The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles is one of The Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels, it is also part of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read compilation, and it is ranked 619th on The Greatest Books of All Time site – you find thousands of reviews of magnum opera from the aforementioned and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel, where I have to recommend my macaws

 

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles is one of The Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels, it is also part of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read compilation, and it is ranked 619th on The Greatest Books of All Time site – you find thousands of reviews of magnum opera from the aforementioned and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel, where I have to recommend my macaws

 

9 out of 10

 

I have already been impressed by The Sheltering Sky https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/sheltering-sky.html and now I have just finished it for the second time, this time it was read by wonderful Oscar Winner Jennifer Connelly, she won it for her role in A Beautiful Mind

 

It is an interesting experience, taking a chef d’oeuvre up for a second time (why not, for many more times) because I could not remember – for some masterpieces, I have scenes that are still vivid, say the door closing when Clavdia Chauchat (if this is the correct name) closes the door at the dining room in The Magic Mountain

Actually, I even recall she did not really ‘close it’, it was a loud noise, because she was outlandish, angelique, would not bother with mundane acts, so she just allowed the thing to slam – the hero falls in love with her, after the initial rejection https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/magic-mountain-by-thomas-mann.html

 

I have just learned that The Sheltering Sky is also on The All-TIME 100 Best English Novels – Port Moresby and his wife, Kit, have travelled to Africa – there was mention of the alternative, which would have been Italy, a much better choice for them, with hindsight – and the narrative is full of adventure and…philosophy

The name itself, The Sheltering Sky is somewhat explained, but it is more poetry, suggestive- to begin with, Port takes a walk and he meets this stranger, who takes him to meet a beautiful woman – not a prostitute, he insists, albeit the American has a point when he asks ‘but I will pay her?’ nonetheless, she does not live in the designated area…

 

The narrative reminds me of Hideous Kinky https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/hideous-kinky-by-esther-freud-10-out-of.html - indeed, the woman is not a sex worker, she is a thief, when they are about to get intimate, Port finds his wallet in her hands, he barely escapes this place, and the they move on

However, his wife does not want to travel with these obnoxious British people, and ergo she takes the train with their ‘friend’, Tanner, and on the trip, we have adultery, which is why I put friend between commas, thinking of Thomas Mann and his reluctance, in one of his short stories, to admit that we have love, friendship in real life

 

Spoiler alert – Port gets very sick, and the narrative becomes outré, Sahara, Africa did not seem to be the place for these characters, although Kit may have a resilience that surpasses that of her spouse, her ordeal, experiences are overwhelming, I now realize, writing this, that she is the heroine and the others are just supporting characters…

 

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