Reading the World discussion

This deceptively simple tale by one of Libya’s foremost novelists has the power and qualities of a myth, blending elements of magical realism, mysticism and politics. The story concerns Asouf, a Bedouin herder living alone with his goats in the mountainous desert of southern Libya. He is also the custodian of the ancient rock paintings which tell of the bond between humans and the wildlife of the area. Asouf is the only person who knows of the whereabouts of the waddan, a breed of sheep long thought extinct and famed both for its ferocity and the quality of its meat.

I just returned this on the Open Library so it is available to read for free here as of this post.

https://archive.org/details/bleedingo...

A quite enigmatic book. I'm still sorting out what it means to me.

Thank you John. Looking forward to your comments.

Although the book is billed as an allegorical and mythic tale regarding the environmental degradation caused by Western people and their egocentric values, this little book seems to me to be much bigger than that.
The Waddan, which European's know as the Barbary sheep does not just represent "nature" but also represents a creature that is all knowing, in particular knows its place and its time and in some ways, along with the gazelle, mirrors a Christ like ability to sacrifice themselves.
Asouf does not represent an "average" Bedouin, rather he is a vegetarian and he has removed himself from most interactions even within his own austere desert society. The Western meat eaters clearly represent an addiction to their own selfish cravings but they have been cursed with this condition. The book seems to speak to a spectrum of mythical and religious thoughts about the place of humanity within the greater world. In particular, the need for people to understand their limitations as expressly outlined: "time", "place" and the mortal nature of the "body". As John said: a quite enigmatic book.
I loved the descriptions of the desert and the character of Asouf. The book was puzzling but nevertheless engaging. Thank you for recommending.

This one sounds really interesting- and it is my planned Libya book. Since it's so short I might sneak it in this month even though it's not a 1001.

Was able to sneak it in yesterday, and gave it 4 stars.

I love Gail's review of it here, and not sure I have a lot more to add. The kind of mutualistic relationship between Asouf and the waddan was really striking, and seems to convey the idea of the need for people to between to living with the land and its other species as opposed to this supremacy based view the modern Western world seems to often hold- in stark opposition to the hunters.

I also loved the more religious/mythical elements of the book in that it gave me that sense of "nature as the divine" that I love in works. I've never been religious, but I do get a sense of the sublime in nature and thinking about ecological webs and the circle of life- so I really vibed with this. It was kind of like if the transcendentalist movement was put through a North African lens, and I really liked that.

There's a line in there that's something like "they thought god was up there or out there, but god was actually inside here" that stuck with me.

I’m picking up on Gail's point that the book ‘speaks to the place of humanity within the greater world.’ I was really taken by how porous the boundary was between the world of animals and the world of humans in this book. This gives the book a kind of mystical or transcendental quality, as Amanda said. The point I finally landed on in my review was that al-Koni was saying, through this porousness, that the natural world and humans share a common soul, and that in destroying the natural world we destroy ourselves. Not a new theme but the way he comes at it is fresh and bold. This is one of the great gifts of reading books from other cultures. And his use of religious imagery and parallels was unabashed, which I liked. Finally, geez, I really thought about this one but I still feel like I missed something big. Like I don’t feel like I really understood the meaning of the end. I might actually scour the web for a more complete answer to this puzzle.