The Sand Cafe: A Novel

by Neil MacFarquhar

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 Café is a satire of modern war reporting that mercilessly exposes the life of the foreign 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.

Genres: Middle East, Fiction

384 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2006

About the author

Neil MacFarquhar spend his childhood in Libya and for years worked as a Middle East correspondent. He is a journalist for the New York Times.

Reviews

[Toby Muse · Rating 3 out of 5]

The dialogue was a little too earnest. Some funny situations and observations of on war reporting. Another problem is that many characters drift in for a joke/point he wants to make and then disappear, their job done. It feels like creo-barring the points in to a novel.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept about reporters during the first Gulf war since I haven’t read anything like this before, but slower paced and took a bit to read.

[Sean Carman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The life of a wire service reporter covering the first invasion of Iraq is reported in this novel by Neil MacFarquhar, Middle East correspondent for the New York Times. It's a fun read. The final scenes, when the hero Angus finally gets the war reporting scoop he's been after, are especially well done.

[Andrew R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah, funny quick read with some hilarious and pointed glimpses into a wartime press corps waiting for a war.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Fits right up there with other fiction and books about war reporting. Ending was a little abrupt though.

[Dylan]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10275107

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not appreciate the lengths reporters and media houses go to, just to keep me informed and in reading this I found myself rooting for Angus.

[Jasper Lieber · Rating 3 out of 5]

browsed thru it -- like the smart journalists, but thought the overall story arc a little unengaging...