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Title: Let It Come Down by Paul Frederic Bowles ISBN: 0-87685-479-X Publisher: Black Sparrow Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 1981 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.89 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Tangled Tangier
Comment: Nelson Dyar, escaping from a dead-end job in the States, arrives in Tangier with the hope of finding a new meaning to his life. The question is whether or not Tangier is the right place to reconstruct his existence.
The society Dyar finds there is alien yet liberating, sexually and morally, but at the same time deeply frustrating. Dyar falls for a local prostitute, Hadija, but the alcoholic lesbian Eunice Goode rivals him for Hadija's affections. Drugs, alcohol and infidelity run through the expatriate community in Tangier: it's as if at the touching point between Middle Eastern and Western (Islamic and Atheistic) cultures there is a mutual contamination or breakdown of values.
That's of course if you buy into the belief that any of the Western characters in Bowles's novel have morals or values in the first place - they pretty much all seem to have drifted away from their own countries and cultures and with good reason, for all are deeply flawed. Perhaps rather than cross-contamination it would do Bowles more justice to see the Western characters as a totally alien presence in North Africa (almost akin to a virus).
"Let It Come Down" is riveting - a good plot with plenty of reflective passages, and above all a compelling trip into the seedy side of expatriate life.
G Rodgers
Rating: 4
Summary: brilliant prose saves the day...
Comment: Paul Bowles can really write some lovely literature. The setting of his novels, Morocco circa 1950, simply comes alive. Thankfully in 'The Sheltering Sky' his writing ability is put to good use in a very moving story. Unfortunately in 'Let It Come Down' the author falls short, and doesn't attempt to express the human emotions found in 'The Sheltering Sky'. Having said this, most aspiring authors would kill to write anything as good as 'Let It Come Down'.
In 'Let It Come Down' we have a disillusioned young American escaping to Morocco and getting himself into all sorts of mischief. The characters he meets are bizarre yet most fascinating. It takes some 200+ pages, or two-thirds of the book, before the story takes any sort of direction. 'Let It Come Down' is touted as a thriller, and so you have some idea of what the last third of the book is about. If it wasn't for the author's ability to write fine prose with brilliant characterizations this book would be a dud. But instead it is a worthy read.
Bottom line: hardly the best from Paul Bowles, which means it is simply quite decent instead of excellent.
Rating: 5
Summary: More excellent Bowles prose
Comment: -Another great book by Bowles. Not as interesting to me from a historical perspective as "The Spider's House," but in some ways a deeper penetration into the human soul. Deserves even more attention than it gets (and maybe even more than 'Sheltering Sky').
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Title: The Spider's House by Paul Bowles ISBN: 0876855451 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 01 June, 1982 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
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Title: Up Above The World by Paul Bowles ISBN: 0880015004 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 01 February, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Stories of Paul Bowles by Paul Bowles ISBN: 006093784X Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles ISBN: 0880015829 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 01 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Without Stopping: An Autobiography by Paul Bowles ISBN: 0880016752 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 01 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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