HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

Desert (1980)

by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
6891933,028 (3.73)94
After being driven from their land by French colonial soldiers in 1909, Nour and his people, "the blue men" must search for a haven out of the desert that will shelter them. Interspersed with the story of Nour is the contemporary story of Lalla, a descendent of the blue men, who lives in Morocco and tries to stay true to the blood of her ancestors while experiencing life as a modern immigrant.… (more)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 94 mentions

English (12)  French (4)  Dutch (1)  Swedish (1)  Italian (1)  All languages (19)
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
First the confession: I had never heard of Le Clezio until he won the Nobel in 2008, then when I bought the book a few months later, it was not the Noble prize that compelled me, but the picture on the cover of the verbamundi hardcover edition– an enigmatic woman with a blue veil. (the picture, by the way, is by photographer Dan Heller).



To be lead to this book by a picture is ironic, as the reading of Desert is so much akin of watching a painter drawing and coloring on a canvas. It also requires the same patience and attention. Readers who crave plot should be warned that this is probably not a book for you. Le Clezio is a master of description. The desert, a slum in Morocco and the streets of Marseille all comes alive, but their hues and smells and the people populating them take shape slowly and hazily. At times I had to force myself to read the pages and pages of description – the western reader in me wanting to jump the long repetitive paragraphs – but there was such great reward when I got to abandon myself into Le Clezio’s imaginary.

If I stay with the idea of painting with words, I would say that Le Clezio is an impressionist painter at that. There is not much definition in the images, and one should discard rationalization and let feelings/impressions guide the experience of reading this book.

His writing reminded me of, the also Nobel Prize winner, Kawabata. They share the same lyric quality, and write in a form beyond plot, where the character’s actions and their surrounding environment convey more than dialogue and story line. Yet, there is something that I want to call “magic realism” on LeClezio’s writing. I hate to say it because “magic realism” seems overused to me. It is perhaps a “magic realism” closer to Salman Rushdie than Garcia Marquez, but I cannot find other form of describing it.

I will attempt to read other books by Le Clezio, but I probably will wait a while. If Desert is a sample of how he writes, he is an author that demands a certain mood and commitment from his reader. He is not meant to be read in 20 minute allotments, while waiting for the kids’ dentist appointments or rushed before going to bed. I will plan for a summer weekend when I can read without interruptions for hours on end. I should be ready for it then...
( )
  RosanaDR | Apr 15, 2021 |
2010 (my review can be found on the LibraryThing post linked)
http://www.librarything.com/topic/90167#2381849 ( )
  dchaikin | Oct 4, 2020 |
La toute jeune Lalla a pour ancêtres les " hommes bleus " , guerriers du désert de Rio de Oro, chassés et traqués du Sud au Nord par les conquérants français puis impitoyablement massacrés.
Mais le sang des hommes bleus a survécu en Lalla. La vie de la petite Maure dans un bidonville d'une grande cité proche de la mer, est constamment doublée, dominée par l'épopée chantante, obstinée, orgueilleuse que la race les maîtres d'autrefois avaient cru vaincre.
Lalla, enfant du désert, est fascinée par l'apparition d'un mystérieux homme bleu, qu'elle nomme Es Er, c'est à dire "le secret ". Aussi la puissance de la nature et des légendes, son amour pour le Hartani, un jeune berger muet qui lui fait découvrir son corps, ensuite une évasion manquée vers " leur " désert, avant l'exil à Marseille dans un quartier misérable où ses frères immigrés végètent, tout cela ne peut que durcir son âme lumineuse. Car Lalla a beau travailler dans un hôtel sordide, être enceinte du Hartani, devenir une cover-girl célèbre grâce à un photographe de mode ébloui par sa beauté, rien n'éteindra au cœur de la jeune femme sa foi religieuse et sa passion du désert. Un jour, elle y retournera toute seule, en rescapée de l'enfer des hommes.
(Quatrième de couverture de l'édition Gallimard 1980)
  Haijavivi | Jun 5, 2019 |
I was curious about Le Clezio because he won the Nobel Prize. The prose was lovely and lyrical, but I do love a good plot. Two stories intertwine - a young man is part of an ill-fated army headed across the desert to fight the Christians in the early part of the 20th century. In the later part of the century, a young woman lives in squalor on the coast of North Africa. She seems to be a conduit for a lot of marvelous description of nature and then later of city life - but to not have much of a life of her own. Finishing it was a bit of a struggle. I hope the next in line at the library enjoys it more! ( )
  cindywho | May 27, 2019 |
I just couldnt get into this- it's very poetic and atmospheric as it opens with a caravan of tribespeople trekking across the desert. But no plotline seemed forthcoming and I just couldnt focus on it.
  starbox | Jun 17, 2018 |
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
The problem with "Desert" is not that its author is European or that he won the Nobel, but that it is a truly dreadful book, a dull and dimly plotted fable based in one of the West's oldest and most self-serving myths, that we are the locus of all corruption and that purity lies outside.
 
“Desert” is a rich, sprawling, searching, poetic, provocative, broadly historic and demanding novel, which in all those ways displays the essence of Le Clézio. As a reflection on colonization and its legacy, it is painfully relevant after 30 years. Weaving together two stories that span the 20th century, Le Clézio tells of the last days of the Tuareg, the desert warriors known as the blue men, who are being driven from their ancestral lands in North Africa by the French colonial army and “the new order,” and in counterpoint, the travails of a later generation trapped in the projects and shantytowns of Tangier and Marseille.
 

» Add other authors (12 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Le Clézio, Jean-Marie Gustaveprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Dickson, C.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
芳郎, 望月Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

Belongs to Publisher Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
They appeared as if in a dream at the top of the dune, half hidden in the cloud of sand rising from their steps.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

After being driven from their land by French colonial soldiers in 1909, Nour and his people, "the blue men" must search for a haven out of the desert that will shelter them. Interspersed with the story of Nour is the contemporary story of Lalla, a descendent of the blue men, who lives in Morocco and tries to stay true to the blood of her ancestors while experiencing life as a modern immigrant.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.73)
0.5 1
1 2
1.5
2 8
2.5
3 23
3.5 9
4 18
4.5 8
5 24

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,189,864 books! | Top bar: Always visible