Book Review – Destination Abudai by Prue Mason
New YA Novel by the Australian Author of Camel Rider
Oct 7, 2009
In Destination Abudai (Puffin, 2009) Australian Arts Council grant recipient Prue Mason brings young readers another adventurous story set in the Middle East. As Jaz travels from his home in Surfers’ Paradise, Australia to Abudai, a fictional city state in the Arabian Gulf, he discovers that minor cultural misunderstandings can have serious consequences.
Destination Abudai
Arriving home with the exciting news that he had been asked to prepare for testing for his karate black belt, 12-year-old Jazirut (Jaz) Freeman doesn’t expect to find his mother, sister and grandparents waiting to talk with him about his father.
Jaz knows nothing about his father and is stunned to discover that not only is his father a man of significant wealth and influence, but he wants Jaz to come and live with him in Abudai.
When Jaz travels to Abudai he discovers a world very different to his home in Australia. Arriving at the beginning of Ramadan, he struggles to fit in with the totally new environment and culture. He has trouble connecting with his father, accepting the different attitude toward women and dealing with the aggressive attitude of his cousin, Tariq.
Eventually Jaz discovers that making assumptions about others without understanding their culture or background can have embarrassing consequences.
A Family Adventure set in the Middle East
The initial scenes in Australia move quickly, with Jaz’s separation from his Australian family occurring quite abruptly. This jars a little, however the focus of the story is the culture shock Jaz experiences in Abudai and this flows well and maintains a quick pace as events unfold in his new home, the Black Palace.
Arriving at the beginning of Ramadan, Jaz must adjust to the fasting of all household members during daylight hours in addition to dealing with meeting his father and other family members for the first time. Jaz quickly connects with his inquisitive and adventurous sister Noora, however his relationship with his cousin Tariq is confrontational from the beginning.
As Jaz learns about his parents’ relationship and the dynamics of his father’s household, readers are offered insight into Muslim family relationships, male and female roles and expectations and family rituals such as those practiced during Ramadan and the preparation for Jaz’s older sister Hannan’s wedding.
Through Jaz, the author explores some Western assumptions regarding Middle Eastern culture. Primarily, Destination Abudai is a fun story of one boy’s experiences adjusting to a new culture, with Jaz’s misunderstandings leading him along a path of intrigue that ultimately teaches both him and readers the importance of not making assumptions about others based on stereotypes and generalisations.
Prue Mason
Australian author Prue Mason brings her experiences living and travelling in both Australia and the Middle East to her novels. In both Destination Abudai and Camel Rider (Puffin, 2004), her previous novel for young readers, Mason shares some of the lessons she learned about the merging of western and middle eastern cultures during the time she spent living and working in Dubai.
Mason currently runs 'Rowan House', a writers’ retreat and guesthouse located on the Australian Sunshine Coast.
Fun Adventure by the Author of Camel Rider
Destination Abudai bypasses the more significant political and religious differences between Western and Middle Eastern society, focusing instead on the aspects of everyday life that young readers will be most familiar with and will find easiest to identify with.
Ideal for readers aged 10+, Destination Abudai is a great adventure story with a quick-paced storyline and likeable characters.
Destination Abudai (ISBN: 978-0-14-330402-9, 186 pages)
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