previous review:

Bowles spent a great deal of time in North Africa and would have understood a typical American's perceptions at the time. Of course those perceptions are now outdated - would one expect otherwise? After all, the book was written only a few years after World War II ended. Good literature attempts to portray characters within their historical context, and to offer insights about the human condition - not to mold characters in accordance with someone's political views. I can't think of anything more boring and less literary than a novel portraying characters acting in ways that many university liberal arts faculty think they SHOULD act.

It's pointless to judge a novel written over 50 years ago by today's standards. It's as silly as a reviewer 50 years from now passing negative judgement on one of today's novels because a character kept a pet dog, a practice which was outlawed when animals were given full rights in 2030.

Trip to the Maghreb
If you still have not visited the north of Africa or Maghreb, and cities like Tanger, Casablanca, seem attractive to you, then Paul Bowles will take you to a trip to this region of the world. The Sheltering Sky is a great novel not just because of the plot but also because of the capacity of the author to depict places, cities, experiences, in short the whole atmosphere, in a way that makes you feel you are there too. Highly recommended.