Having lived in Saudi Arabia--Riyadh to be exact--on two different occasions over a twenty-year period, I found "If Olaya Street Could Talk," a most interesting narrative on the life of an expat. I think Mr. Jones was wisely cautious in not mentioning names in his narrative, and did a rather masterful job in tiptoeing around sensitive issues, while at the same time giving the reader a feel for the excitement and frustrations that are part of living and working in that part of the world. And as cautious as he was, I understand that his book is still haram--forbidden--in the Kingdom. Yes, as fascinating as that part of the world is, it is still a long way from being an open society. Regardless, I recommend this book for those who have and have not been to that part of the world.

Bruce M. Petty

I have just finished reading "If Olaya Street Could Talk" and highly recommend it to anyone interested in Saudi Arabia. It will have special appeal to any "expats" who have worked in Riyadh or at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital. I worked there in the late 70's and while I don't recall ever meeting John Paul Jones, he has managed to capture the essence of the dramatic changes that many of us, including the Saudis, experienced on a personal, cultural and societal level. It is a rare pleasure to read something positive about living in Saudi Arabia, its history and the Saudi people.

Congratulations to Mr. John Paul Jones for writing an excellent book on Saudi Arabia for us western readers. At last here is a book that rings true. I have a chance to go to Saudi Arabia in December and was in two minds about it, but after reading "If Olaya Street Could Talk"...I will take up the offer, and who knows, I might even visit Olaya Street. Moving on to another matter, I am sick to the teeth with this pushy Jean Sasson person who is for ever singing her own praises at every given opportunity. I have read two of her books about Saudi Arabia, both are tabloid sensationalism, and do not ring true at all. This woman is now trying to steal the thunder of Mr. John Paul Jones's success by posting and advertising her own trashy books on his review pages.

The diplomat and author Sir A.T. Wilson once wrote,"Arabia retains to an extraordinary degree the power of conquering hearts," and it is obvious that the heart of John Paul Jones is one of those conquered. In this lively and thoughtful work the author celebrates the freedom of the desert - a place where you can drive without restraint in any direction for days on end, the beauty of the unpolluted night sky and the allure of ancient places, where the generosity of the poorest nomad who will slaughter his last sheep for a total stranger because that is what you do for a guest still lives.

But all is not romanticism in this book and as he writes in any population there is a 10% that will cause 90% of the problems and he is very explicit about this ten per cent - be they smug Americans or sanctimonious Saudis, that disappoint one's hopes and expectations. Mr. Jones is a perceptive realist who writes clearly about those trouble makers without losing sight of the vast majority of Saudis, Americans and others who made his 25 years in Saudi Arabia such a delight. I would heartily recommend If Olaya Street Could Talk to those relative few of us expatriates who ever lived in Arabia for any period of time and also to the many who ever considered what it would be like to live in this most astonishing desert kingdom.

This was an easy book to read...really informative of an expats life in Saudi Arabia for the past 25 years, and the massive changes going on there. The trips he and his family took through the Arabian desert were all the more interesting with the inclusion of a well marked map in the back of the book...grand idea. You actually feel that you have seen these places, and know the people he talks about. Now I want to read more about his wife and childrens life in Saudi Arabia, and about the other travels that they took over the years throughout that area and in Europe. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in a bit of the real Saudi Arabia. A very good read. Way to go, John Paul!

As someone who lived in the Kingdom for 12 years, I always enjoy any expat's account of their time in the Kingdom. This book particularly excited me since I knew John Paul and Mary Jones and they were guests in my home many times, in Riyadh, and in Atlanta, as I was in their home. I remember so well when their two lovely children were born and all the joy they had with those precious children. I knew them both from work, as well, as we all three were at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre. Those really were wonderful times. It was apparent that John Paul and Mary relished their time in the Kingdom and they were always traveling out into the desert or to some interesting place in the Kingdom. As one who didn't really enjoy camping out, I always admired them for the exciting journeys they took. Our friendship carried on to Atlanta, and, as a matter of fact, I trusted them to be some of the first people to read my manuscript on PRINCESS, and they were very positive and enthusiastic for me, and for the book's success. I've never forgotten that. Although we have lost touch over the years, I was delighted to hear that John Paul had written a book because I knew he had enormous love & enthusiasm for the Kingdom. It was an interesting read for me and the minute it came out, I alerted everyone I knew from those days in the Kingdom, reminding them to dash out and buy the book. It's always fun to read an expat's account of their time in the kingdom as it is only natural for everyone to have a different perspective and I, for one, love all the differences in people, and the differences in experiences. I hope this book does wonderfully for John Paul. If someone is interested in life in the Kingdom, this will be a good edition for their library. HAPPY READING! Jean SassonPrincess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia;Love in a Torn Land: Joanna of Kurdistan: The True Story of a Freedom Fighter's Escape from Iraqi Vengeance

