Seriously speaking this book is a series of anecdotes of the writer’s life rather than a novel, mainly talking about her life in the Sahara desert with her beloved husband, Jose, a Spanish engineer. Through the book you can find the writer’s unique way of thinking, in a woman’s way, and from an Easterner’s view. She walked deep into local culture and tradition, even supernatural things. With her sharp eyes and deep thought, she discovered a new Sahara, not as remote and poor as people think, but full of wonders and unusual things. Life was never easy to San Mao and Jose. San Mao was a housewife but she had her own incomes by writing books and Jose’s work was also hard. But they lived happily there.

Just as I am interested in San Mao’s works, I am also attracted by the person. To me, she was not just a famous writer, but an ideal that I admire, for she lived a life that maybe I would never have the chance to experience. All of her experiences, bitter or sweet, she used words to describe them and show them to the readers. She was six years older than her husband, Jose. They met in Spain when San Mao was studying in Madrid University. At that time, Jose was just eighteen years old. They went out a few times, but she never really took this seriously. Jose once said to her: “Wait for six years, and then I will marry you.” But San Mao thought she cannot be with that boy any more and said that to him. At that right moment, she felt something from the boy’s eyes. Six years later, when San Mao went back to Spain again, they met each other on a party. For six years, Jose never forgot her, and things just happened, they got married, moved to Sahara and started their life.

But as a woman, San Mao was also pathetic. Jose died at an early age, only thirty. Ever since then, San Mao never got out of the shadow of her husband’s death. She lived in misery and even thought she went back China and promised her friends that she would not commit suicide, she ended her life with a pair of long socks.

The book The Story of Sahara is the representative work of Chen Ping. There are lots of classical essays that could give you a laugh or make you cry. These are the memories of San Mao and Jose and the life they made. Life might be hard, and we might not be able to experience everything, but thought the books, we can really learn a lot, not only about a certain geographic area but about different feelings.