Virgins of Paradise

Rating:
Summary: Egyptian Forsyte Saga
Review: Barbara Wood's epic tale of the Egyptian Rasheeds masterfully allows the Western reader a glimpse into the lives of a Muslim family and the trials and tribulations that women universally endure as the so-called lesser sex.

The saga unfolds from many perspectives, both male and female. Amira, the family matriarch, married at thirteen and accustomed to wearing the veil and remaining within the walls of her domain on Virgins of Paradise Street in Cairo, retains a secret past locked deep within her that shames her with its elusive mystery, yet at the same time endows her with the strength to rule her family with a loving decisiveness that never fails her. Ibrahim, her son, wants a son of his own so badly, that he curses God and spends the rest of his life wondering if his ill-spoken words have cursed his ability to sire male children. Yasmina, Ibrahim's daughter, follows the mandates her grandmother dictates, marries and has a son, but decides to follow her own heart and become a doctor. Carmelia, her sister, pursues a different path; flouting Amira's old-fashioned ways, she becomes a famous Eastern dancer. Zachariah, the house's adopted son, inherits too much of his biological father's dreamy idealism, seeking the paradise of God rather than its earthly alternative. All the Rasheeds struggle against the times, the old ways, a newer thinking and what they intrinsically know is morally correct.

Wood weaves her family epic with informative facts about the Middle East. The reader witnesses a female circumcision firsthand along with the perspectives of the participating women. The powerlessness of woman within a society where she wields little power outside the walls of the harem is illustrated through the events experienced by most of the women characters. Wood manages to adequately portray these women as religiously fervent and yet striving for personal freedom without being overly preachy. Her research into the Arab world is to be commended---meeting the Rasheeds amounts to exposing yourself to an otherwise alien world.

There are times when Wood repeats herself. One has to wonder if certain parts of the story are written out of sequence and never edited or if Wood thinks that after so many pages have been digested a gentle reminder of what transpired 150 pages back is needed.

Like other such 'BIG' novels, Virgins of Paradise has its predictable moments, but for the most part, it is an enjoyable and not overly literary story in which to delve--especially if, like myself, you listen to the unabridged audio version, wonderfully performed by Brilliance Corporation in a 19 hour format.

Rating:
Summary: Just delicious
Review: I can describe this book with a single word DELICIOUS. You learn about the past and present of Egypt and you can see that there is not a big difference. A wonderful book to read.

Rating:
Summary: Women in Islam
Review: I have read some of Barbara Wood's books, but Virgins of Paradise is the crown jewel of her writings. The story takes us back to 1945, to Egypt at the close of the Second World War and a powerful family from the highest circles of nobility, the Rasheeds. They are the friends of royalty, rich and influential, and their every move is judged by the gravitas of their status. But under the veil of wealth and power lies a web of secrets even thicker than blood whose disclosure could spell the downfall of the family. As time goes by and tremendous incidents ravage Egypt, winds of war, treachery, dishonor, scandal, and forbidden love descend upon the once peaceful house of the Rasheeds on Virgins of Paradise Street. Flashes of events and voices echo from the past and as if by the hand of fate toss the family from one predicament into another. The patriarch of the Rasheeds, Ali is dead, but his posthumous influence remains strong. While Ibrahim his son is the nominal head of the house, it is Amira, Ali's widow, who is the eminence grise, the "invisible" hand that guides the family and holds its deepest secrets. Amira keeps secrets of her own and towards the end she embarks on a journey to uncover the mystery of her origins, which has been haunting her for decades. Tradition and Muslim law play a big role in the unfolding of the story's events, and many points in the culture are discussed and compared with Western culture in a fascinating way through the voices of the characters themselves. Although the two main characters are supposed to be Yasmina and Camelia, they are only two of the lively characters (like Alice and Nefissa) who all contribute to the colorfulness of this story. What is most touching though is that no matter how far the characters travel to escape their past (California, France, England, Lebanon...), their fates are always tied to that quaint home on Virgins of Paradise Street, the witness to generations of Rasheeds, throbbing with their memories, their mysteries, their fears, and their secrets. Barbara Wood's writing is exuberant and vivid to the point that for days after reading the book, I felt a sense of nostalgia for a home I had never seen in my life. The exotic smells and tastes and colors that make up Cairo seem to waft out of the book's pages. Barbara Wood's Virgins of Paradise is not merely a book to be read but an enchanting experience to be lived and felt.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I loved this book. Everytime I know a friend who needs to escape into another world, I search the internet to find Virgins of Paradise to buy for her. I read a lot and this has always been one of my favorite books. Don't miss it! It takes you to a different world and when you're finished reading it, you'll wish she had written a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Never forgotten
Review: I read this fantastic book at least four years ago and it is one of the few that I continually recommend and praise. I love this richly layered novel that envelops you in a world so foreign to our Western one. I think that reading this book helped me to appreciate my station in life and to become involved again in a time and life so remote from ours.

