Review
Killing Time in Saudi Arabia:
An American Experience
Matthew D. Heines
Print ISBN 9780990879374
Print Price $18.99
Now, Killing Time in Saudi Arabia demonstrates
perfectly the reason why some books written as a trilogy should be viewed as
'one', read in order, considered as a unit, and stronger as part of a package
production. For without the background provided in My Year in Oman and Another
Year in Oman (which documents the author's experiences from 2001-2003) this
third book would not feel nearly as rich and fulfilling in background, setting
and sentiment as it covers eighteen months of life from 2004-2005, when some of
the heaviest fighting of the War on Terror occurred - right under the author's
nose.
In Killing Time in Saudi Arabia Heines has left
Oman and taken a job as an English teacher, training national guard officers
for the Saudi Arabian military. Amidst the backdrop of educational progress are
the uncertainties and threats of war: gunfire erupting and changing lives,
drives through the streets of Riyadh, reflections on life, death, and
independence ("...I had become a person who was somewhat in control of his
situation...I suddenly realized that the act of buying a car had changed in one
night, my entire Saudi Arabian experience.")
New reports of gunfire, killings, and terror are a
very effective conclusion to every chapter, documenting daily life in the
Middle East and placing the author's experiences within the context of a wider
world's troubles and a culture's psychology and wonders.
This isn't just about serious life-threatening
moments, as readers might expect: there is much humor to be found in cultural
misunderstandings - as when Heines believes he has contracted to tour a camel
farm and gets something far different: "The worst thing I thought could
happen was a terror attack. I had been concerned about being killed when I
should have been concerned about being embarrassed and humiliated. "I did
everything I could to make it clear that we wanted to see a camel farm," I
explained. "I must have asked him three different times...Wouldn't you
just assume that a camel farm would include camels?" It's one thing to
fail to arrange to see camels. It's quite another to bring a group of eager
tourists along for the ride: a group interested in the trappings of culture,
not the culture itself: "With few exceptions, most of the group was not
interested in Saudi culture at all, which made my appearance in Saudi clothes
just one more bizarre detail in an increasingly bizarre story."
Against the backdrop of love, war, tourism and
teaching, the gaps between West and Middle East are highlighted. Under Heines'
deft hand these cultural interactions and misunderstandings come to life and
ultimately serve to provide a better understanding not only of Middle East
atmosphere and culture, but of the psychology and perspectives of ordinary
people living in a very different world.
A series of misadventures and ironies emerges; even
more so than in the two Oman books - which is unexpected, because by Book Three
readers would anticipate that Heines has likely penetrated the Middle Eastern
veil and is settling in. Nothing could be further from the truth: he's now in a
different region and his understanding is still uncertain, his grasp of
politics and peoples still tenuous, and his experiences greatly different than
in the comparatively isolated medieval town atmosphere of Oman, with its very
different world.
Again, humor is embedded in every chapter; so if
you don't want quirky observations and tongue-in-cheek wry remarks, look
elsewhere ... though that would be a shame, because this approach is what lends
all three books a personal, interactive, intimate perspective lacking in most
other accounts of the Middle East: "...except for the threat of a large-scale
attack by a battalion of terrorists, car combings, or random acts of terror, I
had little to fear."
Another difference between these books and other
Middle East accounts is that Heines always seeks to think - and act - outside
the box. Thus, he often arranges for expeditions beyond his teaching objective
and his comfort zone: "...we made plans for yet another expedition into
the far reaches of Saudi Arabia with the Riyadh Rovers. With no map, and no
GPS, all I knew six days later, was that we were somewhere in the north, near
Kuwait."
His expeditions, as with his teaching goals, are
all about breaking through these boundaries of comfort, and bring readers along
for the bone-rattling jeep rides and cultural encounters introduced by romance
and experience alike.
Some might fault Heines for including romance in
every book. Some might look for more background history, or more cultural
insight, or even more teaching encounters (if the reader intends on teaching
abroad and is seeking pointers) - but that's not the objective of this trilogy.
Its purpose is to profile the author's cultural
encounters and his immersion in foreign lands and perspectives, and it's here
that this trilogy shines.
It's life in the middle of war, life in the middle
of cultural incongruities, and most of all, it's about reaching out of one's
familiarities to grasp for more. Individually each book in the set stands alone
as an engrossing saga. Taken together, they form the nexus of a cultural
investigation not undertaken in your usual Middle East books written by
commentators, observers, and military personnel.
Any who would truly understand the region and its
psyche would do well to enjoy the combination of rollicking adventure and
cultural insights that permeate all three stories, defying the usual labels of
'travelogue', 'teacher's experience', 'romance' or 'social analysis' to embrace
elements of all four approaches.
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