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"It stands head and shoulders above most other novels published in English since World War II."--"The New Republic""[The Sheltering Sky] is one of the most original, even visionary, works of fiction to appear in this century."--Tobias Wolff
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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"It stands head and shoulders above most other novels published in English since World War II."--"The New Republic""[The Sheltering Sky] is one of the most original, even visionary, works of fiction to appear in this century."--Tobias Wolff
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He awoke, opened his eyes. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
He awoke, opened his eyes. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Port Moresby (probably the only fictional character to be named after a city in Papua New Guinea) and his wife Kit head off on a journey across North Africa in search of...actually they haven't a clue what they're looking for. All they find is heat, desert and a growing realisation that their marriage is collapsing within an environment that they are increasingly unable to cope with. Matters are complicated by the presence of Kit's clandestine lover and a boorish English mother and son combination who do little but encroach upon the Moresby's aimless quest. Nothing goes according to plan and as Port's health deteriorates, Kit finds that her terrible omens are about to be fulfilled.
This extraordinary novel envelops the reader with shimmering images and deft characterisation. Amongst all this, there is a message about the hollowness of the American post-war experience. The protagonists feel compelled to explore alien territory but their search for discovery is engulfed by the vastness of the desert. The way the plot unfolds is totally unexpected but conventional narrative wouldn't make sense here. North Africa is different and in this book Bowles lucidly demonstrates why this is the case.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
'TSS' by Paul Bowles is the story of Kit and Port Moresby, who are travelling around North Africa in the years preceding World War II, accompanied by their friend Tunner. Kit and Port are married but estranged, a couple who are as close to perfection for the other as their personalities allow, but who share a love of isolation and secrecy that means that there will always be a chasm between them. Tunner is a fly in the ointment, a sexual rival for Port, an irritant for Kit. On their travels they stay in increasingly hellish places, each more alien than the last, and encounter the nightmarish inhabitants, both European and African, of that remote landscape.
This book has been described as 'African Gothic', and this seems as good a label as any. A dark, brooding atmosphere persists throughout, although there is no horror in the traditional sense. Port and Kit are travelling through their own personal heart of darkness, weighed down by the metaphorical baggage the carry with them, and by each other. They attempt to escape this ever-decreasing circle by sexual liaisons that are both erotic and grotesque in equal measure, and by running as far from westerners and the western way of life as possible. However, their fear of the new, frightening, world they encounter, and their inability to rid themselves of the influences of their past lives lead them ever closer to their own personal hell.
'TSS' is brilliantly written, conjuring strong visual images of the world the Moresby's find themselves plunging into. The powerful writing style reminded me of Malcolm Lowry, and I recommend that fans of one try the other. Bowles' writing is less well structured, but just as successful at bringing the nightmare to life. It isn't an especially easy read, both because of Bowles' occasionally meandering prose and the grimness of the events being recounted. I was also a little bemused by the finale, which seemed to take Kit's African horror a little too far. Despite this, it was still an excellent book to have read, and one I can recommend to anyone interested in great writing.
This book has been described as 'African Gothic', and this seems as good a label as any. A dark, brooding atmosphere persists throughout, although there is no horror in the traditional sense. Port and Kit are travelling through their own personal heart of darkness, weighed down by the metaphorical baggage the carry with them, and by each other. They attempt to escape this ever-decreasing circle by sexual liaisons that are both erotic and grotesque in equal measure, and by running as far from westerners and the western way of life as possible. However, their fear of the new, frightening, world they encounter, and their inability to rid themselves of the influences of their past lives lead them ever closer to their own personal hell.
'TSS' is brilliantly written, conjuring strong visual images of the world the Moresby's find themselves plunging into. The powerful writing style reminded me of Malcolm Lowry, and I recommend that fans of one try the other. Bowles' writing is less well structured, but just as successful at bringing the nightmare to life. It isn't an especially easy read, both because of Bowles' occasionally meandering prose and the grimness of the events being recounted. I was also a little bemused by the finale, which seemed to take Kit's African horror a little too far. Despite this, it was still an excellent book to have read, and one I can recommend to anyone interested in great writing.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Kit and her husband Port Moresby (sic) have turned their backs on the futility of an idle New York life to embark on a journey without an end in North Africa, still French-owned at the time this is set. The couple is troubled, and finding an aim amid the sandy waste is also expected to solve their sexual problems. But what can be expected from a journey to nowhere, except that it should lead into the void?
