Single in Saudi [Paperback]

Janet Stowe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 2002

Bored at work and nursing a broken heart, a thirty something R.N. leaves her prestigious job at a Houston medical center to work at a military hospital in Saudi Arabia in 1978. She arrives in a land struggling to catch up to the Western world while retaining its strict Muslim morality - at least in public. "Genia," a bold, single, blue-eyed blonde, discovers that sex and drugs are very much in demand inside the high-walled compounds of the Western-educated Saudi elite.During two years in The Kingdom, Genia manages to break every rule short of theft and murder while befriending Arabs of all social standing, including her grateful patients. A hot-shot Saudi Air Force pilot and a top Saudi official become her lovers, and she parties with princes and princesses at their opulent homes and Bedouin camps. But she also dons the veil and long, black obaya in order to move freely among the ordinary Saudis who welcome her into their homes.With plenty of overtime pay and vacation time, Genia travels to more than twenty five countries while based in Saudi Arabia. She describes these travels, along with her relationships, nursing work, and unleashed feminism in this extraordinary memoir of a time when America wasn't a dirty word in the Arab world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

"Genia," a full-time Registered Nurse, has worked in supervisory positions at some of the most prestigious hospitals in Texas and her home state of Michigan. Her leisure and job-related travels have taken her throughout the United States, to thirty-five other countries, and to every continent except Australia and Antarctica. She also enjoys reading, gardening and e-mailing friends around the world. This is her first book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse; 2nd edition (December 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403368368
• ISBN-13: 978-1403368362
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,563,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting - but more on a "fiction level", January 4, 2004

By 

Tanya "ruqayya33" (NorthEast USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Single in Saudi (Paperback)

I have been in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and had hoped to read about a similar experience by another american woman. As a muslim and probably a bit more serious person, I was s a bit shocked at what the author wrote. There is an old saying "One who looks for trouble will surely find it." Genia definitely went out of her way to find "trouble." Her behaviour (heavy drinking, drug use, flirting, casual sex) as well as her less conservative (for arab standards) dress probably was like a green-light for those saudi men that Genia mentiones in the book. --- Genia's story, unfortunately does not mention many of the decent Saudis, that would have never behaved so debauched. --
In all, I felt like the book was written more like a Jackie Collins novel, then an account of an american nurse's 2 year-stay in the Kingdom. Perhaps, had it been different, the book (and the story) would have been less interesting for western readers.

50 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disrespect for the Kingdom, September 27, 2004

By 

nurse (Bethel, Alaska United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Single in Saudi (Paperback)

I thought this book would give a realistic picture of life in Saudi Arabia, but boy was I mistaken. It is a simplistic account of a foolish sex and drug adventure. Its no wonder Arab men think all Western women are easy. Thank goodness she is a minority amongst all the nurses who go to work in the KSA. Her life there shows absolute disrespect to the culture and to other Western women. She was informed of the rules before she went and seemed determined to do it her way. Why even go? Please don't waste your money on this sad book.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Over-sexed in Saudi, March 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Single in Saudi (Paperback)

This book was a page turner - the descriptions of her experiences in the medical field in such a different country, her travels during off times, the people she met were very intriguing. I had just finished reading all of Jean Sasson's books on life in the royal family of Saudi Arabia and was eager to read of this author's "American girl" experience. The author seemed very competent and together in her two years there but I was totally turned off by her social life. Was she exaggerating the amount of alcohol and drugs she consumed along with her overly-abundant sex life?? This was a bit over the top and hard to believe a top-notch nurse could abuse her body like that and live to tell the story. Her respectability in the eyes of this reader regrettably took a downslide as the book progressed due to her seeming need for sexual daliances with most every male she encountered. Too bad.