In Let It Come Down, Paul Bowles plots the doomed trajectory of Nelson Dyar, a New York bank teller who comes to Tangier in search of a different life and ends up giving in to his darkest impulses. Rich in descriptions of the corruption and decadence of the International Zone in the last days before Moroccan independence, Bowles's second novel is an alternately comic and horrific account of a descent into nihilism.
Let it Come Down: A Novel
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Book Description
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Paul Bowles was born in Queens, New York, in 1910. He began his travels as a teenager, setting off for Paris, telling no one of his plans. In 1930 he visited Morocco for the first time, with Aaron Copland, with whom he was studying music. His early reputation was as a composer and he wrote the scores for several Tennessee Williams plays. Bowles married the writer Jane Auer in 1938, and after the war the couple settled in Tangier. In Morocco Bowles turned principally to fiction. The Sheltering Sky—inspired by his travels in the Sahara—was a New York Times bestseller in 1950, and has gone on to sell more than 250,000 copies. It was followed by three further novels, numerous short stories, nonfiction, and translations. Bowles died in Tangier in 1999.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Essential Paul Bowles novel,
By A Customer
This review is from: Let It Come Down (Paperback)
Ah, Paul Bowles, you fiend! In "Let it Come Down," all the paranoid extremes which usually lurk beneath the surface are stripped to the bone, and the freakish products of repression and misunderstanding take center stage. In this book everything that has characterized his stuff (deliberately paced descents into hell that sneak up on you when you least expect it--freaky, druggy, exotic psychological and metaphorical thrillers) is distilled, and instead of mellowing out the sting of his work, it amplifies the impact. It is the essential Paul Bowles novel. Bowles' narrative is the usual "not-as-much-of-a-stranger-as-he-thought-in-a-strange-land" tale of misfortune, but this time, Bowles succeeds in making us eager for his hapless protagonist's fate. Dyar, an uncharismatic, unsatisfied, and woefully repressed New Yorker who accepts a job from a friend in the schizophrenic Tangier of the fifties--a city that doesn't exist anymore, and didn't when the book was first published. Bowles' Tangiers is a dirty and debaucherous, a big stew of misfits and expats, and he does this in his trademark smoky, sly atmosphere. Here we see where Bowles is taking us, and even though we're dreading what's in store for our self-absorbed, pathetic hero, we're looking forward to it nonetheless, and with evil glee. This is a good place to start with Paul Bowles.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sex, Drugs & Violence with dark social observations.....,
By A Customer
This review is from: Let It Come Down (Paperback)
"Let it Come Down" is the story of an American who travels to Tangier in search of an exciting new life, but winds up living a nightmare. It illustrates what can happen when you let a desire for adventure take control of your life and that there is a savage spirit in the most outwardly civilised human being. I believe this book was handwritten by lamplight on an island Paul Bowles once owned..... "Let it Come Down" is my favourite Bowles novel by far. Shorter and easier to read than his best-known work, "The Sheltering Sky", the key concepts in "Let it Come Down" seem to be more clearly defined and, as a result, the novel has a quicker pace and more confident feel. Although written quite some time ago, Bowles' dark style is as hip as if it were written yesterday. The mix of exotic setting, sex, violence, and drugs will keep you turning the pages, and the social commentary and dark yet plain writing style will haunt you long after you've turned the last page.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fear and Beauty...,
This review is from: Let It Come Down (Paperback)
Ah..It is so quintesential Paul Bowles. If you ever thought You could fill the boredom and tedium life often has to offer by jaunting off to find adventure in another county, Paul Bowles will show you the horrors of trying to run away from yourself. The main Character Dyar is only a half formed person who makes the mistake of throwing himself in the middle of a very unstable Morocco where all the other expatriots hiding out smell his weakeness and jump at the chance to take advantage of him for their own devious means. At first you feel pity for him but soon it turns to disgust. I don't want to give away the whole book, but know that though the plot is dark it is filled with insight and magnificent landscapes.
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