Temporary People

Temporary People is a collection of 28 interconnected stories set in the United Arab Emirates, focused on the lives of foreign workers who keep the nation running. The stories follow laborers, domestic workers, and middle-class professionals from places like India and the Philippines as they navigate life in the Gulf states. The book employs magical realism and experimental forms to portray the experiences of guest workers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Characters transform into passports, cockroaches take human form, and workers sprout replacement bodies - yet these supernatural elements serve to illuminate real social conditions. The stories move between different time periods, generations, and perspectives within the UAE's temporary foreign workforce. Through a mix of English, Malayalam, and Arabic, the text captures the linguistic complexity of a place where multiple cultures intersect. This debut work grapples with questions of belonging, identity, and the human cost of building modern city-states through temporary labor. The book challenges readers to consider what it means to live in a place without the possibility of becoming permanent.

Readers describe this book as a surreal, experimental collection that illuminates the lives of migrant workers in the UAE. The interconnected stories blend magical realism with stark portrayals of labor exploitation. Readers appreciated: - The creative use of language and code-switching between English, Malayalam, and Arabic - The unique perspective on Gulf labor conditions - The blend of dark humor with serious themes - The inventive metaphors and imagery Common criticisms: - Dense, challenging prose style that can be hard to follow - Disjointed narrative structure - Some stories feel too abstract or disconnected Ratings: Goodreads: 3.8/5 (300+ ratings) Amazon: 4.2/5 (30+ ratings) One reader noted: "Like reading a fever dream - beautiful but disorienting." Another mentioned: "The experimental style gets in the way of important stories that need to be told more directly." Reviews frequently compare the writing style to Salman Rushdie and highlight the book's originality in addressing Gulf migration.

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🌟 The book won the inaugural Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing in 2016, earning the author a $10,000 prize and publication deal. 🏗️ Set in the UAE, the book explores the lives of temporary foreign workers who make up roughly 80% of the region's population, yet have limited rights and tenuous legal status. 📚 The author, Deepak Unnikrishnan, was born in Kerala, India, raised in Abu Dhabi, and crafted this work as his creative dissertation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 🎭 Written in a surrealist style, the book blends magical realism with harsh reality, featuring stories where workers literally turn into passports and children create copies of their parents from chewing gum. 🗣️ The novel incorporates multiple languages including Malayalam, Arabic, and Malayarabic (a pidgin language commonly used by workers in the Gulf), reflecting the linguistic diversity of the UAE's migrant communities.