A great book. Very eye opening and engaging. I was not wanting to put the book down from the second I opened it. I highly recommend this book to everyone. 

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.

Eye opening fascinating memoir;.Sanmaos desire as a Taiwanese woman to live in the Sahara.Her life there her neighbor’s the culture.There are good times and bad as the Sahara starts to change.politically.#netgalley#bloomsburybooks

This was a fascinating, inspiring memoir - I'm so glad it was finally translated into English. Sanmao is a unique voice and certainly had a unique experience as a Taiwanese woman living in the Spanish Sahara during its last years as a Spanish colony. I hope more of her work will be translated.

Sanmao, and her husband Jose live in the Spanish Sahara among the native Sahrawi people.  This book is a collection of short stories outlining their lives in the desert.  Since this is a collection of short stories, at times it feels disjointed and hard to follow.  Some of the stories lacked context - not knowing anything about the history of the area left me a little lost at times.  I also found myself wanting to know more about the Spanish Sahara and its bid for independence.  Despite these criticisms, the stories were interesting, dynamic and oftentimes humorous.  I admire Sanmao and Jose's courage and sense of adventure.  Overall, well worth reading.

Stories of the Sahara begins very lightly, with Sanmao telling the backstory of her fascination with the Sahara and her determination to live there.  As the book progresses it shows her growing connection with her neighbors despite the harsh climate (and the goats that keep falling through her roof).  Alongside stories of her everyday struggles to make money stretch and explore the desert she talks about her feelings about the way women are treated and her horror at the fact that slavery was still practiced openly.  The translators chose to leave in some of her attitudes that would be considered outdated or racist today, and I think that's the correct choice when dealing with a historical memoir but I was glad for the note about it in the forward.

The final portion of the book takes a harrowing turn as Spain withdraws as colonial power and local groups start struggling to take over control of the area,  Her writing here is very immediate and you can feel how unsettled and panicky everyone was at how quickly everything changed.