Customer Reviews

The Wind Thief

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The Wind Thief by Martha Engber is a fable for our time filled with lyrical descriptions such as "clouds the color of bruises". Once you begin reading about Ajay in the Sahara Desert, you'll be captivated by his adventures with Madina, a young woman his age, who talks to the wind. Egber is a master writer, and this is a very readable tale. Carol Smallwood, author of Lily's Odyssey, and co-editor of, Contemporary American Women: Our Defining Passages

I wrote an Amazon review for The Wind Thief last year, but as I revisited this wonderful book this morning I came back here to remember what I'd written only to find that the review wasn't listed! Not sure what happened but allow me to try to improve upon what I'd said the last time:

I don't know that I've ever read a more fluid book, a book that immediately pulls you in and doesn't allow you to take a break from the journey until its completion. The main characters, through Engber, do not pause or digress. It is a forward-moving story with such stark beauty in both language and landscape that you'll find yourself reading and then rereading passages to relish their power. Engber takes us on journey that nimbly moves from desert to sea, from Africa to South America. The Wind Thief is filled with charm, wit, mystery, and a vivid landscape. But what makes this story great is the story of human connection between two characters who are both equally strong yet vulnerable. Also, I will never look at the wind in the same way again.

The Wind Thief is a beautifully written literary piece about a young man who decides to save a broken young woman with more scars than just the one across one side of her face. The Wind Thief is a tale so gripping you're captive from the first line. And if you're a writer, you'll find yourself studying every word, trying to capture the essence of great writing, until without warning, you've forgotten you're even reading at all.

Miss Engber's prose will sting and tug and pull at your heartstrings no matter how tough you think you are. Because while you're on a journey from the Sahara Desert to Morocco to South America to Jamaica, you're no longer simply a reader, you're a participant. The Wind Thief is what great writing should be about. A journey on the wings of a quest that will stay with you long after you've reached the end.

The Wind Thief, a story of salvation, yearning, survival, is rich with metaphors in a language that is easy to read and to escape into. Ajay sets out to save Madina and does just that. Madina sets out to save the world and ends up understanding more about life than most of us ever do.

Scars, fear, faith, but most of all The Wind Thief is about heroes.

If you're not familiar with what good writing looks like, try this book. It's lyrical in part and there isn't one scene Martha Engber paints that doesn't come off the page. The setting and the style of writing are original. There are really two main characters here, the mysterious girl who speaks to the wind, and Ajay, her companion. He is an original! I loved this guy. The second half of the book really picked up for me, and I found myself reading the last third of the book in one quick sitting, which by the way, kept me up too late.

Great job Martha Engber. What's next?

The book cover's mysterious, brooding image of wind-blown sand matches the novel's content perfectly.
Ajay, the main character, is a thief who stole my heart. Clever and determined, he was distrustful of almost everyone, including himself. But when a young woman he called Madina saved his life, he loved her unconditionally, even though she was incapable of returning that love.
Original and enigmatic, the story invites many interpretations. Are these two orphans, who create names and identities for themselves, a modern Adam and Eve? Are they a yin and yang of rationality versus intuition? Ajay says he wants to make his fortune, but he forfeits that future in order to stay with Madina. She wants to save the world from prolonged pain, but she wonders how and when she must do so, and whether Ajay is vital to the quest. Each intends to fulfill his or her own destiny, but they can not manage to split apart, even when their dreams diverge. Together, do they represent the id and superego, battling over needs and priorities?
Madina's obsession with the wind adds another layer of symbolic possibility. Some readers may argue, "She's just crazy, plain and simple." Others may see her as a symbol of nature, blown here and there by both whimsical breezes and tropical storms. The only wind she can control is that which she creates, her own breath. She blows into her flute and produces wrenching music that communicates more clearly than do her words. In contrast, Ajay uses words to attract a crowd that will throw money to them when he joins Madina on his drums, pounding out rhythms with hands that are powerful and lithe.
I read The Wind Thief in just two days. Thumbs up for this thought-provoking page turner.

Believable, memorable characters and vivid imagery...each day I looked forward to picking up The Wind Thief.

THE WIND THIEF by Martha Engber reminds me in part of the writings of the renowned Lebanese writer and poet KHALIL GIBRAN.

It is well written and presented by the experienced and impressive author Martha Engber.

I commend this publication and I hope Martha has more in the pipeline.

(Contributed by Eliza Earsman - author. Website - [...])

I found the descriptive scenes in the novel to be well done, in that they did a good job of evoking vivid mental imagery. The book's characters maintain an interesting chemistry throughout the novel and help to keep the reader wondering how their story will be resolved. I did have some questions about the conclusion of the book, however I found the ending to be satisfying in the way the main characters are left. Overall I would reccomend this book. It is a quick read filled with solid descriptive writing and some interesting themes and story twists.

The Wind Thief is a deceptively simple story, written in a Hemingway-esque style that comes to resound in the heart. We first meet orphaned young Ajay carrying jewelry he has stolen from a shop in Algiers. In order to avoid the police, he has been forced to hop onto the back of a vegetable truck out of town. Now alone in the harsh Sahara, Ajay must brave fierce heat and sandstorms to reach Morocco. There he plans to steal enough money from tourists to buy a ticket to New York, where he expects a wonderful future playing his drums.

Thirsty and exhausted, Ajay is amazed to see an apparition-like figure scaling the sheer rock face of a desert cliff. The figure turns out to be Madina, a strange young woman, also orphaned, who is being prostituted by her aunt. Closer, Ajay sees Madina's face is scarred, pulled by "a thick rope of pink" into a "permanent expression of sad amusement." Madina believes the winds talk to her and that she must follow their instructions to avert a great calamity that will destroy all living things.

Martha Engber's voice remains spare and unsentimental as she leads us through the bleak yet beautiful landscape inhabited by these two obsessed travelers, the outcast thief and the crazed desert prostitute. The Wind Thief is a magical, memorable tale.

Some people have something about them that begs them to be followed. "The Wind Thief" tells the story of young Ajay, an Indian boy who finds himself following girl who claims to talk to the winds who has saved him from death. But even when the debt is repaid, Ajay may be following this girl to the apocalypse and back. "The Wind Thief" is an original and entertaining novel, highly recommended.