Tedious
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I can't agree with the hyped reviews of this book. I found it terribly tedious; had no interest in any of the characters at all. A big expectation drop after Bowles' ***** Sheltering Sky
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Over praised, over long and overdone
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I don't understand this novel's classic status at all, but, having enjoyed The Sheltering Sky, ploughed on and on hoping for some improvement or development, but found little. The main character seemed to do things for no reason, and many of the actions of the characters, and even their inclusion in the novel, seemed completely arbitrary. Some of the description of life in Tangiers was interesting, but I'd rather read Bowles' travel books for that; this was a novel, and I found it rather unsatisfying. Also, the book's blurb rather gave away the ending.
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Astonishing...if you like that sort of thing.
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The blurb on the back cover does this book no justice at all. My (low) expectations were blown out of the water by a book that began in comic 50s style (a la "Lucky Jim" visits North Africa) with a bank clerk fleeing his dull but secure job to Tangiers.
After a dose of half-hearted hedonism, the book slowly but surely turns into black hole of nihilism. Think Camus. Think Battle of Algiers. That sort of thing.
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Sex & Drugs in Tangier
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I agree with alaranja77@hotmail.com's review (although not so generous with the stars): Dyar is bored with his trapped & conventional life in post-war USA &, on a whim takes off to Tangier, where in a comical mix of pouring rain, drink, drugs & sex (all of which he resolutely pretends to leave him unaffected: after all - he's only following conventional behaviour) he finds himself with a lot of cash. (The author’s preface gives this away.) Finally he takes a chance to be unconventional, free-at-last and for all the wrong reasons decides to flee. This gives Bowles a brief opportunity to contrast the honest, but superstitious, village life of the Berbers with the corrupted city dwellers. This book is an entertaining collection of irritating character-types, everyone wheeler-dealing, the jealously of multiple interleaved love-triangles and more. Passages describing Dyar’s drink- and then drug-induced hallucinations are impressive for their ability to explain the madness Dyar feels at being unable to free himself from his own paranoia. A dark ending after the comic beginning: the wages of sin! The author doesn’t find it necessary to tie up all the loose ends – just like real life: when it never rains but it pours.
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Let it come down
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I rarely give five stars to books but this is an incomparable piece of art. The back cover (of my copy anyway) describe this as a thriller but you know that Bowles wouldn't write just a simple thriller and it isn't in any way simple. This is a story of Dyer who is lost in NY and comes to Tangier only to lose everything including his identity and ultimately his mind. But through this loss, he discovers something too. Something which can only be found when in solitude in deepest Morocco. Bowles again shows off his local knowledge of Morroco and treats us to some understanding of the rich and varied Arabic culture.
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