It was a pleasure to read a factual, non Saudi bashing book about the life of an expat family living in a DIFFERENT CULTURE. It was my experience that if you extended everyday courtesy to the Saudis that in most cases it was returned in spades. I am not in a position to judge the quality of the writing as others have done but the stories of the desert trips evoked very pleasant memories for me.

AM FROM SAUDI ARABIA AND I KNOW MOST OF WHAT HE IS SAYING IS TRUE, THE BOOK IS OK IF YOU WANT TO KNOW A LITTLE ABOUT THE KINGDOM FROM A WESTREN PRESPICTIVE, THE WAY OF WRITING WAS NOT ENJOYABLE BECAUSE ITS NOT SMOOTH ITS A LITTLE UNRELEVENT, THE WRITER HAS ALOT OF STORIES TO TELL BUT WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL IN MAKING IT IN A BOOK

I found this book fascinating, especially since almost everything I know about Saudi Arabia comes from newspapers and television news. John Paul's experiences over the 25 years in the Kingdom were very enlightening. The book was written in a really interesting manner, with both knowledge and humor. I recommend it highly.

I am an American lady who lived on Olaya Street for over a decade and befriended many ex-pat ladies who shared their time with me and others on a street that needs to be recognized internationally. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the most critical nations on the face of the Earth yet it lacks the maturity and degree of acceptance it must achieve to take its place in a political climate of survival of the spin masters and military giants. The cultural norms of Saudi Arabia are often picked over by cultural vultures that misjudge more than judge Saudi life style. I determined a long time ago not to become a defender of Saudi's cultural norms rather I seek when asked to clarify why certain cultural norms still exist and how they are viewed across the Saudi society and when able project what the future may hold. As western women our status never really changed -it was never particularly high in some quarters of Saudi Arabia due to the great misgivings some westerners and some Saudis had about the other - but the level of tolerance toward all women in Saudi dropped in the decades spanning 1980 to 2000.This was due of course to our mutual misgivings and the cultural bomb in the form of the first Gulf War. I am hoping that this topic will be addressed in the book which I have just ordered and cannot wait to read. I am hoping and sense I will not be disappointed that the book will let me revisit my time with friends and places and incidents in Riyadh. My husband was an engineer with The Royal Commission and I taught at the American International School of Riyadh. Olaya and the American School were bridges to places into the peoples' hearts and minds for me. The author's experience was similar. I am so grateful to the author for writing his story. He has elevated even validated the ex-pat experience in The Kingdom.

This book is a refreshing addition to the spate of publications that thump readers over the head with political ideology or religious exhortation.

I, too, lived in the Kingdom for twelve years overlapping the author's stay, but I never met him. I have read many of the books that have popped up during the last decade, written by people who have lived there. Many authors have an exaggerated agenda and/or lack of real knowledge and participation in the culture of Saudi Arabia. Westerners seldom participate fully, if ever, but John Paul Jones does not pretend to offer explanations, excuses or condemnations of an ancient culture that matured on the other side of the world, independent of Western technology or philosophy until recently (historically speaking).

He offers something more interesting--an account of how individuals from these cultures relate to one another on a personal basis, how they find ways to accommodate differences that cannot be truly reconciled, and how they sometimes cannot find ways. He also underscores the obvious---that East and West have actually come together for the development of both, and have done so admirably in major ways. This message has gotten lost, especially since the atrocities of 9/11.

Any Westerner who has lived in Saudi Arabia will recognize the honesty of this book. It reads like a letter to a good friend, and does not aim to be a literary or scholarly treatise. It brings in aspects of the author's family life and his experiences in Vietnam. It bridges the cultural gap with elements of popular Western culture, as is evidenced in the title, derived from Baldwin's classic, "If Beale Street Could Talk."

