Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

The most interesting aspect of this book is that it’s a snapshot of life in a country just before the oil industry kicks off and brings in a lot of wealth and change, through Skeet’s observations we get a glimpse of a people wanting changes and a country that has progressed as far as it can under the current leadership, it is desperately in need of a modern mind that is able to bring it forward into the modern world.

This isn’t the easiest of books to read, Skeet’s style feels almost like a report produced for the British Government and he assumes the reader knows a lot more than this reader does, this does make it a bit challenging for the newbies. What worked well was the geographic part of the writing, he is very good at describing the landscape, the architecture and the people. What didn’t work so well for me was when he delved into the history, I just couldn’t keep up with the names, dates and places, it was overwhelming for this novice. Another example of where I struggled was a falaj kept getting mentioned, it was many chapters in before it was actually described, it might have been because he had a decent falaj to describe but I still could have done with the description earlier.

The book was very interesting, I knew nothing before starting, I hadn’t even heard of Muscat it was that bad, and I feel more knowledgeable about the country now…it’s just a shame that everything changed after Skeet left, I guess I need a sequel recommendation to bring me up to date.

Blog review: