This is the true story of French author Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt taking an organised trip in the desert of Algeria. One day, he gets distanced from the others and loses his way in the desert. Left on his own, he tries to stay where he is in the hope to be found again by the rest of the group. During the night he has a kind of mystical experience, abandoning himself to the overpowering night sky, abandoning all hope and concepts and labels, giving himself to the totality of nature, which makes him burn like a flame, full of energy and totally motionless.
I can understand the feeling, even if is totally irrational. It must have been a profound experience. Schmitt writes well. There is no plot. The novel evolves towards the experience I describe above, then he is found again, and they all go home. But something has changed in him.
Worth reading.
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