Cover of The Spider's House

The Spider's House

by Paul Bowles · 1955

+ Want to read

Set in Fez, Morocco, during that country's 1954 nationalist uprising, The Spider's Houseis perhaps Paul Bowles's most beautifully subtle novel, richly descriptive of its setting and uncompromising in its characterizations. Exploring once again the dilemma of the outsider in an alien society, and the gap in understanding between cultures—recurrent themes of Paul Bowles's writings—The Spider's Houseis dramatic, brutally honest, and shockingly relevant to today's political situation in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Genre
historical fictionhistorical fictionMore like thisLess of thisliterary fictionliterary fictionMore like thisLess of this
Themes
traveltravelMore like thisLess of this
Setting
AfricaAfricaMore like thisLess of thisMoroccoMoroccoMore like thisLess of thisUSAUSAMore like thisLess of this
Subject
traveltravelMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
long · 432 pages

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Liked The Spider's House? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Spider's House. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Lords of the Atlas: The Rise and Fall of the House of Glaoua, 1893-1956 Gavin Maxwell · 1966 Shares Morocco, Africa, travel
  2. Secret Son Laila Lalami · 2009 Shares Morocco, fiction, Africa
  3. A Year in Marrakesh Peter Mayne · 1953 Shares Morocco, Africa, travel
  4. The Voices of Marrakesh: A Record of a Visit Elias Canetti · 1968 Shares Morocco, Africa, travel
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“People who read The Spider's House tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Free onlineFree The High Place James Branch Cabell · 1923
  2. Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Woman's Journey Toward Independence Leila Abouzeid · 1989
  3. The Buck Passes Flynn Gregory McDonald · 1981
  4. A History of Christian Missions Stephen Neill · 1964

“If you want more of the same (historical fiction about travel), start with these.”

  1. The Sacred Night Tahar ben Jelloun · 1987
  2. Horses of God Mahi Binebine · 2010
  3. Hideous Kinky Esther Freud · 1992
  4. The Forgiven Lawrence Osborne · 2012

“If it was the Morocco that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Storyteller of Marrakesh Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya · 2011
  2. Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits Laila Lalami · 2005
  3. The Last Storytellers: Tales from the Heart of Morocco Richard Hamilton · 2011
  4. The Last Chapter Leila Abouzeid · 2003

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. The Essential Marcuse: Selected Writings Herbert Marcuse · 2007
  2. Imperial China 900-1800 Frederick W. Mote · 2000
  3. The Time of the Assassins: a Study of Rimbaud Henry Miller · 1956
  4. A Naturalist Buys an Old Farm Edwin Way Teale · 1974

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