Rating:
Summary: This Is One Incredible Novel!
Review: If you are an American born woman of any race, when you finish this book you will kiss the soil on which you were born and thank your God that you were. If you are a male of any race you will understand some of the horrors of being a woman and learn some compassion. I would highly recommend this book to anyone 15 years of age or older. Very well researched. Well written. Gripping story by one very talented author! I highly recommend many of her other books if you've never read her but this one is probably her very best and certainly the one myself and most of my friends remember her by. Barbara Wood is an undiscovered American Treasure!

Rating:
Summary: Barbara Does it Again!
Review: Nobody beats Barbara Wood when it comes to lengthy, historical, romantic novels. This book is no exception- she must have spent years researching Egyptian culture... you feel like you're in the mansion on Virgins of Paradise Avenue, painting kohl on your eyelids with your sisters-in-law while your husband aids the king. You can imagine wearing a heavy veil over your eyes and covering your skin, because as a female culture dictates you must. As a teenager, I loved this book because it helped me imagine what my life would be like in a totally different part of the world. She also weaves in a reference to her novel Green City in the Sun... if you're interested in Jasmines medical work you should consider reading that book as well. This is just a well written book with a honest female perspective... what more could you ask for?

Rating:
Summary: Simply beautiful!
Review: This novel has become a winter favorite for me. Snowed in on dark winter evenings I love to snuggle up with this book and allow it to take me away to another world.

Virgins of Paradise, by Barbara Wood, is an exquisitely painted picture of a Muslim family through five decades of love found and lost, war, royalty, loyalty, family ties broken and mended.

Though the ghostly presence of the elder Rasheed floats throughout the story, the rock-solid core of the Rasheed household is really Amira, his wife. She anchors the family with wisdom, her devout beliefs, and her healing herbs. Ibrahim, her son, in comparison, is a weak shell. It is the women in this story who seem to have all the strength, though their society has oppressed them.

This a moving and intriguing tale of the evolution of a family through its births, deaths, weddings, and daily life. Wood writes with such rich detail, you can feel all the research she did before writing this novel. She whisks you away to the hot, dusty city of Cairo, its narrow streets crowded with peddlars, beggars, and men thinking of a revolution.

The reader will want to know Amira's dark secret, find out what happened to the banished Rasheed family member, see if Nafisa will find love across enemy lines, and follow the lives of Camilla and Yasmina to adulthood.

It's winter; it's about time for me to visit with the Rasheeds again.

Rating:
Summary: Multigenerational saga of Egyptian women ~1945-1990
Review: This novel of soap opera style love, honor and family secrets is intelligently told against a backdrop of Egyptian politics with a feminist theme focusing on the oppression of women in a male-dominated society of centuries long tradition. The rights of women and men in Egypt are drastically different. There is a passage in the book where one woman decrees that women should be informed by their husbands if they are being divorced, informed if they are taking a second or third wife, be given the right to divorce their husbands if they are being physically abused...basic rights that I expect as an American woman. A young woman in the novel dishonors her family by being raped, another because her hymen was broken innocently and she would not produce blood as proof of her virginity on her wedding night.

Amira is the matriarch of the prosperous Rasheed family. The story begins in 1945 and it is Amira's ever-present voice throughout that links the many women and children as their lives unfold through the years until the end of the book in the early 90's. Her husband has died and her son Ibrahim is now the head of the family. His first wife dies while giving birth to his daughter Camelia. Driven by grief and shame for not having a son, he curses God and disappears to Europe. He comes back with an English wife, Alice who also bears him a daughter, Yasmina. Although they want more children, the couple has bad luck with subsequent pregnancies and like many men in Egypt, Ibrahim becomes obsessed with producing male heirs. He takes the drastic measure of claiming the son of a beggar girl as his own. Most of the story focuses on Amira, Ibrahim, Alice, Camelia and Yasmina although there is a large cast of supporting characters.

I was appalled by the lack of rights and limited choices for women. It was entertaining and educational without being overly preachy or political. It was a fairly long book at 600 pages, but I really enjoyed reading it. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Women in Islam
Review: This was one of those absolutely delicious books that I eat up like an exquisite food. Jasmine is an Egyptian woman, banished by her father from his wealthy household when he discovers that Jasmine was raped, and therefore has dishonored the family. This is one of the many injustices encountered by the women characters in this story in a society dominated by men who justify their actions by their religion. Some of the women accept this, but a few struggle to speak out for equality and modernization, often at the risk of their lives.

I finished reading this book two months after the terrorist attack on New York, when there is a lot of talk about fundamentalist Islam. The plot includes the ideas of killing for the sake of God, of fundamentalists striving to return Egypt to its old ways, restricting women's freedoms, and beating them if even an ankle shows.

In spite of this ugliness, there is much romance, passion, sexual longings, and family secrets that weave throughout several generations of the wealthy Rasheed family, as their lives coincide with changing political tides in Egypt, beginning with the monarchy of King Farouk, and passing through succeeding presidencies. There is gentle suspense and intrigue, and characters to love as well as to hate. All this made for a delicious story, yet because of its setting and focus on Islam, I was constantly pulled to think about the reality of it in relationship to current events. It's very enlightening, and though fiction, an important book for understanding the present time.