Desperate in Dubai is being touted as Dubai's answer to Desperate Housewives. However, the controversial and raunchy lives of bored housewives living in suburban America is a far cry from main characters of this book.
The novel centres on four women of different backgrounds, nationalities and faiths. There is Leila, the voluptuous Lebanese, who through various surgical operations has carved and sculpted her way to the perfect figure in the hope of ensnaring a wealthy husband. Nadia is the beautiful Moroccan woman who has moved to Dubai to be with her husband only to find that her marriage is falling apart because of his infidelity.
The curiously named Sugar is a troubled young Indian woman who has come to Dubai hoping to escape from the mistakes of her past. The most interesting character is Lady Luxe, the adventurous half-Emirati, half-British woman who, to maintain her freedom, leads a double life: one, the submissive Emirati Lady Lux, who comes from an established wealthy family and the other, the foxy, blonde, blue-eyed party animal, Jenny.
Like most people you meet in Dubai, each of these women has her story of how she ended up here — of having escaped from her past, in search of opportunities or for love. As the novel unfolds, the characters, although completely different, find their lives entwined with each other. Fate brings them together as they help, hinder and completely destroy each other in their own quest for happiness, love and revenge.
As with any decent chick lit, the unifying theme is love. The book does not shy away from indulging in the full spectrum of this emotion, from love to lust to envy and revenge. Desperate in Dubai offers a light and refreshing take on the multinational society that makes up the city. For residents of Dubai, the occasional references to street names, restaurants and clubs also provide some welcome familiarity to a modern city that doesn't have that much written about it.
The writing lends itself to characterisation over stylisation and uses the basic art of chapter-end cliffhangers to keep the pages turning. The author uses pseudonyms such as Mr Delicious, Sugar and Lady Luxe instead of names to focus on their characteristics and to indicate the importance of hidden identities and name changes in a traditional society.
The author, whose pen name is Ameera Al Hakawati, began by releasing her book in chapter instalments on her blog. After a year of attracting a committed group of online readers, she was approached by publisher Random House to turn her blog entries into a novel.
Desperate in Dubai is already a rarity in the sense that its one of the few novels to come out of Dubai in recent years. Its controversial beginning also bodes well for the book's popularity.
After the book was released, Hakawati reported that it had sold out in most of Dubai's bookstores. According to her, the book was banned from being displayed in bookstores to begin with and then banned completely. The book is now back in distribution. The developments have helped raise readers' curiosity about the controversial content.
The fact that the author uses a pen name also adds an extra layer of mystery to the book. The unidentified writer describes herself as a 20-something Dubai resident but has kept her background, nationality and identity under wraps. It makes one wonder whether the author is basing the characters in the book on herself or on people she knows.
Desperate in Dubai By Ameera Al Hakawati, Random House India, 560 pages, Rs299
