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Overview
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.
Synopsis
A beautiful, yet disturbing, tale of two people traveling into the Sahara. Although the couple apear to be smart, independent travelers, they are not equipped to travel into the desert.Thus, each time hardship strikes, pieces of their comfortable lives and the identities they had constructed seem to peel away. The shifting sands and unforgiving sun are metaphors for the shocking and vulgar circumstances that befall them.
Brilliantly paced, the novel takes the characters through cycles much like those of an addict—from being dazed to being frenzied to being frozen. Despite the fact that some find The Sheltering Sky reminiscent of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the characters in this book ultimately have options.
New Republic
Stands head and shoulders above most other novels published in English since World War II.