- Buckley, Christopher.
Florence of Arabia.
New York: Random House, 2004.
ISBN 0-8129-7226-0.
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This is a very funny novel, and thought-provoking as well.
Some speak of a “clash of civilisations” or
“culture war” between the Western and
Islamic worlds, but with few exceptions the battle has
been waged inadvertently by the West, through diffusion of
its culture through mass media and globalised business, and
indirectly by Islam, through immigration without assimilation
into Western countries. Suppose the West were to say,
“OK, you want a culture war? Here's a
culture war!” and target one of fundamentalist Islam's
greatest vulnerabilities: its subjugation and oppression of
women?
In this story, the stuck-on-savage petroleum superpower Royal Kingdom of
Wasabia cuts off one head too many when they execute a woman who had
been befriended by Foreign Service staffer Florence Farfaletti,
herself an escapee from trophy wife status in the desert kingdom, who
hammers out a fifty-page proposal titled “Female Emancipation as
a Means of Achieving Long-Term Political Stability in the Near
East” and, undiplomatically vaulting over heaven knows how many
levels of bureaucrats and pay grades, bungs it into the Secretary of
State's in-box. Bold initiatives of this kind are not in keeping with
what State does best, which is nothing, but Florence's plan comes to
the attention of the mysterious “Uncle Sam” who appears to
have unlimited financial resources at his command and the Washington
connections to make just about anything happen.
This sets things in motion, and soon Florence and her team,
including a good ole' boy ex-CIA killer, Foreign Service officer
who detests travel, and public relations wizard so amoral
his slime almost qualifies him for OPEC membership, are set up in
the Emirate of Matar, “Switzerland of the Gulf”,
famed for its duty-free shopping, offshore pleasure domes
at “Infidel Land”, and laid-back approach to
Islam by clergy so well-compensated for their tolerance they're
nicknamed “moolahs”. The mission? To launch TVMatar, a
satellite network targeting Arab women, headed by the wife of the
Emir, who was a British TV presenter before marrying the
randy royal.
TVMatar's programming is, shall we say, highly innovative, and before
long things are bubbling on both sides of the Wasabi/Matar border,
with intrigue afoot on all sides, including Machiavellian misdirection
by those masters of perfidy, the French. And, of course (p. 113),
“This is the Middle East! … Don't you understand that
since the start of time, startin' with the Garden of Eden, nothing
has ever gone right here?” Indeed, before long, a great
many things go all pear-shaped, with attendant action, suspense, laughs,
and occasional tragedy. As befits a comic novel, in the end all is
resolved, but many are the twists and turns to get there which will
keep you turning pages, and there are delightful turns of phrase
throughout, from CIA headquarters christened the “George Bush
Center for Intelligence” in the prologue to Shem, the Camel
Royal…but I mustn't spoil that for you.
This is a delightful read, laugh out loud funny, and
enjoyable purely on that level. But in a world where mobs riot, burn
embassies, and murder people over cartoons, while pusillanimous
European politicians cower before barbarism and contemplate
constraining liberties their ancestors bequeathed to humanity in the
Enlightenment, one cannot help but muse, “OK, you want a culture
war?”
March 2006 