Dubai Wives: A Novel Paperback – January 18, 2011

I was pleasantly surprised. I loved the way the characters lives intertwined. Each one has drama and keeps you wanting more. It's scandalous and real all at the same time. As someone who lived in the UAE, I could def. relate to the way the people lived and why they got involved in all the activities they did. GOOD, QUICK and FUN read.

What an excellent story and a truly enjoyable read - except for the glaring errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar. I understand the author is not English by birth, but when a book is published / distributed in the United States, does it not go through some editing?Genuinely, I am asking the question, as I don't know the process at all. I find the errors so distracting.

In Dubai Wives ZvezdanaRashkovich delivers a trip to Dubai without the airline ticket and additional expenses for hotel and restaurant and that was just what I was looking for. Zvezdana introduces the reader to the glamorous and the gritty in the exotic desert city on the Arabian Gulf that she currently calls home.In truth I am still mourning the fact that I couldn't attend the Dubai Literary Festival this year where I had hoped to meet the author in person. We have become Twitter friends within the last six months or so. Plain and simple she lives in a really cool place. This I know for a fact because I travelled to Dubai on vacation last year. In my past life I was an expat wife in Hong Kong so I can relate to the life of some of her characters and circle of friendship among diverse types of women far from their native homelands and families.After receiving the book I found that she had self-published and wondered why she took that road. Then I began to read. I found that I was sucked into the exotic and dangerous world she created quickly. There in the pages were the fancy shopping malls that I visited and adored. There was the restaurant by the yacht club where I sat listening to the waves crash. There was the high spire of the Burj Dubai towering over the city seemingly piercing the heavens. In the pages I found again the wonderful Palm where I got goose bumps on the double-decker tour bus ride I took as it drove us on the road that forms the "trunk" past condos and villas, a mosque and finally at the tip the Atlantis Hotel. I could again glimpse the Indian and Pakistani neighborhood where my hotel was located. I was there while India won the world cup and I remember the electricity of those days in the clogged streets near my hotel and the ecstatic shop keepers in the gold souk.Zvezdana's characters welcomed me into the expat life that I of course didn't get to participate in during my short visit to her city. Here were belly dancers from Eastern Europe, a young Moroccan ripped from her home and into the sex trade by opportunist "relative", businessmen caught in greed, expats who have lost touch with their humble beginnings, wealthy women, and an American convert to Islam who married a man with a secret. It was a fascinating tour--like a friend who showed you around the good and the bad of her hometown and let you in on the secrets of her friends.Pacing of the book was fast. Within the first twenty pages I was hooked and fully engrossed in the strange tale set in Dubai.The only "flaw" in the book is a handful of uncorrected typos that easily would have been cleaned up by an editor if she had had the benefit of a full staff at a traditional publishing house.Dubai Wives is a strong first novel by Zvezdana Rashkovich. She is currently working on a second. 'Africa in the way I dance' set in 1970's Sudan where she grew up on farm by the Nile.

A friend gave me this novel. Because I live in Dubai, I was intrigued. Dubai Wives turned out to be a fun read.For me, the strength of the novel is its cast of characters which represent a wide variety of cultures, religions & income levels, from the wealthy local woman, to the dancer, the housemaid, the housewife to the fashion designer and the painter. It was a fascinating glimpse into the diverse population of Dubai.As for the story, there are multiple plots and sub-plots to follow, as well as unexpected twists and turns. Without giving anything away, I'll just say the ending contains a surprise twist. In all, Dubai Wives is a fun, fast-paced story with a unique setting.

Some may like this book but I did not. Perhaps it was written for an audience which doesn't include me. I found it slow moving and rather catty, if I can use that term. The dialogue had a gossipy quality. Descriptions of nail polish and perfumes don't do much for me. Other readers might be more appreciative of this, perhaps. I was hoping to learn something about middle eastern customs but the newspapers are a better source. The ending did pick up a the pace a bit but not sufficiently so to interest me. The author writes well, and perhaps a different topic would find me more receptive and interested.

Ugh, a few pages in and I'm sorry I selected this book. The writing is sophomoric at best. Syntax and grammar issues abound. Too bad, because this could have been a compelling story. I'm left to wonder, does Amazon not have some standards for its selections? Or can any tome with an ISBN, however poorly crafted, be offered for sale? To the author: please invest in some competent editing help.

Even though it was fiction, I believed every word! The author did a marvelous job surprising me at the turn of every page! The ending completely took me by surprise!Once again, proof positive that money doesn't buy peace of mind, but many times destroys the lives of the rich and famous, their families, and all those around them.I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it as a fast and interesting read.

Although this was an interesting story, including a "closure of the circle" that is recommended in fiction (I don't want to give more away than that), the text REALLY needed major editing in grammar, especially use of commas (to smooth understanding of the text), spelling ("form" for "from" and "of" for "off" in a particularly vital part of the novel), in being just plain wrong ("Crystal" for "Cristal" Champagne--really?), and the [seemed to be] million references to Swarovski crystal. I would be happy to offer my services as editor to this publisher, as there seems to be a major need for it.

Nice, light reading showing the darker side of life in Dubai, beneath all the seemingly perfect facades of the women that end up there. I didn’t find all the different characters confusing at all, if anything it made it more interesting

I am in the middle of reading this book, I find the story of each character very interesting and could guess its very true to life in Dubai.However I find that there are too many characters in the story, as each chapter is dedicated to each woman and its very hard to keep up with who is who and I have to read back and try to catch up each time!Otherwise I am enjoying the story, and am looking forward to seeing what happens with each wife (and the husbands too) at the end of the story.It is easy reading but would not count it as a serious book, would recommend it as a holiday read, or for relaxing!

A lot of names to remember! Good basis, but could have been better! Very disappointing ending. Good inside knowledge on Life in Dubai!

Outstanding. Very visual and enticing.(And I am a dude!) I felt like I was there.Definitely recommend this book.

I like to occasionally pick out books based in Dubai as it is a city I have a long association with, used to live and work there and still have friends and visit often, so I can say with some authority that this novel is very close to the reality there, all the characters, although clichéd, are reminiscent of real people in Dubai, the shallowness and obsession with luxury, beauty and sex are all close to the truth too.It was an enjoyable read for me, recognisable and believable, a good holiday read, especially if you are going to Dubai!