In Brilliant, the dazzling promise of wealth and opportunity quickly fades in the Abu Dhabi heat. Denise Roig’s newest collection of short stories is set in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, where she worked as a journalist from 2008 to 2011. Brilliant is her third collection of short stories, and she has also written a memoir, Butter Cream: A Year in a Montreal Pastry School (2008).
The collection opens from the point of view of a pastry chef, but Roig soon demonstrates her versatility as a writer beyond the kitchen. “Rice Dreams,”the story of patriotic pastry chef Bashir, his apprentice, and their cheery Filipino cook, quickly sets the tone for the collection. By the end of the first story, their group is affected by rumours, cost cutting measures, and basic human cruelty. From various points of view, each of Brilliant’s fifteen pieces begins optimistically until greed, injustice, and the cost of progress begin to surface.
The title, Brilliant, denotes not only the sparkling opulence pictured on the cover, it also reflects a certain regional frustration with the immoderate use of the word by British ex-pats who have moved to Abu Dhabi in search of higher pay.
Foreigners on work visas make up the bulk of the population of Abu Dhabi, capital of the nouveau riche United Arab Emirates. Drawn by the promise of wealth, a middle class of educated ex-pats have flocked to oil-rich Abu Dhabi to cash in. Meanwhile, a servant class endures physical and verbal abuse, endeavouring to send their earnings home to the Philippines, Egypt, and Pakistan. As the Emirati lose interest in or patience with the projects they finance, their ex-pat employees suffer ever growing workloads due to diminishing funding, encroaching deadlines, and ever-increasing expectations. Roig offers unique examples of such projects in “Folly,” where the undertaking of a five lane private bridge is plagued by delays and firings, and in “The Knowledge,” where she describes an ill-advised rapid transit project that sits abandoned in the desert.
The replaceability of the working class crowd is a recurring theme. Subject to volatile employment conditions, they find themselves on the first plane home when their utility runs out. Though the doctors and engineers of the working class are free to leave at any time, those of the servant class are not so lucky. With their own countries financially dependant on the good will of the UAE, little is done by foreign governments to help their citizens abroad. If they are unwilling to quietly suffer the verbal and physical abuses of their employers, servants may have their earnings held back and their visas seized, rendering them unable to return home. This state of affairs is given a face in “Fridays by the Pool in Khalidiyah” and “Vicarage,” though both stories unfold and resolve quite differently.
Although some of Brilliant’s characters are not cast in the most flattering light, they do more than serve simply as character sketches of particular ethnic groups. Roig’s collection by no means finds fault solely among the Emirati. Abu Dhabi’s middle class is not depicted as any less greedy, oppressive or unsympathetic than the upper classes. Having servants themselves, first-world ex-pats engage in the same practices of underpayment and oppression toward their servants. In “Coffee,” one expat cautions another about how much to pay their maid: “The girls don’t expect it. Don’t go starting a revolution!”
Three of the collection’s stories involve adultery centrally — and a few more, peripherally — but corruption is only one facet of Roig’s narratives. If there is an underlying theme, it’s that money corrupts, but people with beautiful spirits thrive everywhere, particularly in “Fridays by the Pool in Khalidiyah” and “Vicarage.” Throughout, we find that some characters and their actions are intertwined, reappearing as secondary characters in other stories. In this way, Roig is able to show how the various classes remain interconnected, and that the problems they face are systemic.
Brilliant finds its stride at about the halfway point. “Velvet” is a moving story about homesickness and loss framed as a quest for the perfect gravy. The main character’s feelings about her constant displacement are beautifully summarized when she discloses that “Every couple of years — okay, more than that — she would come to a juncture where things stood out in too-bold, too-sad relief.” In “Please Drive to Highlighted Route,” a conversation with an intuitive GPS device becomes a plea for divine intervention.
Though all but the last of the stories are set in Abu Dhabi, they remain highly accessible to the reader. The cultural and historical background of the region is handled with a light touch. The stories are not bogged down by too much information, but one never feels at a loss for context either. While the first half of the collection is more political, working towards providing context, the stories in the latter half are unique, touching and sincere. Brilliant is as much about people as it is about place; the differences it presents are striking, but the similarities are what stay with you.
