Somewhere in a Desert [Hardcover]

Dominique Sigaud (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 1999

Set in the aftermath of the Gulf War, Dominique Sigaud's first novel tells the story of an American soldier, a casualty of the war, through a series of linked episodes that all turn out to centre around him, seeing the war through his eyes, and those of those around him, Iraqi and American, men and women. Written in a striking, spare prose, reminiscent of Duras in French or Hemingway in English, it is a novel of great, but quiet, ambition, remarkable in its avoidance of the cold tricksiness of so much contemporary French fiction, and its preparedness to grapple with the big themes of life, love and death.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"The war was over. In the middle of the desert a man lay dead." This is the haunting image reverberating throughout French journalist Sigaud's fervent, and somewhat overwrought, first novel. Set along the border of Iraq and Saudi Arabia at the end of the Gulf War, the story is related in the lyric cadences of a fable. American soldier John Paul Miller knows the war is over, but disoriented and possibly delirious, he drifts off aimlessly from his command post. Wandering past a village, Miller is shot by a blind man's son and dies. Villager Ali ben Fakr and wife Nour al-Koutoubi transcend enmity and tend to Miller's body. His African-American wife, Mary, receiving reports that her husband is missing in action, travels to the desert and, teaming with French minesweeper Robert Natua, discovers the site of her husband's burial in the desert and chooses to leave him where he fell. In Sigaud's circular plot, questions about the details of Miller's death are answered, but the meaning of his death remains elusive. Mary's grieving, vivid memories of her husband suffuse the story with her loss, driving home the point that his death was senseless and suggesting the same of other casualties of national conflicts. (Sigaud emphasizes that Miller was Jewish, Mary is black, the villagers are Muslim.) A terse meditation on war, the book begins with a quotation from French writer J.M.G. Le Cl?zio. "War has begun. No one knows where or how, but it has begun. Mouth open, it stands behind you, whispering. When it is over, no one will remain standing. No one will be spared." The original French title, L'Hypoth?se du d?sert (The Hypothesis of the Desert) better captures the tone of this dark, searching story: a poetic interrogation of the machine of war from the perspectives of those annihilated and those mourning. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This first novel about the Gulf War won six awards in France and is likely to be acclaimed in the United States. It tells the story of a man who went to war but lost his taste for it and then, just before the war ended, wandered off into the desert, where he was killed. The people from the nearby village are all greatly moved by the peace they see in his eyes and find themselves reviewing their lives. Woven into the tale is an account of the great love this white man has for his African American wife. The simple beauty of the prose, set against the callousness of those untouched by the war, renders this a powerful, haunting piece. Recommended for all public libraries as well as high school and college libraries.AAnn Irvine, Montgomery Cty. P.L., Silver Spring, MD
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing (October 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559704926
• ISBN-13: 978-1559704922
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,149,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)