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Summary: Don't bother unless you want to read a bunch of lies!
Review: I don't know what Betty Mahmoody was trying to do but it seemed to me as though her sole purpose was to denigrate a beautiful country and a wonderful nation! Putting down Islamic values and being disrespectful towards certain traditions she obviously understands nothing about is not representative of a courageous woman. The many inconsistencies and false facts stated in the book prove that many of the incidents were indeed "made-up".As someone who's lived in Iran most of her life (and believe me, that hasn't shadowed my objectivity), I have to say that I'm appalled by this book. This is not a story about courage, it is one about revenge, hatred and discrimination. One Thing I know for sure, this is NOT a true story!
Rating: 
Summary: I couldn't put it down!
Review: This book details the frightening journey of Betty Mahmoody and her daughter, Mahtob. Betty accompanied her husband on a "two week vacation" to Iran to visit his relatives. When the two weeks were up, he informed her that they were all going to stay in Iran permanently. Since Islamic women have no rights, Betty could not leave Iran or take her daughter out of that country without her husband's written permission. If she was caught trying to escape, she could be executed. To make matters worse, her husband had become physically abusive since their arrival in Iran, and she truly feared for her life. Betty openly gives details of the daily hell that was her life in Iran, and about her escape from there. I would like to make it clear that Betty did not knock ALL Iranians, because there were many people over there who helped her tremendously. One man risked his life to get her out of there, and she is eternally grateful to him.... It gives the reader a lot to think about. I watched the movie first, and later read the book. Sally Field was terrific in the movie, and you got a real feel for the story there. My recommendation is to see the movie first, then read the book. Betty showed how strong a mother's love can be, and she is a role model for women everywhere.
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Summary: **AN EXCELLENT BOOK**
Review: NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER is one of the very best books that I have ever read. My only regret is that I can't give this book more than 5 stars. Betty Mahmoody is very courageous for telling her story. This is a story about an American housewife who goes to Iran with her husband and daughter. Her husbands decides to keep her in his homeland against her will. She is a virtual prisoner at the mercy of her corrupt husband. Her basic human rights were violated, rights that any ordinary person takes for granted. She finally finds help to get back home but the journey isn't easy. This book gives a really positive message which is that there is good in people all around the world. There were many Iranians who were willing to help her no matter what the consequences were. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in equality and human rights. Also, on the same topic I recommend any books by Jean Sasson.
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Summary: Try This One Out
Review: I loved this book. It might have been somewhat boring if this had been a fiction story, but that it was a TRUE story made it more real. You have to step back every once and a while and remember that this women's courage is real and not made up. It's an amazing sory with a great ending that I couldn't put down till the last sentence. The discriptions make you feel as if you're in the dirt and grim, in the snowy mountains, in the hot dusty car always in danger and always on the run.
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Summary: American who has lived in Iran
Review: I am not so surprised by the book - Mahmoody had a bad experience and has the right, albeit ignorant and shallow, to condemn an entire culture and people. What surprises me even more are the thoroughly ignorant reviews written by the readers, most of whom I am sure have never had the privilege to visit a beautiful and ancient country like Iran. We Americans are generally an ignorant lot - the white trash of the world I guess. Most of these reviewers only know the derogatory associations of Islam, Middle East etc, and know nothing of a 2,500 history of a warm and friendly people. Best wishes to them all - and keep reading this type of trash. When vacationing abroad, stick to London, they speak your language and offer McDonald's and Burger King, just what you know and love.