Mr. Jones is well grounded in Western culture, yet manages to live and write with an attitude of objectivity that has served him well, and has facilitated his invaluable contributions to the well-being of both the Saudis and his fellow expats. This book is an addition to that legacy.

The author has spent a good chunk of his life in Saudi Arabia, but there is nothing here to suggest he has any particular insights (good or bad) to impart, and it's not even clear from the book whether he established a serious friendship with a single Saudi, or had a single meaningful conversation with a Saudi. There is in fact more about the author's personal demons in the Vietnam war, which he fails to weave into the story to make awkward and unoriginal points about America and the Middle East. There are also weird digressions about country music and non-sequitur quotations of dated American pop songs that fail to resonate and do not advance the story being told. The one interesting part of the book is in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks, when the author is duped into playing an American role in what sounds like an anti-American Saudi televsion mini-series about the misfortunes that the 11 September attacks heaped upon the Saudi people.

Mostly, this is just a random collection of tales from a disconnected expat living in the expat bubble and observing Saudi customs from afar: look at how the women dress! look at the religious police harassing people! Nor does the book succeed in its stated task of conveying a sense of the rapid social changes that the Kingdom saw over recent decades. For a brilliant, if fictionalized, account of this, see the "Cities of Salt" trilogy, especially the first volume, by Abdelrahman Munif.

I used to take offense at the fact that comedian Dave Barry could visit a foreign country for a half week, and immediately turn around write a bestseller that would easily outsell any books written by scholars or journalists who had painstakingly built up a lifetime full of expertise on that country. It is far worse, however, that this man could live in Saudi Arabia for some 20 years and write such a horrible book, that offers less insight than Dave Barry might offer after a four day visit to the Kingdom. I've read perhaps two hundred books on the Arab world and this just may be the least worth reading of the lot.

As another expat who spent many years, built a family & life, and had a wealth of unique experiences in the Kingdom - I read John's book with varying emotional reactions.

His book starts as a light-hearted narrative of a simpler, more naïve (from our perspectives) time in the KSA. Most of us who lived there in the 70s or 80s felt the same combination of adventure, freedom, and security on this peninsula of such antiquity and new-found modern vibrancy. The living, the work, and the travels were wonderful.

After the "Desert 1" war, we (as many) observed the accelerating cultural/social shifts described faithfully by John - not only in Saudi Arabia, but in the Middle East as a whole. As we decided to repatriate in 2000, I read the accounts of the Jones' last years with a two notable reactions: the curing of any latent desire to return, and sadness for all of the rather unbelievable gaffes on both sides that have led us to this dark place in history.

Most of us long-termers have many stories from those heady days, but John's taken the time and energy to publish his, and for that I thank him. If you want excellent insight into this Kingdom that is so enigmatic and crucial, read John's book. If you prefer not knowing: see the movie and watch corporate media.

Having lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for many years, I can confirm that this excellent book provides the reader a very truthful, honest, and insightful view of expatriate life in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a beautiful country where I raised a family, made multiple lifelong friendships, and enjoyed my job working alongside many wonderful Saudis and other Arabs.
The country is immensely beautiful and this book describes in detail a young family's many journeys into areas in Saudi Arabia that few outsiders rarely see and experience.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has asked the question: "Why did you stay in Saudi Arabia so long?"

I just finished the book and knew nothing of the region before I read it besides the classic negative portrayal of the region by most news medias. What I found particularly striking, and what surprised me the most, was the parallel that started growing in my mind between my country (China) and Saudi Arabia. The recent economic boom in both continues to have profound impacts on everything from foreign relations to interior aspects like culture, custom, religion, society, and politics and is causing both countries to make anguishing decisions about what is fundamentally important versus what one can compromise. I send a heartfelt thanks to Jones for unveiling in me a new compassion for, and definite interest, in this fascinating region. I passed this book onto my family to read and I urge everyone to pick one up too!

Once I began this book, I couldn't put it down. "If Olaya"... gives insight into the 'real' Saudi as it was in the seventies and the changes that have taken place up to today. It allows the reader to get a vivid understanding of the Arabic culture both before and after the current political sitauations in the Middle East. In that very few North Americans have had the opportunity to live in Saudi, our beliefs of what life is like there are based mostly on what we read or hear in the media. This book is a must-read for anyone who really is curious about the truth about life in that part of the world. The experiences of Mr. Jones and his family are amazing, and makes one feel that you are right there in the desert re-living it all. If you have an interest in Saudi Arabia, you will love Olaya Street.

