Girls of Riyadh

Author: Rajaa Alsanea

I first read about this book and author about a year ago, in a magazine interview. She is from Saudi Arabia, but at the time of the interview was studying somewhere in the Western hemisphere. The interviewer was surprised when Alsanea remarked approvingly of a mini-dress a passerby was wearing: "I'll wear it as a top over jeans," she commented. Well, in her own words, "The Western world still perceives us either romantically, as the land of the Arabian nights... or politically, as the land that gave birth to Bin Laden and other terrorists."

As for me, I had always perceived Saudis to be the role model of religiosity and piety. After all, their kingdom is the birthplace and final resting place of our prophet Muhammad PBUH, and one of the King's official titles is Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (referring of course to al-Haraam in Makkah and al-Nabawi in Madinah). This impression was shattered somewhat when I went there for Hajj two years ago, and did leave me feeling a tad disappointed. So reading this book - although the first few pages seem to entice the reader with promises of scandal and what not - was not such a shock for me.

The premise is broadly similar to 'Sex and the City' although still very much within the confines of Muslim society: a tale of a quartet of girl friends in Riyadh looking and lamenting of love. Well, technically, only 3 of them are actually lamenting, whilst the fourth didn't seem bothered about not having a man in her life until she ended up being the only one with a fairytale relationship. As the author's apparent goal was to highlight the trials and tribulation of love, this fourth girlfriend had only 3 or 4 chapters dedicated to her, the most memorable of which is a retelling of a highschool escapade involving videotapes (and no, they're not that type of videos either).

The most interesting part about the book is the way the chapters are structured: as weekly emails sent to a mailing list from an anonymous writer (again, parallels with Carrie Bradshaw, except the writer is not one of the quartet). Otherwise, there is nothing much to shout about, except that Saudi girls - at least those in Riyadh's 'velvet class' - are not much different from the rest of us.

I'll take the Arabian Nights any time.

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