Desert

An exhilarating glimpse into a rarefied world of the senses -- a world that is stripped clean of all but the basics but all that is needed to experience rapture -- and this in comparison to the sordid nature of the world in general. A trip for the soul - tragic but uplifting at the same time.

I agree with the review by Ann Noonan, in the sense that this book is primarily about rhythm. The main character whose ancestors lived free in the desert, is forced to leave and emigrate to Marseilles in France. The difference of pace in the narration transports us in two different worlds with different values and hardships.However, I only gave it 4 stars as it can be difficult to engage with the book. It could be a little dated, and I am looking forward to read more recent work by le Clezio.

Beautiful and facinating book.... One of the most impressive books I have read in a long time. Have ordered a few copies to give to friends!

The book began with a wonderful description of walking through the north African desert, but it became repetitive and tedious. A succession of swollen lips, parched throats and bleeding feet, with one day much like the next. That story is told through the eyes of teenage Noor. A later story is intertwined with it, the story of teenage Lalla, who eventually emigrates to the slums of Marseilles. I found the descriptions of Marseilles more interesting than those of the desert. Lalla's life in Marseilles becomes unbelievable: she becomes a photographer's model, despite being several months pregnant. The pregnancy seems to last for a year or more, and she returns to north Africa to give birth in the sand dunes.The book is translated from the French into American English, which can be irritating. Nevertheless there is a flow of balladry about it, and the story is reminiscent of Homeric epics. There is a political message about the effects of colonialism on the conquered people. Perhaps there is meant to be a glimmer of hope with the birth of Lalla's child - or perhaps not.

Prompt delivery and book as described - great!

Le Clezio's 'Desert' is an elegy to a bygone age, to a lost way of life and to a lost people. Ostensibly, the novel links two children across the ages; a young boy, Nour, at the turn of the twentieth century travelling with his tribe across the desert to escape the encroaching Christian colonisers; and an orphaned girl, many years later, who despite living in a shanty town with her aunt, is relentlessly drawn to the desert and to the nomadic way of life. It's a loose link though and like the sands they both walk on, any significance between their stories shifts as the novel progresses.Where Le Clezio's novel is beautiful is in its depiction of the desert. This is both broadly cinematic, full of the wide horizon scorched by the burning sun and intensely personal with the description of the trail left in the sand by a passing snake or the sharp stones that cut the feet, among others. Le Clezio spends a huge proportion of the novel deep in the sands of the desert, bringing the heat, the wind and the grains of sand so vividly to life that nothing else seems to have any real significance.In many ways therefore, Nour's story (by far the shorter of the two) puts a human context to the desert. His life shows the ancient synchronicity between man and the extremes of the desert, stripped as his story is of almost all traditional or religious details. Lalla's story in turn seems simply to underline the atmosphere he portrays in the desert: Her story is far from entirely credible (how does she travel without papers,how does she achieve so much in so little time, how does she return without the ability to read and why is everyone suddenly obsessed with her eyes?) but she embodies the mysticism of the desert, of the legends of the desert peoples and illustrates how at odds they are with our modern world.So, 'Desert' is a deeply evocative book but it is not a traditional character-based yarn. It's a beautiful book, but at times strangely paced and some of the sudden leaps in Lalla's story can be quite jarring. The title however is 'desert' and make no mistake, the central character here is very much the desert not the people. If you have the patience to bear with that, you will enjoy it.

I loved the different rhythmns of life which are fundamental to this book. In the evenings I often read aloud a book which my husband and I are following and the language in 'Desert' is lyrical. I cannot say that I understand the mentality of the heroine but that does not stop my admiration for her character and her ability to survive. She has the ability to keep inside herself her own stability and happiness. The blending of the historical defeat against colonial powers and the love of the people for the desert despite incredible hardships is fundamental to the building of the character of the heroine.

This book was totally spoiled for me by the translation into American English, which often left me bewildered. I failed to finish what I hoped would be an inspiring read.

One of the best novels I've read so far. The way Le Clezio expressed the desert, weather, rising sand, is inexpressible in words. The story is about a boy Nour and a girl Lalla. Wonderful novel. He's a gifted writer.

I only glanced at the reviews of this book in passing, while looking for other titles by this author, because it never even occurred to me that anyone could feel anything about this book but complete awe. In my case, for sometime before picking up 'Desert', (and mostly to avoid the lengthy process of finding another great book by trial and error), I just started down the list of Nobel laureates and, after 10 or 12 other authors, I finally got around to this one. Even amidst a steady literary diet of the greatest of the greats, this book stands alone for the amazingly textual details and textures, the coloration, the essential 'mise en scenes' that Le Clezio creates, and then combine those gorgeous and resoundingly real descriptions with an adventurous, sweeping plot line. So, it actually is a great story, but the literary style alone makes this a towering literary achievement.The main character is an innocent, precocious little girl and her life stands dazzlingly revealed as a time and place of deep, powerful mysticism mixed with a genuine wonder at the changing world around her. The other main character, who exists as thesis/antithesis to the girl, is a Muslim boy headed for tribal war amidst of backdrop against which an ancient way of life is being displaced by more powerful, and modern forces.Either way, even if you take the story away completely, and only look at the words on the page, as one might regard colors on a canvas without regard for their meaning, this is one of the most beautifully crafted literary works I've ever read. I can still see the color of blue on the robes and tattered cloaks of the bedouin warriors as they make their way across vast white washes of shifting sand. Its an unforgettably beautiful book.

Je suis plus que déçue par ce deuxième achat Kindle ! J'aurais aimé savoir qu'il était en version anglaise et non française !! dans ce cas je ne l'aurais pas acheté !!

Great description of North Africa. I personally prefer the French (original) edition.

Extrêmement déçue d'avoir la version kindle en anglais alors que j'espérais la version française.