Rebuttal to Abe’s Review

There are 120 distinct, individual Saudis depicted in the book.  The author had a conversation, or interaction with the vast majority of these. These interactions were selected to illustrate the wide range of possible Saudi character types, and how they would interact with a Westerner. Numerous of these interactions spanned at least a weekend, and the author knew at least 30 Saudis for a period of between 5 and 20 years.

Please refer to page 4, where the author is in Memphis, TN for an entire week, with one other Saudi, addressing the issues involved in planning the operation of the Children’s Cancer Center in Riyadh.  Refer to page 195, where the author is invited to Shaqra for the weekend by the most famous TV star in the Kingdom, for philosophical discussions – yes, “meaningful conversation.” Or page 97, where the author and his family, along with a Saudi, and his family, vacation together in Denmark for a week… and the following year he returns for a week in Brittany, France.  Now that might be friendship. Or page 69, where the author and his wife spend an entire weekend with an extended Bedouin family. Or page 146, where the Saudi who was known by the author for 20 years, initially with an anti-American edge, eventually had three children who were American citizens. There are numerous other examples for the thoughtful reader to discover.

No reasonable viewer, particularly one that has read 200 books on the Arab world, would characterize Tash ma Tash as “anti-American.” Some very conservative, and / or, religious fundamentalist Saudis consider the series “anti-Saudi.”

Perhaps the reviewer actually read James Baldwin’s “If Beale Street Could Talk.”   That book is only about Americans.