Rating: 
Summary: Review of Not Without My Daughter
Review: As an American woman married to an Iranian man, I anticipated reading this book with a slight sense of dread. All of my Iranian acquaintences assure me that the pictures painted in this book are completely false, and while I think that is a reactionary response, it cannot be dismissed out of hand. Conversely, Betty Mahmoody's experience cannot be dismissed out of hand, either. It was her experience, and no one has the ability to judge it with the one-sided account presented in this book.What I do know is that some of the descriptions of Iran simply do not coincide with what I know about the culture, especially being married to an Iranian. First of all, the cleanliness issue I think must be blown way out of proportion on Betty's part. My husband has two degrees in food science and worked in food processing in Iran. He says there is no way that the food is "bug-infested" as is clearly described in the book. Secondly my husband and his Iranian friends are some of the cleanest people I have ever known in terms of housekeeping and personal hygeine. The lack of deodorant use is common in almost all countries except the US. I described the part about Moody's aunt not showering/bathing for two months and my husband laughed out loud. My husband's mother owns a vacuum cleaner and uses it daily. She is a stickler for cleanliness, and so is my husband. Another point that I simply could not believe was the way these people in the book were treating Mahtob. Iranians dote on their children, they are considered "gifts from God" and are loved and well looked-after. Iranian parents often bend to the will of the child so as not to put undue stress on him or her. I honestly cannot believe that Moody could have hit and kicked Mahtob in public and gotten away with it. Iran has child welfare investigators and children are removed from their parents' care if they are found to be lacking, the same as in the US. Betty was also extremely unwise to take her child to a country where she knew the situation was so inherently dangerous. In 1984, Iran was in the middle of a bloody war with Iraq. Nobody in his right mind would go there voluntarily. She should have asked her husband for a separate Iranian passport (wives and children are simply included in the husband's passport unless specific arrangements are made for the wife's separate passport) with all necessary exit visas in place before she left America. But most of all, she should NOT have taken her child there with an unstable man, which is what the story really boils down to. She knew her husband was unstable. She identified a clear pattern of depressive behavior on the part of her husband, and he was obviously a person who was deeply affected by the sentiments of others. She knew this to be true, and yet she jeopardized her child. Personally I do not consider Betty Mahmoody to be a heroine. She endangered the life of her child by going to a politically repressed country with an unstable man. She then endangered her's and her child's lives by thwarting clearly defined child custody laws and trusting people whom she probably should not have trusted. Just because the US has more "enlightened" laws in terms of women's rights did not give Betty the right to break the laws of Iran. American Citizenship is not a "get out of jail free" card. Moody may have been a boor and extremely unstable but he was doing only what was WITHIN HIS RIGHT UNDER THE LAW. Do I agree with the law? NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! However, the law existed then and it exists the same today. I wish no ill will towards Betty. She was in a desperate situation, and, as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. However, this book should not be the ruler by which Iran, Iranians, and Iranian/American couples are measured. Overall I found Betty's "high horse" writing style to be a little overbearing. She seemed to have the attitude that, "because I'm an American, I'm better than you, and bad things shouldn't happen to me!" That's stupid. Life is not fair. Finally, if this book is the only thing you've ever read about Iran, read something else!
Rating: 
Summary: Moving
Review: I can see why some people may think Betty telling her story was purely for revenge on her husband, but it's easy to see where her anger comes from, so it's forgivable. Her main concern i believe was the safety of her daughter.
I was moved almost to tears reading of Betty's experiences to risk her own life to protect her daughter, in search the happiness she had once shared with Moody.
i recommend this book to anyone who thinks of giving up on something.
Betty Mahmoody didn't and she won the ultimate prize. Freedom and peace of mind.
Rating:
Summary: One of the BEST books I've read
Review: I just finished, not more than an hour ago, this book. It is a superbly written account of an American woman's struggle to escape with her daughter from the Islamic Republic of Iran. ...this book has helped me to better understand the Islamic and Muslim world, the good and the bad. I was riveted to this book all week. I highly recommend it. A harrowing story fantasticlly told!
Rating: 
Summary: Not without my daughter
Review: I have read the book
"Not without my daughter", by Betty Mahmoody and
William Hoffer. It is a true story, about some terrible years of Betty's
life. She, an American woman, married an Iranian man, Moody, and they got
a daughter called Mahtob. For a few years they lived together in America
as a happy family. One day Moody said he wanted the three of them to go to
Iran and visit his relatives. Finally Betty agreed, and off they went.
Both Betty and Mahtob detested Tehran, it was not at all like the life
they were used to at home. The men ruled over their families, and the
hygiene was no good at all. They were only longing for the day when they
were going home to America again. It was supposed to be one week after
their arrival, but when that day finally came, Moody told them that they
were going to stay. "We are not leaving. You are going to stay in Tehran
for ever!" That is when Bettys fight starts - to get her and her daughter
living out from Iran, and back home to her family. She knows that Moody is
able to do
anything to stop them; he has already hit her several times. She has
found friends in some Iranian women, but even though they really feel
sorry for Betty and want to help her, they are so totally faithful to
their religion and their husbands, so she dares not tell them too much.
Even though this book is only from one view, I think it is a really good
book. When you know it is a true story, it's easier to feel the characters' sorrow, pain and happiness, I think
this is a
great book!!
Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: I loved this book, although I'm sure that Ms. Mahmoody is right up there with Salman Rushdie in the Ayatollah's black book. Make sure you read the book before seeing the movie if you want to know the whole story. The movie takes the basic facts of the book and puts them in action, but it leaves out some of the finer details that really make Ms. Mahmoody's story so moving and intense. I'd be interested to know if any members of her ex-husband's family, or even Moody himself, have attempted to contact her since the movie came out.
Rating:
Summary: Book Review of Not Without My Daughter
Review: ... I absolutely loved this book. I read it in my twelfth grade English class in high school. Although I don't know much about the country of Iran seeing how I've never been there, I did study their culture, religion, and lifestyle in high school. I do know enough about Arabians that live in Iran to know that women are treated inferior to men and they must do exactly what their husbands say in order to steer clear of conflicts. This book was a very good and true representation of Arabians that live in Iran from my knowledge source. I don't think that all Arabs are like this especially the ones living in America that have been Americanized. Moody was a good representation of that concept because while his family lived in America he was portrayed to be a very happy, loving husband/father, but when he lost his job and they went back to his country his personality changed drastically. While in Iran surrounded by his huge family they swayed his decisions, and he became very moody and mean to his wife. He started beating her and took away all of her freedom. All of the other Arabian women and American women who were married to Arabians and had lived in the country now for some time were used to this sort of treatment and tried not to provoke the men in their lives in order to stay safe and resist conflicts. This to me would be very scary and hard to do, because they are forced to just give every right they have up. I think that Betty was a very brave woman to attempt to escape and bring her daughter and herself back to safety and freedom, and luckily she succeeded.
This book was very interesting. It was one of the only books that I had read in high school that really held my attention and really made it hard for me to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Cover-up for a bitter truth?!
Review: The story though interesting to read, is questionable in truthfulness. Most of the book is based on personal revenge(as you could feel all over the book) than personal experience. Here is the situation: you kidnap a charming child from her father, you break a lot of international laws, mixing with smugglers and criminals,... How could you justify yourself? The easiest way out is to depict the "other side" as demons to cover your act. The author is very successful at manipulating the otherwise simple facts. She entangles the reader in a web created from her rage and revenge decorated with promise of hope and happiness. A clear conscious? never.
Rating: 
Summary: Utter Garbage
Review: I have never read such trash that depicts a nation as a herd of animals all in all. Just because there is one lunatic in the world, doesn't mean that the whole country is backward and narrow-minded. I wouldn't have minded so much if Betty had kept her complaints strictly in relation to her husband and her husband's family but do not blame an entire nation for what happened to her. A better way to get a cheap thrill is just to watch Jerry Springer. Don't waste your money on this, and if you want to learn something about Iran, then talk to some people about it. It truly saddens me to see people reach such utter garbage disguising itself as modern literature!
Rating:
Summary: I lived in Iran 4+ years. I thoroughly believe the story.
Review: I lived a life similar in many ways to Betty's life. I too was an American married to an Iranian man who was the lovliest man until we went to Iran and he began treating me the same way he saw his father and other men treat their wives. The men there revere their mothers, but their wives are a different story. They are chattel. We lived there 4-1/2 years. After watching our daughter being beaten by him and being beaten myself, I decided I had to get out. I went to the American Consulate for assistance -- after all, I'm an American -- but since Americans married to Iranians must have an Iranian birth certificate and passport, the Consulate couldn't help me. He said it would cause diplomatic problems. In short, I can totally relate to Betty's story, because in part it was my story, and I knew of quite a few American women in Tehran married to Iranians who began to believe it was their "fate" to tolerate anything the men dished out. I never fell into that line of thinking. We finally got out of Iran, I divorced my husband, and I have spent years warning young women to stay away from Iranian men. Betty's story was not just one of revenge, it was a cathartic story and a story to warn other women contemplating a relationship with an Iranian man. PS - I greatly respect Iranian women.
Rating:
Summary: Let's look at this from an Iranian point of view
Review: In the name of God who's all the truth. To the people who value truth. Salam I don't know how much the people that read this book, watch the movie, or write reviews about them are familiar with my country, its history, culture, and recent changes. However, I know that people in North America, where all the reviews are coming from, are deeply influenced by the press. While I have been living in Canada (2 years) the movie was shown at least 3 times, twice each time, by the WTN. Also other so called documntaries were shown about my country. They were all biosed. I am not saying that things in Iran are as good(!) as in the United States, but I am saying that the way they are presented is intended to spoil the picture of the only in progress democracy in Middle East. To keep it short I can prove that what has been called a True Story, is mostly made up. Not that they didn't go to Iran, or didn't have any conflict, but what they try to introduce as Iran is not what it is or it was. Just to make you think more about the environment that the ...ist controlled press has made for you, I would like to ask a question. Why they never show the documentary that IRIB(Islamic Republic Of Iran Broadcasting) has made in response to this book and the movie. Why they don't let you to watch or listen to what Dr. Mahmoud (Moodi) has to say about his daughter and ex-wife. Does he have the right to be listened to? Or he should remain silent, because his words don't support the opnion that the press wants to spread? Why they don't let you people to, at least once, listen or watch what the other side of the table has to say about this. Is it wise to judge a nation, a culture, a religion, or country just based on a repeatedly shown movie or a ......ly written book? I beg God to open our eyes to all the ideas so we can find a fair opinion.
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