Book Review: Praying For Rain

Praying For Rain. Emma Gates. Wells Street Press, February 1, 2014, Trade Paperback.

Reviewed by Sarah Sadik.

Emma Gates’s Praying For Rain gives a gritty insight into the lives of not only women in the Saudi Arabia culture but also men. The book gives the reader an inside view of Saudi Arabian culture from an American woman's point of view. The main character, who is a teacher (Gates adds a touch of irony here), tries to stick to the curriculum, but the girls that she teaches want to learn about various topics and talk about taboo subjects like religion. Students whom the woman teaches acquaint us with different viewpoints on Saudi culture. Finding it hard to keep to cultural norms, the teacher seeks help from fellow faculty members who are experiencing the same thing. They have all lost their sense of identity and a sense of their own culture. As the book continues, the teacher soon realizes that there is a chance to find a bit of America in Saudi Arabia, and she has the ability to find the corrupt nature within people. 

She seizes on this and uses this characteristic for personal gain, such as manipulating others through sex. She soon learns that meshing her versions of America and Saudi Arabia could end in her own departure. She now is becoming the student instead of the teacher and realizing how powerless she truly is in this land.

The story revolves around teachers who come from America and want to immerse themselves in this culture, wearing the hijabs and following the societal rules. Although the characters whine that they aren't being accepted into the culture/society, they often complain about the culture itself, almost making it seem barbaric. The aspects of the hijab and the lack of interaction between men and women make the Americans feel as if the culture is savage. The Saudi Arabian students are so intrigued by the American culture, on the other hand, which is quite interesting. The concept of an East versus West struggle is portrayed by the media as infinite hatred between the two, but, in this book, it seems as if a lot of the hatred is coming from the West.  

Gates does a good job of summing up the Saudi Arabian culture, but she neglects to analyze it further. Generalizing an entire culture or an entire setting paints a stereotyped picture that the reader already knows, one of sand, a hijab, oppression, powerful men, etc. However, that's not how it is in every household. That is a big generalization; the women in many Saudi households play a major role and are usually looked at as patriarchs in some regions. Also, I wish there were some comparisons between the West and East to point out negatives on each side. The book’s biases are counter to what the characters would want to avoid if they were trying to "accept the culture."

The repetition of references to Arabian Nights was outrageous was well. That book is used as a fairytale for kids in the Middle East (rarely), and the themes about the story are so overdone, creating a picture of the Middle East as just Ali Baba, big swords, snake charmers, flying carpets, etc. In Praying For Rain, Gates touches upon derogatory terms that are used frequently (e.g., towel head) for Saudis. However, shouldn't Ali Baba be considered one?  

I was impressed with the characters’ viewpoints and that there were various Saudi views. I thought that was a very good concept to have in the book because it defies the American stereotype of the culture. It was interesting, for example, to have some women say they loved wearing the hijab. One main thing I loved about the book was the time period; I loved that it was pre-2001. It's very impressive to see an author return to that era instead of going post-2001; it was informational and entertaining.