Up above the World: Amazon.ca: Paul Bowles: Books

Product Description

Book Description

Dr Slade and his wife are on holiday in Latin America when they meet Grove, a charming and strikingly good-looking young man, and his beautiful mistress. An apparently chance encounter, it opens the door to an atmosphere shivering with nastiness. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Paul Bowles was born in 1910 and studied music with composer Aaron Copland before moving toTangier, Morocco, with his wife, Jane. He remained in Morocco, and- it served as the inspiration for The Sheltering Sky, which waspublished in 1949. It was followed by TheDelicate Prey, Let It Come Down, The Spider'sHouse and Without Stopping, a memoir thatdescribes his legendary associations with members of the Beat Generation. Bowles's prolific career included many musical compositions, collections of short fiction, and books of traveland poetry and translations.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Darkness in a sunny locale, Aug 24 2002

By

Doug Anderson (Miami Beach, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up Above The World Rev 2 Pa (Paperback)

The first 100 pages of Up Above The World follows the travelings of Taylor and Day two Americans very reminiscent of Port and Kit of Sheltering Sky. In the last 150 pages after meeting a strange couple Taylor and Day are no longer in control of their lives but prisoners of the strange couple. Exactly how this imprisoning takes place and for what reasons only become clear in the very last pages. Only a minimal plot description can be given as the pleasure is in finding things out in the order they are meant to be found out. Having been a longtime fan of Sheltering Sky and all of his stories I hesitated reading any of his other novels as I heard they were not as good as his first. But reading this I find I am reminded not so much of the eerie and desolate majesty of Sheltering Sky which is a far better novel but of Bowles short stories, especially the ones which take place in South America as this novel does. This is not Sheltering Sky caliber fiction but it is a very competent novel and will appeal to those who admire Bowles very modern and often horrific short stories full of deviant psychologies and drugs and all sorts of sordid and often primitive "truths" about human nature. The novel reads like an extended short story really. Occasional details peculiar for being so precise stand out as always in Bowles writing. He describes the sound a cricket makes as coming from the back of its black throat. The Bowles vision is as bleak a vision as exists in serious modern fiction but it is immensely appealing as gothic things often are. I doubt many people really feel the world is as Bowles describes it. He grasps at only one side of human nature, the side the sun never reaches. Not a place you want to live but an intriguing place to travel through.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Sex, Drugs and Bowles, April 8 2001

By

Daniel Olivas (West Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Up Above The World Rev 2 Pa (Paperback)

An exotic locale. An American couple with marital problems. A mysterious death. A friendship with a strange local couple. Sex. Drugs. Death. Very strange. Very well-crafted. Very good book. Very Bowles.

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2.0 out of 5 stars An excellent title..., Dec 22 2000

By

Richard Peel (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up Above The World Rev 2 Pa (Paperback)

It is an excellent title but... Paul Bowles is one of my favorite writers so I was disappointed that this, his last as far as I know, didn't live up to what I had been used to from him. For me, it just never clicked. I'll take another look at page 178 (are they all the same? opening few words may have helped...) but I doubt I'll read it again any time soon. Any of his other books would be immediately recommendable.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars An important book for fans, a "so what?" for neophites
Bowles is a great writer and he has written better books. If you are new, have heard the murmurings, and are looking to be wowed, go with The Sheltering Sky. Read more

Published on May 28 1999 by Jeffrey R Galipeaux

5.0 out of 5 stars everything a novel should be
This well-plotted novel is so much more than it seems. It doesn't take long to get right into the story with its moody pockets, hallucinatory scenes and beautiful people who are... Read more

Published on April 5 1999