IF OLAYA STREET COULD TALK takes us out back of beyond. After a tour through a desert kingdom's modern hospital and its politics and inevitable cultural clashes - there have been contract workers from every part of the world in this multi-cultural hospital - we go into the red and yellow sands, the escarpments, the shaded green oases and date plantations, places most of us can only dream of until the oil runs out and tourism dollars are needed. The author takes us into the deserts, under black night skies around a campfire with friends, into you-are-there situations and experiences that are sometimes exciting and beautiful, sometimes frightening and culture-clash dangerous. If you're longing for adventures into these places where few have gone before, if travel magazines and books are starting to feel like comfortable old Elvis movies - only the names have changed - OLAYA STREET will take you into exotics like Yanbu, Taif, Tabuk, and into the extraordinary beauty and desolation of the Empty Quarter.
Along with the desert adventures, OLAYA STREET points us toward a more in-depth understanding of a place and its people so foreign to most of us and our ways of thinking. We see and feel the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, grow from a sandy spot into a modern city of millions, with all the problems and exhilaration that go with such growth and expansion. We learn of the absorption into the city of many of its nomadic desert dwellers, who bring color to the streets of the Old town, with its many date and spice souks, rug souks, and the ubiquitous camels and goats along the side streets.
The author, John P. Jones, also gives us a peek into adventures outside the Kingdom that he and his family experienced during their years in Arabia, in Bahrain, Spain, France, and other European cities and countrysides, and one can hope that these glimpses will be expanded into further writings. But first, read IF OLAYA STREET COULD TALK. It is the beginning of a lively philosophical exploration and physical adventure.

As a political professor, I found that Jones' book provided invaluable insights for me into the closed and mysterious Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There is a severe deficiency in accurate information about the Kingdom that is inversely proportionate to the area's current significance. Jones has started to fill this void by indicating the consequences of neglecting this heart stone of the Islamic world. His descriptions are intimately detailed and provide a reliable and balanced perspective of the political situation in one of the -- if not THE -- key political regions in the modern world. As a Frenchman, I am acutely aware of the incalculable cost of war (with his specific reference to the three Franco-German wars over a 75-year period), but equally conscious of preventative steps that can be taken to avert another `clash of civilizations'. Jones offers a greater understanding of an often misunderstood region that, for me, introduces a hope for the future. I implore all to absorb the importance of this book and I very much look forward to future publications by this author regarding the "Franco-German" issue of our time.

Like the shifting Saudi sands that obscure old tracks and reveal new ones, John Paul shares the many geological and social changes he experienced during his tenure in Arabia. Present during Saudi's explosive transformation from a nomadic to modern state, he provides a fascinating prospective and remarkable insight into how these changes affected personal relationships. A great read.

Excellent read! A must for anyone interested in broadening their understanding of how an expatriate living in the Middle East can become immersed in and enthralled with the country in which he/she is living -- not only the beauty of the country, but the beauty of the people. The author also painted pertinent parallels with the dilemma the USA now faces in Iraq with the dilemma it faced during the Vietnam War. The book is truly a literary work of art -- a recommended read!

IF OLAYA STREET COULD TALK is interesting and entertaining. Part biographical, part travelogue and part commentary; John Paul Jones, the author, takes the reader with him through his 25 year journey as an American expatriate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During his stay, Olaya Street went from a sandy rural area used by sheep hearers, to an urban center lined with international stores, the Rodeo Drive of Riyadh. The growth of the street mirrored the evolution of Saudi Arabia from a Middle Eastern Arab State with little infrastructure to one of modern marvels.

Jones shares the joys, concerns, and adventures of his extended stay in the Kingdom. It is a true reflection of an expatriate's experience abroad and a refreshing report of western life in Saudi Arabia. If you have had an expatriate experience in the Middle East, reading this book will open memories. If you have not had this experience, reading IF OLAYA STREET COULD TALK will open your imagination into the opportunities for adventure and excitement expatriate living can provide. This well written book is a great read and I recommend it strongly.