A Hologram For the King by Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers has become one of the most popular writers of the last few years. Having not read any of his books I picked this, his most recent book, up at the library and gave it a go.

The premise of the book is the story of Alan Clay. Clay is a 54 year old career salesman who has fallen on hard times. From Jonathan Franzen to Dave Eggers and everyone in between it seems that there are no characters in modern American literature that are confident and well. Perhaps that is because the truth is that a full bodied success is not that interesting. We like are characters to be broken, it makes us feel better about ourselves.

Alan Clay has problems. He is divorced and his ex wife is the definition of a shrew. His daughter is at college and he loves her fiercely, wants to provide for, but he does not have enough money for her next semester's college tuition.

In an attempt to fix all this Alan has taken a job leading a consulting team to Saudi Arabia to, hopefully, gain a contract for Reliant, a technology company, to provide all things technological for a new city the King is building.

When Alan arrives in The Kingdom he is joined by a group of young workers who do not think too much of him. He knows that he gained the job mostly primarily due to a previous friendship with the King's nephew. Upon arriving in Jeddah Alan begins to meet a few people. A woman from Denmark who works in the company's offices at the new city, a Doctor who helps Alan deal with a ball sized growth at the top of his spine and most importantly a local named Yousef who becomes Alan's unofficial tour guide to all things Saudi.

As Alan and his compatriots attempt to get set up for the demonstration for the King, a demonstration that will happen when it happens with no warning of the King's arrival, nothing seems to go right. They have been placed in a tent outside the large office building which, when Alan takes a tour , seems to have more than enough room for them to be inside.

It seems that everything in Saudi Arabia is a mystery, nothing is as it seems and no one follows the rules. As Alan spends his days doing little more than waiting on the arrival of The King he reflects on his life, his marriage, his relationship with his daughter and his general feelings of incompetence in dealing with the world. As he becomes Yousef's friend and wingman he meets Yousef's father, sees his home village and even helps strangers build a cement wall. An act that of itself seems of little import but to Alan has overwhelming significance.

The turning point for Alan comes when he goes on wolf hunt with Yousef and some of his villagers from his hometown. The wolf is a menace a local farmers sheep and Alan, feeling thrilled to be part of a group, is sure he will be the one to bring it down.

Soon thereafter Alan arrives at work to discover that the King is on his way. The presentation is done and everything goes perfectly but Alan soon learns that in Saudi Arabia nothing is as it seems and in everything there are levels of the onion that you never know exist.

The book was good, one felt for the characters. Alan is likable and recognizable for many of us. I felt that the relationship that Alan has with his father is very easy to relate to. Alan's decisions in his corporate success have been symptomatic of the withering away and hollowing out of American business and as his father never fails to point out to him Alan and his companies planted the seeds of their own destruction when they attempted to make more and increasing profits by abandoning their principles and skilled labor. It is a a cautionary tale for any businesses that today send jobs overseas.

The ending is not perfect, one looking for a crisp and clean resolution will be disappointed. That said I plan to read more Eggers. His perspective is one I look forward to learning more about.