Paul Bowles's The Sheltering Sky differs in all respects from the movie. Bowles's Sahara isn't that of Bertolucci's technicolor photo; it is cruel, unforgiving, dirty; it is full of flies, of petty colonial officials and impenetrable locals, a stark and treacherous place. Port and Kit aren't a romantic and courageous couple, at least not initially, more a spoilt pair, self-centred, sometimes mean. Kit only comes into her own later, and Port never does, though the typhoid scene is beautifully written (the same in the movie must be Malkovich's worst piece of acting).
Indeed, that's just the thing: Bowles's novel is convincing; it feels real. At the same time, this is a philosophical as well as a psychological piece. Two characters search for meaning in a vast, bleak, empty landscape where they can only hope to get lost; life's quest must end in death, and all meaning can only be incidental, such as the devotion to Port Kit rediscovers in herself when it is too late. The strength of The Sheltering Sky is that it does not lecture, however; it is never blatant or pompous. Only the ending is dubious; here the philosophical point takes over, perhaps, at the expense of psychological likelihood. Bowles himself is supposed to have declared later, in an interview, that it was `idiotic'. More equivoque and provocation? You will have to judge for yourself.
Paul Bowles's The Sheltering Sky differs in all respects from the movie. Bowles's Sahara isn't that of Bertolucci's technicolor photo; it is cruel, unforgiving, dirty; it is full of flies, of petty colonial officials and impenetrable locals, a stark and treacherous place. Port and Kit aren't a romantic and courageous couple, at least not initially, more a spoilt pair, self-centred, sometimes mean. Kit only comes into her own later, and Port never does, though the typhoid scene is beautifully written (the same in the movie must be Malkovich's worst piece of acting).
Indeed, that's just the thing: Bowles's novel is convincing; it feels real. At the same time, this is a philosophical as well as a psychological piece. Two characters search for meaning in a vast, bleak, empty landscape where they can only hope to get lost; life's quest must end in death, and all meaning can only be incidental, such as the devotion to Port Kit rediscovers in herself when it is too late. The strength of The Sheltering Sky is that it does not lecture, however; it is never blatant or pompous. Only the ending is dubious; here the philosophical point takes over, perhaps, at the expense of psychological likelihood. Bowles himself is supposed to have declared later, in an interview, that it was `idiotic'. More equivoque and provocation? You will have to judge for yourself.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Intense but disappointing
An intense and thoughtful novel with occasional flashes of brilliance, but I was expecting more from this "classic". The characters proved hard people to care about. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Simon Bendle
music of the sands
Paul Bowles was originally a composer and his ear for the cadence and rhythms of language is evident in this, the best known of his four novels. Read more
Published on 22 Oct 2009 by Catherine Murphy
Disappointing
I had high hopes for this book but found the characters two-dimensional and lacking in any attributes that resembled genuine human emotions. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2009 by B. WARD
The Last Third
This very original and dynamically written novel should be read for its final third.
Starting (and continuing) as a rather pedestrian travelogue, it eventually... Read more
Starting (and continuing) as a rather pedestrian travelogue, it eventually... Read more
Published on 22 Oct 2008 by Edward Barry
Loses the plot badly
Four fifths of this book are excellent, if a little ponderous and slow-moving. The characters are well drawn and we feel gradually drawn in to a web of intrigue and decay. Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2008 by daisyrock
Splendid pictures of people and places
The three main characters in this story are nicely drawn in the first few pages and we stay with them throughout their journey across a part of Africa. Read more
Published on 29 Jun 2008 by D. W. Miller
Character is Destiny
Initially, Kit and Port, the preppy primary characters in THE SHELTERING SKY, seem more like attitudes than people. Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2008 by Ethan Cooper
well-worth reading
I really enjoyed this book.It gripped me from the start but i am not really sure why?It is a page turner and at the end of each chapter i wanted to read on but i wanted more to... Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2008 by vic
The Best Novel of the Twentieth Century
Having picked this book up in my mid twenties after an initial fascination with the beat writers (and thus coming to Paul Bowles in relation to them) I quickly became absorbed in... Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2008 by A. J. O. Donnell
A wonderful snapshot of 1940's travellers.
On my first attempt at reading this book, I will admit I became quickly bored and gave up. I perservered more diligently on my second attempt, although mainly through a lack of... Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2004 by A. C. James
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