Stories of the Sahara

An interesting one to kick off the 2022 reading year! I had never heard of Sanmao, but when I saw that this was about a couple who off and live in Western Sahara (Spanish Sahara at the time), it appealed and I though I would give it a go. Sanmao was a Taiwanese writer and translator, who was living in Spain. Her Spanish boyfriend tried to talk her out of moving to the Sahara, but when he failed, he set himself up with a job there and moved out himself, arriving before she had sorted out her own arrival.

The book collects the thoughts of Sanmao, explains events and experiences organised into chapters which were serialised in the Taiwanese United Daily News. This explains the over-done introduction and repetition - obviously setting the scene for each new reader.

As the narrator, Sanmao presents her simple life in Western Sahara, although is somewhat a unreliable narrator - she explains a few events more than once in different ways, which I guess you can get away with in a serialised publication, but not so well in a book! Without doubt she (and boyfriend, then husband Jose) were the talk of the town - foreigners being rare, and as a woman who won't be told she can't do something, and a person who refused to follow a path laid down for her, she was regularly a spectacle.

Her stories explain the day to day - finding a house to rent, starting from scratch with furniture, furnishing and decoration; dealing with her landlord; shopping and transportation (until they buy a car); how she fills her days while Jose works; the locals ability to take advantage of her generosity which is seldom reciprocated; the plans she and Jose make to save money (which inevitably end up costing them more money!). They also deal with living immersed in a foreign culture - child brides, religion, beliefs, modern slavery.

There are also some themed chapters - one about the medical assistance she provides (as a foreigner, she was regularly approached to help), and she became more and more embroiled, eventually moving into dentistry! Another chapter was devoted to people she met who she picked up in her car - hitchhikers - although not all were actively soliciting a ride! She definitely had the ability to tell a story.

Towards the end of their time in Spanish Sahara, Spain agreed to a handover to self-rule. With a population of only 70,000 people, it was obvious that Morocco and Mauritania were maneuvering to move in to fill the void left bu the Spanish. There was a messy guerilla uprising against the Spanish (who to be fair had already agreed to a handover of power and were withdrawing) and this was also written about in detail, including meeting with the guerilla leader, and some terrifying mob murders.

I enjoyed this a lot. Written in the 70s, her writing aged well. It is such a mixed bag that you literally don't know what to expect from her next.
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.