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Summary: beautiful and heart-wrenching
Review: The true story of Betty Mahmoody an American woman who married an Iranian man. The two had a daughter together, and when they decided to go to Iran for a "two-week vacation" to visit family, Betty's husband decided they would not be returning to the United States. Because in Iran women and children belong to the men, Betty was unable to leave the country; her husband controlled all their money. She was unable to even have contact with her family in the US to ask for help leaving Iran. Her husband eventually agreed to let her go home, but on one condition: she leave her daughter with him. She, of course, could never leave her child behind, so she, along with the help of a sympathetic shopkeeper, planned a dangerous from Iran to save herself and her daughter.
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Summary: Wonderful book, recomended
Review: This book was wonderful. It is one of my favorites. Some say it is boring or prejudice. I disagree. For those of you who want to know, the book is about a grown woman and her child who are forced to live and breath in Iran, where women are not equally treated in any sense of the word. Not even the books biggest critics can deny the state of affairs concering women in Iran. She describes life in Iran as she saw it during the Iranian Revolution. She vividly describes her surroundings in an as respectful taste as you could possible get in that situation. The book is well written, and did hold my attention throughout. I strongley recomend it.
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Summary: Loved this book
Review: It shows pretty clearly what happens to women who live in countries where they have little or no rights. I don't understand the negetive reviews of this book. This kind of abuse of women is very common in other countries. Thank god I'm an American.
Rating: 
Summary: Sensationalistic JUNK
Review: Ignorant simplistic racist ethno-centric claptrap - about as factual a description of Iran as a Hollywood action movie, perpetuating the same dehumanizing standard stereotypes about "Middle Eastern men" and their "subservient women." Intended for the crowd that can barely find Iran on a map, and knows nothing about the country other than some general cliches about the Mideast in general. I could name many many people in abusive marriages in the USA, are we supposed to draw conclusions about all Americans based on that? If you want to REALLY know something about the status of women in Iran, I suggest reading "The Women of Deh Koh" by Erika Friedl, who is a trained anthropologist who lived for many years in Iran. ...
Rating:
Summary: An Eye Opener
Review: This book was one of those I could NOT put down until I had finished it. In the end Betty proved to have a tremendous amount of courage and I'm sure much of this courage was driven by the fact that she was in a life or death situation both for herself and her daughter. Initially, I could not understand why she even went to Iran in the first place . . . she even admits to having had several signs of suspicions about her husband but . . . if it was her intention to keep her family together then I guess she did the right thing. I do not know if I could have been subservient to this man for as long as she was and I don't know if my HOPE would have held out as long as hers did. The journey to Turkey in itself was hair raising given the potential danger it presented. Betty is definitely a "survivor" as evidenced by her patience, common sense and her pursuit to save her daughter. Her father was right all along when he said "Where there's a will, there's a way".
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Summary: Very Authentic
Review: First, I'd like to point out that Betty did a marvelous job in one respect: she hadn't treated Iranias as one batch of evil people, but tried to describe them as human beings writing as a tolerant person - some good, some bad, but mostly - a unique combination of both. She also tried to portray to lifestyle in Iran - foods, customs, etc.As for the story itself - I found it fascinating, not only because of heroic Betty and Mahtob, but especially because it's such a unique story told in a very authentic way. The only objection I find to this book is the fact Betty does not seem to tolerate other women in the same position who would rather stay behind and keep whatever's left of their family, rather than take the risk of running away from a VERY bad situation.
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Summary: Wow!
Review: This inspirational book is a must read. The total devotion to her child and country shows the strenghth Betty has. read it, you'll be sorry if you don't.
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Summary: Truly Amazing
Review: You will not be able to put this book down. I just finished this book and am truly amazed at what is allowed to be "legal" in other countries. Until reading this book, I had no idea the depths of what went on in a country such as Iran. While what Betty and Mahtob went through is horrendous it is a fascinating book to read and I'm sure will shock many. I was never to so happy to be American.
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Summary: Gripping..
Review: To start with, i knew very little about Iran- i knew about their political problems of course, but hardly anything about the people and their culture as such..so this book was REAL good from that point of view. I do sympathize with Betty for all that she went through- and this made for some real interesting reading- but i think her claims regarding her daughters lack of love for her father are hard to digest; i would say that this much is exaggerated at least. Nevertheless, its a real gripping book- i just couldn't put it down. When i reached the end, i wished that it had gone on forever (i'm sure Betty Mahmoody would disagree!)
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Summary: Wonderfully Written, Enthralling, Not Racist at all.
Review: This book was very hard to put down... the descriptions were excellent, it was suspenseful, the characters were well-fleshed-out... all in all, an excellent book. I won't go through all the cliches or repeat any of the compliments the other readers have written about -Not Without My Daughter-. Betty did not trash all Iranians, merely disagreed with the fact that women are often subserviant to men in Iran. I am part Iranian, and I was not insulted by the book in the least. I was quite surprised to see that the overall rating was only three and a half stars. To sum this up, I highly recommend this book.
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