Hali
I cant give it a full five stars, even if I feel compelled to do so. Critique sandwich:
The Good: Honestly a GREAT book. A journalistic venture by a woman into the world of women in Islamic Arabic-speaking countries written with a lot of empathy and the perfect mix between personal experience and explanation of facts. It holds a lot of knowledge on the Happenings of the 80s, having mostly been written during them, and contains references to events we can nowadays barely find traces of online, even if they were really important to the people and especially women at the time. There's so many little nice parts about the book I'd write a whole essay if I listed them all :P
The Bad: I REALLy, really appreciated a lot of the context and background knowledge the author gave. That's exactly why (as both a major in arab & islamic studies and a big leftie) I have to point out that some of her context is a bit... off. It doesnt reek of atheism, and overall, the author has a really good understanding of Islam and especially the people she met following it. I also dont know exactly HOW prevalent some discourses were at the time she wrote this book, considering a lot of the countries she visited didnt allow for a difference in opinion on Islamic matters. But some of the religious context she gives is a little short-handed, I think? Like e.g. for sure introducing Aisha as the Prophet's 6 year old wife, when thats a topic thats been pretty widely debated. She remarked at another point that a historic reading of the Koran wont change the opinion and power of people reading it literally, she couldve done it here too to illustrate how these stories have a real effect despite Aisha's age likely having been exaggerated. You will find other reviews that point out inconsistencies or issue regarding this too.
The Good, again: The author doesnt hold back on criticism and it feels so much more meaningful than when other people who have had no contact with Islamic culture and countries level the same criticisms at people because she says these things not out of hate, but out of a sense of justice. Her book ends with an anecdote about living in a place where women can choose whether to closely follow Islamic teachings or not and respecting each other. It's pretty damn beautiful.
I cant give it a full five stars, even if I feel compelled to do so. Critique sandwich:
The Good: Honestly a GREAT book. A journalistic venture by a woman into the world of women in Islamic Arabic-speaking countries written with a lot of empathy and the perfect mix between personal experience and explanation of facts. It holds a lot of knowledge on the Happenings of the 80s, having mostly been written during them, and contains references to events we can nowadays barely find traces of online, even if they were really important to the people and especially women at the time. There's so many little nice parts about the book I'd write a whole essay if I listed them all :P
The Bad: I REALLy, really appreciated a lot of the context and background knowledge the author gave. That's exactly why (as both a major in arab & islamic studies and a big leftie) I have to point out that some of her context is a bit... off. It doesnt reek of atheism, and overall, the author has a really good understanding of Islam and especially the people she met following it. I also dont know exactly HOW prevalent some discourses were at the time she wrote this book, considering a lot of the countries she visited didnt allow for a difference in opinion on Islamic matters. But some of the religious context she gives is a little short-handed, I think? Like e.g. for sure introducing Aisha as the Prophet's 6 year old wife, when thats a topic thats been pretty widely debated. She remarked at another point that a historic reading of the Koran wont change the opinion and power of people reading it literally, she couldve done it here too to illustrate how these stories have a real effect despite Aisha's age likely having been exaggerated. You will find other reviews that point out inconsistencies or issue regarding this too.
The Good, again: The author doesnt hold back on criticism and it feels so much more meaningful than when other people who have had no contact with Islamic culture and countries level the same criticisms at people because she says these things not out of hate, but out of a sense of justice. Her book ends with an anecdote about living in a place where women can choose whether to closely follow Islamic teachings or not and respecting each other. It's pretty damn beautiful.