Painting Kuwait Violet

I chose to read Painting Kuwait Violet because of its Arab setting and because Fernandes is a Kuwaiti-born author - making her novel an addition to my WorldReads project. The cover illustration suggested that the book might not be perfectly suited to my tastes and I did have problems with some aspects, however overall this is quite an enjoyable read. It's a light story without much intensity or depth, but does give some interesting insights into Kuwaiti culture and the day to day lives of both the extremely rich Kuwaiti citizens and their army of foreign workers. We are repeatedly told how badly domestic staff in particular are treated by their employers, but I didn't really see much evidence of this with regards to Violet's situation once she has overcome Aliya's teenage tantrums. The maids work hard for long hours with the darker events glossed over, perhaps hidden because nobody chooses to see. Instead Violet seems to ingratiate herself easily into Sadah's good graces. For me this seemed rather unrealistic. Violet may have had a college education, but if the prejudice we were informed of really is as strong as was maintained, her opinions surely wouldn't have counted for anything?

Painting Kuwait Violet is told from two perspectives. The primary narrative is that of Violet coming to terms with her new life as a maid and making the best of her situation. I liked this storyline and think if the book had concentrated on aspects such as the blossoming friendship between the maids and the mutual business respect between Violet and Sadah, it would have been a stronger work. Instead this frequently felt too rushed. I wanted more detail about how these women were growing their couture business together, especially in such a male-dominated society as Kuwait.

However those chapters are interspersed with odd sections from the point of view of a threatening unknown male character who we know is violently abusive to the domestic staff and murdered Violet's predecessor. I suppose that this narrative was meant to add tension to the story, but I never felt that it satisfactorily coalesced with the main storyline. Occasionally the police put in a brief appearance to tell Sadah that she really should do something about the way her maids are abused, and the unknown male growls his misogynistic speeches, but, for me, this aspect was too far removed to be convincing. The book became neither an inspiring tale of female empowerment in a male world nor a tense serial killer thriller. Instead it fails somewhere between the two stools which is a shame.