First two-thirds excellent, then got a little bit too telly and didactic, then got disappointing, then redeemed itself and ended with startling poignancy and sadness. Bowles is a fantastic writer and goes much more deeply into his often unlikeable characters than does St. Aubyn.
Meditation on the levels of communication and understanding that exist between individuals and cultures. We are often unable or unwilling to imagine what other people must be thinking in a given situation, and that inability is exaggerated when backgrounds are very different. That prevents us from really understanding or having compassion for each other. Looks at events and groups I know little about -- Morocco at the time of independence in the mid-50s, the Moroccan nationalist/communist resistance movement and the French regime it rose against -- from the perspective of outsiders coming from different sides. Learned stuff without being taught it directly, which is always satisfying.
Liked it okay.
Nice epigraph: "The parable of those who take protectors other than Allah is that of the spider, who builds (to itself) a house; but truly the flimsiest of houses is the spider’s house;- if they but knew." From the Quran.
Meditation on the levels of communication and understanding that exist between individuals and cultures. We are often unable or unwilling to imagine what other people must be thinking in a given situation, and that inability is exaggerated when backgrounds are very different. That prevents us from really understanding or having compassion for each other. Looks at events and groups I know little about -- Morocco at the time of independence in the mid-50s, the Moroccan nationalist/communist resistance movement and the French regime it rose against -- from the perspective of outsiders coming from different sides. Learned stuff without being taught it directly, which is always satisfying.
Liked it okay.
Nice epigraph: "The parable of those who take protectors other than Allah is that of the spider, who builds (to itself) a house; but truly the flimsiest of houses is the spider’s house;- if they but knew." From the Quran.
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