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Summary: What people endure for freedom
Review: For Betty and Mahtob, what began as a two week family vacation with their husband and father ended in Turkey eighteen months later after an exhausting and terrifying journey through some of the harshest terrain on the planet. With each step taken toward their quest for freedom they risked their lives, but, after having been forced to exist in a culture where women are treated as second class citizens and where they would not be able to experience the freedom of choice (within boundaries, of course) to which every individual is entitled, they each knew that it was a risk that they would have to take. If the real definition of the word heroism is choosing the right path despite great danger and adversity, then Betty and Mahtob are heroes. They were prisoners, and what prisoner who longs for his or her freedom would not act in a similar manner to them in order to attain it? To those who denounce this book as racist, I would have to disagree, for how else would Betty and Mahtob have gained their freedom if it hadn't been for the actions of several courageous Iranians? They, and a host of their fellow countrmen, are, I feel, depicted very positively in this story, as they should be. "Not Without My Daughter" weaves a rich tapestry of descriptive detail of life in a third world country which most Westerners will never be able to experience firsthand. I felt as though I was at school with Mahtob and going to the market with Betty as she struggled to obtain the little amenities which we Westerners take for granted. That is where the success of Betty's storytelling lies - with her full and exacting accounts of daily life in Iran. But most of all, "Not Without My Daughter" is a moving account of the power of maternal love, and what a mother will do if that love is threatened.
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Summary: Other reviewers seem to ignore
Review: Some of the reviews of this book seem to ignore Mahmoody's frequent positive narrative about the many Iranian people who meet and befriend her during her nightmare, including the man who put his life on the line to help her escape. In addition, she clearly implies that other families do not necessarily treat their women the way her husband's family does. Only very simplistic people would extrapolate her experience and apply it to all Iranians -- it is plain that her husband had some serious problems that were particular to him, which were aggravated by a cultural and familial environment that tolerated (and, it seemed at least at times, regretted) his bad behavior. Something else other reviewers have glossed over is Mahmoody's interesting way of melding Islam into her personal faith. She seems very aware that Islam and the Iranian people had much good to offer her. This author writes eloquently about freedom of spirit -- not just her own, but that of so many of the people around her. That freedom flourishes, even in a culture where she was not "free" in the way that Americans understand it. Attacking this book as racist is unjust -- it is the true account of a terrible experience. It is also the true account of a very real error -- the error Betty made in choosing to accompany a man she already knew to be increasingly unstable to a country whose culture can let a male lacking in self-control violate the basic ideology of Islam. I don't mean to apologize for Iran or Islam -- the country admittedly has far to go in legislation to protect women, and radical zealots can transform _any_ religion into a justification for repressing women. Her book does not say that Iran or Islam is all bad, despite those realities, but rather provokes thought on the nature of difference and the function of the cultural filters we all have, which color our interpretations of facts. PS: I did not perceive Mahmoody's descriptions of the lack of sanitation in the country as anything other than a combination of the realities of third world infrastructure and culture clash. I don't think she meant it to be racist, it was just part of the jarring experience of living in a new world.
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Summary: A TOUCHING ACCOUNT
Review: When you read this book focus on the emotions of Betty - far removed from her home country in a country of foreign ways, customs and practices. Maybe then people will be less prone to be so critical.
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Summary: PROPERGANDA...........(obviously)
Review: The story it self sounds abit TOO wierd cause I have travelled to Iran a lot and basically..I think this book was written on MARS....anyway ..besides that....it is amazingly racist...Iranian stinks.(bad smell)...Iranians don't really care about their children..and so many examples... We have to remember that we are talking about a country which is the home land to big poets like....HAFIZ, Roomy,SADI, FERDOSI...and drinking alcohol is very bad?...well just remember there is a city in IRAN called SHIRAZ...search for it.... and some of the comments in this pages are racist as well..sure....iran is a 3rd world country and not as great as USA... but there are many things that u find in iRAn that U can't find anywhere else in the world...read the BOOK....but personally it makes me so sad that the world (even today) can appriciate racism. I recommend you to read a book called My uncle Napeolon....that is my favourite book and MOVIE......
Rating: 
Summary: A Mothers Love, a Fathers Sickness
Review: This Book truly is wonderful in every sense of the word. But the reason It only receives 4 stars or for the mere fact that,in the middle of the book, she tends to flashback memories of her life with her husband in America. Its not very clear when she does.
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