http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/travel/joseph-oneill-on-dubai-a-place-in-formation.html 2014-10-24 21:08:38 Joseph O’Neill on Dubai, ‘a Place in Formation’ The writer talks about his latest novel, “The Dog,” set in Dubai, and the two reporting trips he made there. === Change is relentless in Dubai. Since the discovery of oil in 1966, the once-sleepy port city and emirate has transformed into an international hub of luxury high-rises and man-made islands in the shape of palm trees. The rate of construction in the city— stalled after the 2008 financial crisis, but revived after a bailout from its neighbor, Abu Dhabi — is dizzying. Or as the novelist Joseph O’Neill put it: “It’s like going into a volcano that’s still producing magma.” Mr. O’Neill set his latest novel, “The Dog,” about an unidentified New York lawyer working for a family of billionaires, in the city. To sniff out its expat life, he made two reporting trips there. Recently Mr. O’Neill talked about his time in Dubai, “a place in formation.” Following are edited excerpts. Q. The book’s narrator lives in a luxury high-rise with the risible name the Situation. Did you stay in such a place? A. Any restaurants you liked? ­ Restaurants, nightclubs, bars are all in the luxury, beachfront hotels in Jumeirah. Among them I liked I also liked the There’s been press about the poor living conditions of foreign workers. ­ Brand Dubai is about selling prestige and material luxury — Lamborghinis, and David Beckham owning an island. That luxury tacitly depends on this population of inferiors, but Brand Dubai doesn’t obscure its working practices like the brand of the U.S. does, for example. I really question this whole moral tourism, where travelers wag their fingers at the locals. There’s something slightly repellent about that to me because if you want to see people working in difficult conditions, there’s plenty of that in the United States. Did you venture outside the city? ­ I drove along the Musandam peninsula, which is worth doing. That’s a beautiful part of the gulf. You could speed along there and see the beautiful mountains go into the sea. Diving is big there, and the most beautiful reefs are on the other side, along the Gulf of Oman, in a little emirate called Fujairah. I hear, at least; the closest I ever got to diving was the bathtub. And then there’s the desert; it’s everywhere. In your book, the narrator says the Burj Khalifa makes One World Trade Center look like a stump. ­ It does look stumpy. For New Yorkers who take for granted that their skyline is the best in the world, it really is instructive to be in Dubai and reminded of what a vigorous and dynamic skyline actually looks like these days.