Book Review: ‘America’s View of the East, Cinematically’ by Abdulmohsen Al-Mutairi
Updated 22 May 2025
Jasmine Bager
Saudi journalist, filmmaker and cultural commentator Abdulmohsen Al-Mutairi launched his long-anticipated book — “America’s View of the East, Cinematically” — at last month’s Saudi Film Festival.
Cementing his reputation as a vital voice at the intersection of cinema and Arab identity, the book is a natural progression from his award-winning documentary, “Memories From The North,” tackling Western portrayals of the East with the same precision, intellect and emotional clarity.
Al-Mutairi drew wide attention for his documentary, which offered a poetic look at the Gulf War of 1990-91 and was named best short documentary at the 2022 festival.
“The documentary looks to me like a chapter in a book, because both memories and the war look like chapters to us. To me, the war is a timeline, there is a beginning, middle and an end,” Al-Mutairi told Arab News at the time.
“America’s View of the East, Cinematically” continues that mission, serving as both critique and chronicle of how Arab and Eastern identities have long been distorted by the cinematic lens of the West.
“This encyclopedia will be a building block added to what the Saudi Film Festival has started since its launch in 2008 and an effective tributary in the path of Saudi cinema, reinforcing what the festival organizers believe in and what they seek to achieve by emphasizing that the film industry must be accompanied by a knowledge industry directed at those working in the local and Arab cinema field,” according to its introduction.
More than critique, the book offers a kind of cinematic reclamation.
The Navier-Stokes equations, first derived in the 18th century, serve as an accurate mathematical model with which to describe the flow of a broad class of real fluids
Updated 07 July 2025
Arab News
Author: P. A. LAGERSTORM
Fluid mechanics is one of the greatest accomplishments of classical physics.
The Navier-Stokes equations, first derived in the 18th century, serve as an accurate mathematical model with which to describe the flow of a broad class of real fluids.
Not only is the subject of interest to mathematicians and physicists, but it is also indispensable to mechanical, aeronautical, and chemical engineers, who have to apply the equations to real-world examples, such as the flow of air around an aircraft wing or the motion of liquid droplets in a suspension.
Kendah Jambi has turned to local folklore and southern Saudi Arabia for her next novel
Updated 06 July 2025
Ghadi Joudah
RIYADH: When Saudi writer Kendah Jambi released “The Epic of Frost” in 2024, she wrapped up a fantasy trilogy that had been nearly a decade in the making.
Spanning three titles published by Adab Book — “The Voyagers” (2021), “The Historian” (2023), and “The Epic of Frost” (2024) — the trilogy reflects a growing interest in Arabic speculative fiction and highlights her steady rise within the Kingdom’s evolving literary scene.
With the series complete, the 25-year-old has turned the page with a new project: “Khalil,” a standalone novel rooted in Saudi heritage and slated for release this year.
Author Kendah Jambi sees the current moment in Saudi Arabia as particularly significant for writers, with growing cultural initiatives under Vision 2030. (Supplied/AN photo)
Reflecting on her journey, she told Arab News: “In comparison to when I first started, it has definitely become a lot easier to write and complete a novel in shorter amount of time.”
Her works have resonated with readers across Saudi Arabia who seek her out at the region’s various book fairs. Jambi said that she is touched by the kindness they express and their connection to her works. “I have young authors flooding my socials daily talking about how my work inspired them to write and stay persistent.”
HIGHLIGHTS
• Kendah Jambi’s ‘The Voyager’ fantasy trilogy gained momentum through its Manga Arabia adaptation.
• The writer’s next project ‘Khalil’ is a stand-alone novel rooted in Saudi heritage and slated for release this year.
• Her works have resonated with readers across Saudi Arabia who seek her out at the region’s various book fairs.
She added that her goal has always been “to make the world fall in love with the Arabic language.”
Jambi’s trilogy was published in Manga Arabia magazine’s print and digital versions. (AN Photo Basheer Saleh)
Her trilogy also gained momentum through its Manga Arabia adaptation, which Jambi said brought new attention to the original novels.
