The Sheltering Sky

A Novel

By: Paul Bowles

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld

Audio edition of the landmark of 20th Century literature, by acclaimed author Paul Bowles

In this classic work of psychological terror, Paul Bowles examines the ways in which Americans apprehend an alien culture—and the ways in which their incomprehension destroys them. The story of three American travelers adrift in the cities and deserts of North Africa after World War II, The Sheltering Sky is at once merciless and heartbreaking in its compassion. It etches the limits of human reason and intelligence—perhaps even the limits of human life—when they touch the unfathomable emptiness and impassive cruelty of the desert.

©1949 Paul Bowles (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Fear and Loathing in the Sahara

#theshelteringsky is the first book I have read by Paul Bowles, coming on my radar courtesy of the #modernlibrarytop100novels and was well written and intrigued me to want to read more of Bowles work. Set in the Sahara in the years after World War II, American author Bowles makes it clear that this isn't in anyway autobiographical though the two main characters, a married American couple living the ex-pat life in North Africa, closely mirrors the experience of he and his wife who also wrote and travelled throughout the French colonized North Africa with one glaring difference about half the way through the book.

The literary reviews tend to emphasize the despair and angst that drives people like the Bowles and their fictional stand-ins the Harcourts set about by the general malaise brought about by a triumphalist America. That may be true as there tends to be an impulse for young, non-traditionalsist Americans to seek abroad that something that is missing back home. The same is true of the Brits and Aussies who flesh out the characters along with the desert loving French soldiers and administrators who govern French Africa. And while very different, they all seem to have in a common a general loathing for the indigenous people they have chosen to live among, insisting upon maintaining their Western standards of luggage, lodging at food even as they plunge deeper into the less hospitable without even bothering to learn the language of the people they've intruded upon.

Bowles accurately captures this ennui of the far flung expatriate trying to find the place that is uniquely foreign that they can make uniquely theirs always boarding a midnight bus with much to much baggage to find out what is our there on the fathest edge of the map, resolved that they will likely be unhappy there as well.

Well written and narrated by #saskiamaarleveld in #audible .

Beautiful. Cerebral.

I read this book for the first time thirty years ago. I fell so deeply in love with the characters that I named one of my sons after Port.
Making my first trips to Morocco this year, I decided to listen to it. Love love love this book.

Classic Work of American 20th Century Fiction

First, WARNING - if you know nothing of the story, DO NOT LISTEN TO AUTHOR’S PREFACE, as it contains major spoilers. It is frankly oddly baffling to me that the publisher would not have put the author’s comments, which are an analysis of the book you have yet to read, at the END of the story, particularly given that the single biggest spoiler of the story is revealed by the author in his commentary. The commentary clearly is written for people already familiar with the story. So, buyer beware…

This aside, this is a delightful narration of a marvelous story. It is a story that is one of the best examples of the American flavor of Existentialism, in contrast the the more common French Existentialism of writers like Camus and Sarte. The American flavor is poignantly different but still touches on the basic themes of the meaning vs meaninglessness of life, the almost cosmic horror of existence vs death, and a mood that could only be captured by a long time resident of North Africa, as Paul Bowles was. Without having to say it, he creates a hauntingly beautiful atmosphere of vast emptiness, not only of the desert and sky, but of the soul. One almost feels they can hear the oppressive quiet and wind rustling always present, infecting every aspect of the story.

Be prepared for a hauntingly unsettling ride. There will be no answers, no resolutions handed to you.

This is not an exit.

SKIP INTRO: Spoils entire plot line!

The book is beautifully written, and I highly recommend it. The narrator’s voice is lovely, though the exaggerated voices for the male characters were a bit much. However, her accents are fantastic, and she captures the characters’ tones well. But seriously—SKIP THE INTRO: it spoils the entire plot! I can’t imagine why the editor(s) placed it at the beginning rather than the end.

In search of life’s purpose

Well written and interesting story with a fine narrator that brought the characters to life.