Cities of Salt Book

A long fictional look at Saudi Arabia's development as an oil country and the toll paid by those whose lives were disrupted, never to be the same, in this first volume of the Cities of Salt Trilogy, which left me feeling sad. I read this because it was chosen by the Middle East North African Lit Group as a novel by a Saudi Arabian author.

I enjoyed reading about the effect of the Americans first arriving and the terrible smell they leave behind them. How ironic! Of course Americans always think they are doing things for the best of the locals and can't understand why they are not appreciated more for the "progress" they bring, if they think about it at all.

The translator of the English edition is Peter Theroux, younger brother of travel writer Paul Theroux. Peter is also the author of a non-fiction book about Saudi Arabia written in 1991, Sandstorms: Days and Nights in Arabia, and has translated several other books from Arabic into English.

Interesting contrast between Arabic culture where people are often identified by their children, and Russian (I'm currently reading The Brothers Karamazov) where both men and women are known as the son or daughter of their father.