A Hologram for the King

Plot

The novel tells the story of a washed-up, desperate American salesman Alan Clay who travels to Saudi Arabia to secure the IT contract from the royal government for a massive new complex being built in the middle of the desert.

Style

Michiko Kakutani describe the novel as having a "Hemingwayesque voice" with some of the main characthers adventures taking on a "Kafkaesque flavor". The novel also makes intentional analogies to "Waiting for Godot."

Reception

The New York Times review of the novel by Michiko Kakutani, was generally positive, he wrote "he has achieved something that is more modest and equally satisfying: the writing of a comic but deeply affecting tale about one man’s travails that also provides a bright, digital snapshot of our times." For Michiko, the novel greatly improved on both of Egger's debut novel, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. San Francisco Chronicle reviewer Carmela Ciuraru described the novel as "an extraordinary work of timely and provocative themes, including the decline of American manufacturing, the sufferings of the middle class and the collapse of the global economy."

Film adaptation

A film adaptation by the same name was released in 2016. German filmmaker Tom Tykwer wrote and directed the film, starring Tom Hanks, Tom Skerritt and Sarita Choudhury. Playtone and X-Filme Creative Pool produced it.