In Vonnegut’s debut, we first meet Lili in the Western Sahara desert. She has been abandoned by her Moroccan lover/captor, who has purchased her from a Madame specializing in beautiful imported Russians trained to be docile “wives” to their potential buyers. Slowly, Lili unfolds her tragic history, which is interspersed with her present secrets and adventures with a cast of one-dimensional characters who adopt her into their odd communal oasis. In her attempt to find her way back to civilization, Lili becomes entangled in the wavering agendas of the runaway Oumaâ€"Midhat and his wives, Fatima and Raja; the Spaniard Gabriel; and the unknowable “lunatic.” Her account is told in a pervasively melancholy, dreamlike narrative bereft of descriptive analysis of either the characters or the environment. The plot methodically unfolds to reveal a highly unlikely culmination, but it is skillfully woven together with elements of which Lili had tantalizingly informed the reader earlier in the narrative. Ultimately, good triumphs in the form of the most elusive of these slippery characters, and we are led to believe that he and Lili live happily ever after. Certainly, the style and scenes of this drama reflect Vonnegut’s experiences as a screenwriter. Recommended for literary fiction collections.â€"Lamia Doumato, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
[Page 62]. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
An impoverished Russian sold into sexual slavery at 15, Lili, now 22, finds herself at the mercy of a band of Sahara oasis dwellers after abandoning her Moroccan "husband," who dragged her into the desert on a murky business deal and was felled by a snakebite. Lili fears she will be hunted down and jailed because she refused to drive him to a hospital. "The Arab," as she refers to him, repeatedly raped her, yet he also sprang for an education and fancy clothes. Lili desperately tries to determine if her newfound desert companions are foes or friends: is a Spaniard really searching for a silver mine, and who is the mute "lunatic" who lives in the bushes and tends the camels? Does the Berber sell camels or land mines, are his two black-robed wives trying to poison each other or Lili, and is an Algerian runaway wife some kind of insurrectionist spy? The premise that Vonnegut (cousin of author Kurt) tenders in this debut is gripping, and her Sahara comes to life vividly. But Lili's opacity frustrates, and her confusion comes at the expense of an underdeveloped plot. Readers not versed in the region's political conflicts will find the motivations difficult to track. (Oct.)
[Page 48]. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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