This, she said, brings the story full circle as “The Voyagers” was written originally to be a manga series and ended up becoming a novel.
Her advice to aspiring writers is grounded in experience: “Always chase what you believe in, no matter how long it takes. It took me seven years to write my first book, and I never regret taking my time,” she said.
Jambi’s trilogy gained momentum through its Manga Arabia adaptation, which Jambi said brought new attention to the original novels. (Supplied/AN photo)
While her earlier work leaned heavily into fantasy, her upcoming novel “Khalil” represents a shift in setting and tone.
“‘Khalil’ takes place in our modern-day Saudi Arabia across different regions. It reflects our heritage and traditions while being completely inspired by Arabian mythology,” she explained.
One such reimagining involves the folklore figure “Um Al-Saaf wa Al-Leef,” whom she described as “a witch who sits atop palm trees and eats children.”
Jambi participated in numerous book fairs in the MENA region, including the Riyadh International Book Fair. (AN Photo Abdulrahman Shalhoub)
In Jambi’s version, the character is still a deranged witch, but she does not eat children — instead, she has children named Al-Saaf and Al-Leef.
Jambi emphasized the importance of cultural accuracy in portraying southern Saudi characters, noting that her work “stays true to the people … I definitely made sure of that with help from friends native to that region.
“The characters are people whom Saudi readers can relate to as they hold similar values and have a familiar upbringing,” she added.
Explaining the shift from fantasy to a narrative more grounded in reality, Jambi said: “My pen is free and can go wherever it wants.”
She sees the current moment in Saudi Arabia as particularly significant for writers, with growing cultural initiatives under Vision 2030.
Maram Al-Samman, who read Jambi’s trilogy, told Arab News: “I see in Kendah Jambi a new and promising voice in Arabic fantasy literature … There are some moments that might lack narrative coherence, but her boldness in introducing new ideas and her creation of complex characters distinguish her work.”
Reflecting on her overall impression, Al-Samman added: “Personally, I believe her writing is worth reading, especially for those who enjoy novels that expand the imagination and open the door to deep thought.”
With the trilogy and her upcoming standalone novel sharing the same narrative universe, Jambi has created an expansive literary ecosystem where the fantastical and the familiar coexist.
Christina Hillsberg’s “Agents of Change” deftly tackles not just the fight for gender equality at the Cia, but the current dilemma the agency faces when dealing with the culmination of a decades-long culture of sexual harassment and assault.
In the book, Hillsberg pays a long overdue tribute to the survivors and thrivers, the indispensable groundbreakers, and defiant rabble-rousers who made the choice to change their lives and in turn, changed history.
What We Are Reading Today: Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham
Updated 05 July 2025
Arab News
“Midnight In Chernobyl” offers a harrowing and compelling narrative of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand.
Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world. The book is an indelible portrait of history’s worst nuclear disaster, of human resilience and ingenuity and the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will remain not just vital but necessary.
This book makes for a masterful non-fiction thriller, according to a review on goodreads.com.
Sperrin begins by describing the Roman foundations and substructures of British satire, paying particularly close attention to the core Roman canon: Horace, Persius, and Juvenal
Updated 04 July 2025
Arab News
Author: Dan Sperrin
Satire is a funny, aggressive, and largely oppositional literature which is typically created by people who refuse to participate in a given regime’s perception of itself.
Although satire has always been a primary literature of state affairs, and although it has always been used to intervene in ongoing discussions about political theory and practice, there has been no attempt to examine this fascinating and unusual literature across the full chronological horizon.
In “State of Ridicule,” Dan Sperrin provides the first ever longue durée history of political satire in British literature. He traces satire’s many extended and discontinuous trajectories through time while also chronicling some of the most inflamed and challenging political contexts within which it has been written.
Sperrin begins by describing the Roman foundations and substructures of British satire, paying particularly close attention to the core Roman canon: Horace, Persius, and Juvenal.
