Despite having read this book, I have no idea what happened in it. I liked the beginning despite it's oddness and somewhat obscure information hidden behind excellent writing. I thought I had a handle on the book and what it was trying to say--It's about trying to reconnect on a human level and hiding behind a setting, a fear or another person to avoid actually doing so, right? But then wait, somebody just died, there's all sorts of rape going on and then the books just ends in what could easily be mid-paragraph. I'm sure there was some overall message/theme/parallel, but wow did it pass me by. I finished this book wondering what exactly had just happened to me. The dry and parched Saharan setting of the book mimicked that of my brain after reading through this. The skill of writing saves it from being a "bad" book but wasn't enough to make it a book I enjoyed.