How the threat of war looms in Tania Malik’s novel ‘Hope You Are Satisfied’
At the beginning of Tania Malik’s just-published novel, “Hope You Are Satisfied,” it’s August of 1990 and Saddam Hussein has invaded Kuwait. In Dubai, meanwhile, international worker Riya and her colleagues are catering to the needs of tourists as the threat of war looms.
Malik says she spent time in Dubai in the months leading up to the Gulf War while visiting her family during breaks from school.
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“No one knew what was going to happen,” she recalls. “Everyone was sure that Saddam Hussein was going to go to war.”
Malik notes the influx of U.S. military to the region in the lead-up to the war as well. “It changed the landscape in such a way, which was very strange and interesting,” she says.
In retrospect, it’s a particularly interesting period for Malik to explore because of the impact the Gulf War would have on world events in the new century. “It’s fascinating that it all kind of reverberated from this little time period, which is kind of forgotten now,” she says.
Malik, who divides her time between the San Francisco Bay Area and Milwaukee these days, recalls the response she got about Dubai when she came to this country.
“When I moved to the U.S., a lot of people didn’t know anything about Dubai,” says Malik by phone from Marin County. “This was in the ‘90s. No one had really heard of it. No one knew where it was.”
But these days, the most heavily-populated city in the United Arab Emirates has become better known to Americans, in part because of projects like the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, and the Palm Islands that were constructed in the ‘00s.
“People started becoming more interested in Dubai, but they really didn’t know the Dubai that I knew,” says Malik, who is also the author of the 2014 novel “Three Bargains.”
“I knew of this feisty little city with these characters from all corners of the world,” she says. “They’re there to make a living and secure their futures in a place that was very uncertain.”
These are types of characters she writes about in “Hope You Are Satisfied.” Concerned about a coming war, they’re also managing the personal responsibilities that brought them to Dubai in the first place, like providing for family members back home and figuring out where they will live next.
“It’s kind of a pre-immigrant story,” says Malik. “They were wondering, Where can we go? Can we go to the U.S.? Can we go to the U.K.?”
Those were the kinds of Dubai stories that interested Malik. “Just to consider all of their stories in the context of a city that only wanted their labor. They weren’t allowed to stay there,” she says. “They were only there to earn money and leave. What does that do to you? What does such a transient existence do to you was so interesting for me to consider”
Despite their struggles, the characters in “Hope You Are Satisfied” find time for humor and joy. “People do find levity in the hardest, harshest of times, when things are not going according to plan and they find ways to prevail, even when the odds are stacked against them,” says Malik.
While the story itself is timeless – “War seems to be relevant no matter when you write about it, which is very sad and strange,” says Malik – the setting has changed a lot in the decades following the Gulf War.
“It’s not like I could go down the same streets and refresh any memories, because it’s all changed,” says Malik. She relied on her own memories for many of the details in the book. “There are a few before and after pictures on the internet, but not a lot…Nobody has artifacts in museums from the ‘90s. They have artifacts from 200 years ago, so it was a lot of relying on memory and reliving that time in my life again, which was also fun to do.”
That sense of place is crucial to the story and the impact that Malik would like it to have on readers. “I really want people to have this feeling that they are immersed in this world, that they live with Riyadh and they walk with her down the street,” she says. “They get to know this Dubai. They go with her to the restaurants and cafes and houses and meet all these different people.”
In this respect, Malik is reviving a place that no longer exists.
“Dubai exists and doesn’t exist,” she says. “You can see where it is on the map, but the Dubai that I’m talking about doesn’t exist anymore. It’s shape-shifted in such a way, changed in such a way, that nothing is the same. I was hoping to really bring that place to life.”
Unnamed Press author Tania Malik in conversation with Gabrielle Korn
When: 6 p.m., May 4
Where: Zibby’s Books, 1113 Montana Ave., Santa Monica
Information: www.eventbrite.com/e/author-event-tania-malik-with-gabrielle-korn-tickets-536518079017