Girls of Riyadh

The love adventures of 4 young upper-class Saudi women in a very strict and traditional culture that favors men in every aspect. The four girls still honor their religion, they are not rebels, they feel like good representations on the scale of traditional to more open-minded. The story follows their various flirtations and relationships over the course of a few years.

Any book that gets banned in its home country, it's worth a look. Even if the writing isn't especially good, the plot is engaging, and the novel is very insightful into a world and culture so far from mine. It was definitely interesting to learn about all customs that feel so antiquated in how they separate the genders and suppress the women, while also embracing the allure of Western movies, shopping addictions and Burger King whopper meals. Women are meant to marry young, the more naive and less educated they are the better their chances. Young guys “number” girls by basically stalking them and forcing their phone numbers on them. And should you fall in love, love is no guarantee that tradition won't break.