Negative Positive
Title: Intriguing Book Unravels
Review: I read "Sheltering Sky" after seeing the movie by Bernardo Bertolucci. Usually I see a film AFTER reading the book, but this film, in a Bertolucci retrospective, was intriguing and left me with many questions about the characters that I thought might be resolved in the novel. The novel was unfulfilling in terms of understanding the main character's motivations, particularly those of Kit and Porte. Nonetheless, the first half of the book, set in North Africa, probably Algeria, was compelling. However, in my opinion "Sheltering Sky" deteriorated as the story focuses on Kit. Without giving the plot away, I'll say only that her behavior turns incomprehensible and disturbing. Sheltering Sky unexpectedly degenerates into a kind of gothic novel -- which is not the genre I wanted to read.
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