Way existential. I think. I didn't really get it.
A husband and wife are traveling with his friend. They are described as travelers, not tourists; none seem to have had any occupation. Today, they are in North Africa, most likely Algeria, although the author seems vague at times. Why are they in post WW II Algeria you say? Well, they seem to have traveled everywhere else. The desert is calling them. These three seem to be ambivalent about the natives, but they constantly run into a parochial-minded mother and son team who are definitely the most prejudiced, biased, bigoted, insensitive, intolerant, racists on the earth. They hate everyone; even each other. Eventually our mom and pop wander so far into the arid wasteland of the Sahara that we dont know where they end up; it could be anywhere between Mauritania and Sudan. In the end they all lose; only the desert wins. There are many voids in the manuscript. These are generally where a lengthy or complicated narrative would be needed to fill in the story. You will have to fill in yourself.
Fascinating, dark, an unparalleled entrance for this American into a foreign world. A masterpiece of psychological drama and inner life. This book grabs you and afterward you won't forget it easily. In fact, you may not forget it at all, which, to me, means it has somehow changed you.
