Chilling, tense novel set in Saudi Arabia in the 80s.

I seem to keep reading Mantel’s lesser works. Additionally, I listened to the audiobook so it’s possible I missed something (something about the date of the memo, opening the book?).
This book is so very late 80s, there is the weird feminism of the 80s (vide: Faludi’s Backlash), the office life of the late 80s in its last moments before the arrival of PCs on every desk that was going to change the office life forever. This should’ve never been republished with a new cover - the original 80s cover was very fitting.

Its critique of Saudi Arabia, while absolutely correct, also feels dated, mostly because in 2019 none of it is in any way revelatory. I don’t know if it was in the 80s – who knows, maybe it was daring and ground-breaking at the time. But right now it seemed to me borderline cheap. It had the level of insight of an internet meme.

Additionally, I didn’t know if the narrator was a genuine alter-ego of the author (whose experiences the book mirrors) or if she was meant to come across as a self-righteous snob.

What I did like about the book was the foreboding and claustrophobic atmosphere full of secrets and corruption. There is the boredom and paranoia resulting from the narrator being confined to the four walls of her apartment because her husband accepted a contract in Saudi Arabia, and she, as a woman, isn’t allowed to work there. There is nice symbolism in the fact the narrator is a cartographer, used to mapping new places, and now she can’t venture out her own home and when she does she finds her surroundings escaping her cartographic efforts.

It was an ok book, but probably recommended only to Mantel’s die hard fans.

Frances Shore follows her husband Andrew to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia when he gets a contract there. Hemmed in by the culture, heat, expectations, and lethargy fo the situation Frances spends her days mostly indoors with occasional trips out or visiting the women in the block of flats. The culture shock of the place seeps through as do the footsteps from the apartment above. The suspense, frustration, boredom, and clashes build up towards violence and disaster.

"Sorry to Disturb" is a short story in Hilary Mantel's collection of short stories (The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher) which is also set in Saudi of the 80s. I think that's what inspired me to pick this particular book up, as well as obviously being a fan of her writing. Dark comedy does make it into this tale with amazing little details and observations. And the combination of narrative fluidity between third person narrator and the intimacy of Frances' diary and to the general unease. Mantel is great at creating an atmosphere in her books!

Despite being mostly set in an apartment and concerning the life and imagination of an expat housewife, the story here is fairly gripping. Frances has moved to Saudi Arabia with Andrew, her husband-the-architect. I found her career as a cartographer pretty unbelievable, but found the depiction of her new life as a homemaker in a society that sees women as at best second-class citizens credible. I could understand her stifling feelings about the larger society and the smaller group of visitors she's expected to entertain, her sarcasm, and her turn to a diary for comfort. She suspects that not everything is as it seems in her apartment or the country, but her own witness accounts matter less than those of others. The writing is gorgeous; the story interesting; the end disappointing.

Did not finish. Gave up at 35%
This isn’t a bad book, it was wasn’t for me and I felt myself struggling through for what felt like hours getting nowhere.
Mantel’s writing style is overly descriptive, extremely heavy on the similes, old school classic writing that just turns my brain off. It’s obviously not bad, but I wanted some pizazz, something to draw me in and do something differently. I much prefer something overly wild and insane than something plain boring.
It’s not that there aren’t interesting conversations to be had about Saudi Arabia, it’s laws, customs, how women are treated. But the unlikeable characters weren’t having these conversations in a way that felt thought provoking. It wasn’t even that the characters were unlikeable actually, they were just flat and boring. It was clearly trying to build a mystery of some kind and I questioned if I cared enough to finish, but decided I didn’t. Too much realism to say anything interesting.

This often gets described as "gripping," but I wasn't gripped. I was interested, but not gripped.

I've seen the ending praised as being especially amazing. Whereas, I rather felt it that it kind of petered out in the same register of frustrated ennui that it sustained all the way through.

We read this for book club and it was ok but left a lot of unanswered questions