Temporary People

This is a book of short stories about guest workers from India in the United Arab Emirates. I'm not usually a fan of short stories–I like LONG books. I've never read short stories like these, though. Maybe I need to read more?

The stories range from lists of the jobs that guest workers in the UAE do, to a several chapter long story about a scientist who figures out how to grow guest workers as a crop, and what happens as a result. Some of the stories feel disturbingly detached, like the one about an American woman who tapes workers back together after they've been injured on the job. Other stories fairly pulsate with emotion, like the one about the young man who gets a job dressing as a clown to sell detergent. My favorite is a story about some cockroaches who teach themselves to speak and walk on two legs, wearing clothing, as the young boy in the apartment they inhabit attempts to kill them off. I couldn't help but think of the cockroach Archie from the Archie & Mehitabel poems.

The stories in this collection are unique and sometimes grotesque. I didn't expect to like them as much as I did.