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Hello Dubai by Joe Bennett

Told as only Joe Bennett could, this is a look at Dubai, a city that has risen from virtually nothing to an awful lot in little more than thirty years. It has become a boom town, a modern marvel, a commercial and transportation hub, a playground for tourists and a point where Middle East meets wealthy west. It is filled with ex-pats, was built by Indians and is owned by the Arabs. Joe Bennet asks the questions can it go on, has it sold itself for the commercial dollar, is it any more than a mall in the desert and will the sands return? Then travels to the world’s weirdest city to get the answers.

Joe’s journey spans the elite suburban castles and golf clubs of Dubai’s nouveau (ex-patriate) riche, to the makeshift cricket pitches of the Indian construction workers who built the city. He visits places as strange as no-strip strip clubs, indoor ski hills, and watch-and-wait slaughterhouses.

In his unique cocktail of sympathy, scepticism, humour and curiosity, he extracts the stories of diverse individuals that make up Dubai’s diverse population. For Bennett it was the millions of contrasts of an apparent Western free market set in a Muslim country that piqued his interest. In this book he reveals a country that at once can be cruel and also a source of hope, free of boundaries yet highly censored, exploitative and full of opportunity.

Whether you are wanting to learn more about this interesting city, are interested in a society made up of an amalgam of different cultures or just want an entertaining and humorous read, I can recommend this book. Joe Bennett has the ability to make observations on society humorous and entertaining yet informative at the same time. The result is a very memorable book.

RRP $40.00
Published and distributed by Penguin Group under the Simon and Schuster title

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