The Dog by Joseph O'Neill
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

My attention was caught by this novel due to its setting--Dubai. Never heard of Joseph O'Neill before. This novel revolved around a guy who gets recruited by an old classmate from a wealthy Lebanese family to run their offices in Dubai; it's all a bit murky as to what exactly he'll be doing. Not really much of a story--though some interesting observations on the highs/lows of Dubai life, including the sparking & murkier sides of life. The protagonist heads up a small office in the swanky Financial Center, moving around huge funds for this & that, but discovers that he's not sure how legal it all is, and he's also treated almost as a servant of the wealthy family--and is kept on a fairly tight leash. Dog motif. There are also some mysterious new friends/acquaintances he makes. He does pontificate on things with regards to the status & treatment of various "classes" in the world of Dubai--and I'd say overall they're pretty accurate observations. But, the story doesn't really go anywhere and I thought fizzled out in the waning "chapters," as there are only breaks, no clear chapter headings. O'Neill's writing style is quite involved--there are some sentences with dozens of subordinate clauses that run on for a page. I'm giving it a 2-1/2 in my Reading Log, as it wasn't bad, but wasn't great either. Borrowed this from the library; read on my Kindle.


View all my reviews