Dundurn | 352 pages | $22.99 | paper | ISBN # 978-1459709256
‘Brilliant’ by Denise Roig
Book Reviews
Reviewed by Dan Twerdochlib
In Brilliant, the dazzling promise of wealth and opportunity quickly fades in the Abu Dhabi heat. Denise Roig’s newest collection of short stories is set in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, where she worked as a journalist from 2008 to 2011. Brilliant is her third collection of short stories, and she has also written a memoir, Butter Cream: A Year in a Montreal Pastry School (2008).
The collection opens from the point of view of a pastry chef, but Roig soon demonstrates her versatility as a writer beyond the kitchen. “Rice Dreams,” the story of patriotic pastry chef Bashir, his apprentice, and their cheery Filipino cook, quickly sets the tone for the collection. By the end of the first story, their group is affected by rumours, cost cutting measures, and basic human cruelty. From various points of view, each of Brilliant’s fifteen pieces begins optimistically until greed, injustice, and the cost of progress begin to surface.
The title, Brilliant, denotes not only the sparkling opulence pictured on the cover, it also reflects a certain regional frustration with the immoderate use of the word by British ex-pats who have moved to Abu Dhabi in search of higher pay.
Foreigners on work visas make up the bulk of the population of Abu Dhabi, capital of the nouveau riche United Arab Emirates. Drawn by the promise of wealth, a middle class of educated ex-pats have flocked to oil-rich Abu Dhabi to cash in. Meanwhile, a servant class endures physical and verbal abuse, endeavouring to send their earnings home to the Philippines, Egypt, and Pakistan. As the Emirati lose interest in or patience with the projects they finance, their ex-pat employees suffer ever growing workloads due to diminishing funding, encroaching deadlines, and ever-increasing expectations. Roig offers unique examples of such projects in “Folly,” where the undertaking of a five lane private bridge is plagued by delays and firings, and in “The Knowledge,” where she describes an ill-advised rapid transit project that sits abandoned in the desert.
The replaceability of the working class crowd is a recurring theme. Subject to volatile employment conditions, they find themselves on the first plane home when their utility runs out. Though the doctors and engineers of the working class are free to leave at any time, those of the servant class are not so lucky. With their own countries financially dependant on the good will of the UAE, little is done by foreign governments to help their citizens abroad. If they are unwilling to quietly suffer the verbal and physical abuses of their employers, servants may have their earnings held back and their visas seized, rendering them unable to return home. This state of affairs is given a face in “Fridays by the Pool in Khalidiyah” and “Vicarage,” though both stories unfold and resolve quite differently.
Although some of Brilliant’s characters are not cast in the most flattering light, they do more than serve simply as character sketches of particular ethnic groups. Roig’s collection by no means finds fault solely among the Emirati. Abu Dhabi’s middle class is not depicted as any less greedy, oppressive or unsympathetic than the upper classes. Having servants themselves, first-world ex-pats engage in the same practices of underpayment and oppression toward their servants. In “Coffee,” one expat cautions another about how much to pay their maid: “The girls don’t expect it. Don’t go starting a revolution!”
Three of the collection’s stories involve adultery centrally — and a few more, peripherally — but corruption is only one facet of Roig’s narratives. If there is an underlying theme, it’s that money corrupts, but people with beautiful spirits thrive everywhere, particularly in “Fridays by the Pool in Khalidiyah” and “Vicarage.” Throughout, we find that some characters and their actions are intertwined, reappearing as secondary characters in other stories. In this way, Roig is able to show how the various classes remain interconnected, and that the problems they face are systemic.
Brilliant finds its stride at about the halfway point. “Velvet” is a moving story about homesickness and loss framed as a quest for the perfect gravy. The main character’s feelings about her constant displacement are beautifully summarized when she discloses that “Every couple of years — okay, more than that — she would come to a juncture where things stood out in too-bold, too-sad relief.” In “Please Drive to Highlighted Route,” a conversation with an intuitive GPS device becomes a plea for divine intervention.
Though all but the last of the stories are set in Abu Dhabi, they remain highly accessible to the reader. The cultural and historical background of the region is handled with a light touch. The stories are not bogged down by too much information, but one never feels at a loss for context either. While the first half of the collection is more political, working towards providing context, the stories in the latter half are unique, touching and sincere. Brilliant is as much about people as it is about place; the differences it presents are striking, but the similarities are what stay with you.
Dundurn | 352 pages | $22.99 | paper | ISBN # 978-1459709256