Motorbikes and Camels

 Motorbikes and Camels introduces wonderfully complex characters in these interlocking short stories in Kuwait. Each person is ultimately looking for love and happiness, even when they’re at odds with family, friends, and their partner, and even when that love turns to revenge. The clash of old and new, plus the restrictive rules for women, adds complications. The characters are developed, with complex desires. In real life, we’re often faced with completing desires, so why shouldn’t fictional characters have the same complexity?

For example, Salma is modern enough to sleep with her college boyfriend, but traditional enough to assume that sleeping together means they’ll get married. Meanwhile, her uncle Mohammed takes advantage of the laws allowing him to take a second wife, claiming his rights as a man in this male-dominated society, only to find this makes no one happy, and two strong-willed women divorce him on the same day. Salma’s best friend Aisha is a hijabi feminist, who secretly dates a foreigner, before marrying a man her family considers a good catch. In addition to these romances, we can see Salma and Aisha’s friendship mature from their teenage days, to when they’re young women supporting each other as their marriages falling apart. Aisha’s husband, Hussam has warm feelings for his wife, and love for their daughter, but he’s still in love with the boyfriend he’s vowed never to see again.

I connected most with Amy, a single, expat woman who finds friendship with her Kuwaiti neighbors, while trying to navigate the boundaries in her new home. She’s also the only one who doesn’t find love, instead she builds caring friendships with Mike, another expat, Zayna, a Kuwaiti woman (and Muhammad’s ex), and Meshary, a Kuwaiti man (and Aisha’s ex). Of course, my favorite character is the expat teacher who drinks a bit too much and loves her friends… but the others are vivid, human characters too.

This novel reminded me of Girls of Riyadh, because many of the important relationship conversations happen over the phone. I first thought this was a style choice, but as I read, I realized that single men and women in Kuwait only have limited ways to spend time together. In Motorbikes and Camels, being alone in a room with a man could ruin a woman’s reputation. In addition, Girls of Riyadh was also an ensemble novel, telling several women’s stories of love, marriage, career and family.

Overall, this was an intriguing look at Kuwaiti life.