From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader

The Sheltering Sky
by
Start date
March 1, 2010
Finish date
April 1, 2010
Discussion
Classics Corner
Discussion leader
Rosana

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What Members Thought

David
Bowles's writing still gets under one's skin, but this didn't hold up particularly well on a second reading over the weekend. I think I was in my twenties when I first read "The Sheltering Sky"; what seemed profound back then seems considerably less so now. The ennui of the main protagonists didn't bother me particularly when I first read the book; this time around I wanted to reach in and slap them to their senses. Many times over. By and large they seemed primarily shallow, stupid, and self-ce ...more
Courtney
Dec 18, 2006 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: fiction
Bowles, an expatriate, writes a compelling story of travellers lost in the vast, impassive desert. He touches on how American inability to understand/comprehend other cultures ultimately destroys them.
Katy
Mar 03, 2010 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: fiction, travel
This is a haunting book. Although I found the characters unsympathetic and the plot, weak; the setting and the writing are unforgettable. It is really a psychological novel about two people, Port and Kit, who have come to a country in North Africa to travel and perhaps rekindle their marriage. They are accompanied by a third person, Tunner, an old friend. The story is propelled by the changing relationships of the three, and especially by Port's death from Typhoid and the consequent mental and e ...more
Catherine
Oct 08, 2007 rated it it was amazing
It's been a few years now since I read this. I was in a foreign country with little selection of books in English. I had no expectations. It's funny how years later I can not remember all the details of the book, but instead the feelings I had and where I had them. I finished the book, slowing closing the cover (slowing letting go of the last page is a bit of a ritual for me), and just sitting on my bed confused. Not feeling much to say the least, or maybe feeling too much. I put the book aside, ...more
Jim
Mar 01, 2010 rated it really liked it
intense book about a couple in Northern Africa in the 50s trying to find each other and a reason to enjoy or understand their lives
Dottie
Powerful -- amazing. The film is good -- very good -- but the book is far and away above it so do read it before viewing the film. Still I must admit this is one of the few instances where I truly love the story in either form.

The atmospheric setting is the most intriguing character in the book -- and the strongest in many ways.
Casey
Jul 18, 2007 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Lenore Myka
Feb 01, 2008 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Linda
Feb 17, 2008 rated it it was amazing
Ruth
Apr 12, 2008 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Kyle
Jan 22, 2009 marked it as to-read
Lisa
Feb 19, 2009 marked it as to-read
Yulia
Oct 25, 2009 marked it as to-read
Shelves: enjoyably-awful
Mary Anne
Oct 25, 2009 rated it really liked it
Sherry
Nov 12, 2009 rated it really liked it
Shelves: classicscorner
Jennie
Jan 02, 2010 marked it as to-read
Rashida
Jan 21, 2010 marked it as to-read
Gail
Jan 24, 2010 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Diane
Jan 24, 2010 rated it really liked it
Beej
Feb 01, 2010 rated it liked it  ·  review of another edition
Robert
Feb 22, 2010 marked it as to-read
Melissa
Mar 02, 2010 rated it really liked it
Shelves: classics-corner
Bahareh
Mar 10, 2010 rated it really liked it
Caladrius
Jun 08, 2010 marked it as to-read
Sheila
Jan 07, 2011 marked it as to-read
Sara
Jul 24, 2011 marked it as to-read
Kenneth P.
Aug 05, 2011 rated it really liked it
Shelves: africa
David
Aug 11, 2011 rated it liked it
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