Summary of the Novel

The novel tells the story of an educated young African male who moved from his homeland by boat in a long terrible voyage to Britain, then Japan, and eventually to the USA with the American dream of a better life in his mind.

In every place, he made different experiences, discovering people, languages, and cultures, but in every place he went, he finished up by being alone.

In the middle of the story, he fell in love with an English girl and tasted many terrible experiences (different jobs, a prison experience, a famous writer experience).

All his experiences end by many failures. He is a selfish man guided only to one truth: his individual talent.

It is because of such selfishness that he was lost. He was unable to see the real achievements he started before traveling to Europe—his job, his family, his girl, and everything he gained in his native land in North Africa.

He followed his own truth, that of being a man of literature, regardless of the harm he may cause to himself and his North African people.