When the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir was inaugurated in UAE earlier in the year, it piqued my interest in the Arab countries as a whole. While browsing Kindle Unlimited I came across this title “A Year Under Sharia Law” and downloaded it.
This book is a memoir of the time that Alex and Elizabeth Fletcher spend in Saudi Arabia teaching English. I couldn’t make out the timelines but am guessing, it’s 2013-2014, because the book is written in 2019, five years after they left Saudi.
Summary of A Year Under Sharia Law
Alex and Elizabeth Fletcher meet when both of them work in South Korea and upon their return to the US, they struggle to pay off mounting student debts. With soaring unemployment and a depression, Alex gets this idea of teaching English in Saudi Arabia as it pays really good money.
They pack their bags albeit with some trepidation and land up in Riyadh. They struggle through the dress code, the food choices, the no-alcohol rule and ofcourse the fact that students get paid to attend classes. Neither Alex or Elizabeth seem to have taught much English in the one year that they were in Saudi Arabia and that’s really sad.
At times I felt like I was reading a “rant book” and not a memoir. Most of the pages are filled with the Fletchers looking for different kinds of restaurants, or finding some way to make alcohol/wine or get into a party with other expats. Also a recurring rant was about how drivers were perennially late while picking them up or dropping them off. Actually the reason they leave Saudi Arabia is because one of their parties is busted by the “Mutaween” (religious police) and Elizabeth is caught without the Abaya.
Both Alex and Elizabeth do escape going to prison but one of their friend’s Amy is in prison for a day. There is passing mention of some Filipino women who are brought in as Nannies and suffer untold harassment. I don’t think anyone did anything about them. The Fletchers leave Saudi Arabia vowing never to return. I guess it was good riddance both ways. Don’t think Saudi folks would be too keen to have them back either.
It’s a fact that women don’t have many rights in Saudi Arabia, and yes Sharia law is very difficult to accept after you have lived in a democratic, free society. But it’s also unacceptable that you try to break every law of the land as an expat. An American is not a world citizen and above the law. If you want to earn money, and you go to places like Saudi, then live according to their laws. Try and understand them and gain that cultural perspective. You need not like them, but there are other realities in the world and every reality has its place under the sun.
The UN has been around forever and has not managed to fix the human rights abuses anywhere ! So just talking about them doesn’t help.
Anyway, I don’t want to start ranting :):). The book gives you some glimpses into the culture of Saudi Arabia but not enough to make up your mind about wanting to live and work there. So feel free to skip it and ask Google instead.
My rating – 2/5. Lots of grammatical errors as well despite being written by an English teacher !
No dearth of westerners wanting to “teach” English in the East, regardless of whether or not they are qualified to do so !!
I totally get your point about adapting to a different country as an expat. If one cannot, one should just leave. It’s just as difficult to adapt to new ways and customs for those who are expats or immigrants in the western countries. Raving and ranting about it helps no one. It simply contributes to existing bias.