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Summary
Summary
Dhahran Palace Hotel , Saudi Arabia , 1991. The US forces are massing on the border with Iraq, preparing to throw Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. Men and material are arriving daily, helicopters and armor are training in the desert sand. There are rumors of Scud missiles, talk of the possibility of chemical attack, but in fact, nothing is really happening. With no story to report, the press is getting restive. The Sand Caf#65533; is a satire of modern war reporting that mercilessly exposes the life of the foreign correspondent: endless scurrying trips in pursuit of a really big story, gathering frustration, brewing jealousy directed towards other reporters, especially those from better financed TV networks, and the stale smell of damp rot that comes from a combination of leaking air-conditioning and wretched carpeting in the hotel where the entire bedraggled press corps is housed. Boredom massages idle thoughts into wild excesses, even in a country that officially bans the sale of alcohol. Neil MacFarquhar, a veteran of the Middle East foreign press corps, has written a woundingly witty black comedy of those who bring us news from the front lines, exposing their vanities, rivalries and petty distractions. Love, lust for fame and the magnificent gilded hypocrisy of the regime in Saudi make this novel as revealing as it is compelling.
Author Notes
Neil MacFarquhar 's exposure to the Middle East started early, even before he entered first grade in Marsa Brega, Libya and continued through Stanford University, where his senior thesis focused on the Arab oil embargo as an economic weapon. He has worked as a correspondent in the Arab world for more than twelve years, including the last five as the Cairo bureau chief for The New York Times . Fluent in Arabic and French, his next assignment for the Times will be Paris.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The frustrations and follies of contemporary war reporting are skewered in this jaundiced, juicy dispatch, datelined Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War. Sent to cover the story of a lifetime, wire service reporter Angus Dalziel finds himself with a view mainly of his hotel room. Harassed by Saudi officialdom, stifled and spoon-fed by U.S. Army press minders, Angus struggles to unearth real stories about military corruption, the repressive Saudi society America is defending and front-line reverses once the longed-for fighting begins. Watching his comrades veer between frenzy and torpor in their media bubble, Angus ponders the rot at the heart of journalism-especially the shallowness and vanity of television correspondents, one of whom uses up his tent mates' precious drinking water to shampoo his hair. First-time novelist and New York Times Cairo bureau chief MacFarquhar has this milieu down cold, though some of his tent poles are romantic clich?s. A triangle between Angus, a cable-news babe and an egotistical producer yields much brooding over the transience of reporters' love lives, and the dichotomy between serious print journalists and TV airheads is a little facile. But media insiders and casual readers alike will relish his stock of witty observations and nasty anecdotes, while gleaning timely insights into the corruption of the news business. Michael Moore this isn't, but look for the book to serve as a kind of "physician, heal thyself" for the current wartime media, with corresponding talk show play. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
MacFarquhar transitions from newsprint to novels with a satiric debut depicting reporters during the first Gulf War. New York Times Cairo bureau chief MacFarquhar no doubt knows his stuff, but a tin ear for dialogue and reliance on a tired love triangle make for a read that's at times as dry as its desert setting. As a foreign correspondent for the World Press wire service, Angus Dalziel finds himself digging for news in Saudi Arabia at the start of Desert Storm. Between his typically tight-lipped military sources and his controversy-shy Saudi hosts, however, solid bylines are a tough thing to come by. It's good, then, that the lovely Thea Makdisi is around to distract him. An up-and-coming Cable Broadcast Network correspondent (who bears more than a passing resemblance to CNN's Christiane Amanpour), Thea has most of the male press corps all hot and bothered, including Angus and the infamously roguish television producer Aaron Black. Love, betrayal and hurt feelings ensue as Ms. Makdisi hops between beds, eventually tossing over moon-eyed Angus for Black. MacFarquhar gets in some good digs--most at the expense of his TV news counterparts--but he never gets truly, deliciously vicious. The fact that his protagonist is a world-class drip doesn't much help matters, nor does the stilted dialogue, with characters spouting out background and expository info as if they were reading from a social-studies textbook. MacFarquhar does quite well when describing the daily tribulations of a war reporter, but unfortunately, he's too often more interested in his characters' limp love lives. His story gets going toward the end as Angus sneaks out to the front for a dramatic scoop, but this bit, while a delight, can't make up for the pages that precede it. A case of too little, too late. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Set in Saudi Arabia during the buildup to the first Gulf War, this debut from veteran foreign correspondent MacFarquhar is a scathing satire of the news business. Wire-service correspondent Angus Dalziel is holed up in the semi-squalid Dhahran Palace Hotel with the rest of the foreign press corps, chasing what little real news there is and trying not to run afoul of the uptight Saudi authorities. Here, Angus meets TV journalist Thea Makdisi and begins a "hotel affair" that he hopes will turn into much more. To Angus's chagrin, Thea falls for high-powered TV producer Aaron Black, who can advance her career further than can a lowly print reporter. But when the war begins and the Scuds start flying, all bets are off. MacFarquhar directs his poison pen at the ambitions, pretensions, and petty rivalries of those in the news business as only an insider can. Beyond this, his observations regarding the nature of Saudi society and the Saudi regime make much of what has happened since seem almost inevitable. Recommended for all public libraries.-Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
