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Sheltering Sky

Headed to Morocco soon, but this might not be the book to read. Main character, Port, has his passport stolen, his wife cheats on him, he contracts typhoid, and he dies.  Yikes.

Wife (Kit) is wandering in desert or is dead. 

Friend (Tunner) seduced the wife and is now semi-stuck in the desert, trying to find out for sure if she is alive or dead.

“When I was young” … “Before I was twenty, I mean, I used to think that life was a thing that kept gaining impetus, it would get richer and deeper each year. You kept learning more, getting wiser, having more insight, going further into the truth” – she hesitated.

Port laughed abruptly. – “And now you know it’s not like that. Right? It’s more like smoking a cigarette. The first few puffs it tasted wonderful, and you don’t even think of its ever being used up. Then you begin taking it for granted. Suddenly you realize it’s nearly burned down to the end. And then’s when you’re conscious of the bitter taste.” 
― Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky

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