Rating: 
Summary: Easy to read and educational
Review: This is one of those books which I will probably remember the rest of my life. I don't doubt that it is factual, although some of the facts may have been disguised to protect her from being identified. Prior to reading this book I thought that female circumcision was only practiced in some very, very primitive groups in Africa or the South Sea Islands. Since then I have read more about it, including that it is still practiced by some Muslim families in the USA! I even met a woman whose mother was going to have it done to her and her older brothers rescued her. This book makes you think.
Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY RIVETING, AMAZINGLY WELL WRITEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I LOVE THIS BOOK! IT IS WRITEN BY AN AMAZINGLY TALENTED WOMAN, JEAN SASSON. IT IS AS SHOCKING AS IT IS HEART WRENCHING. PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS KIND OF CRUELTY THAT MANY WOMEN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD FACE. THE EVENTS ARE UNIMAGINABLE. ITS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THESE KINDS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS GO ON IN WHAT MOST OF US CONSIDER A CIVILIZED WORLD. EVERY ONE I KNOW WHO HAS READ THIS BOOK HAS BEEN BLOWN AWAY BY THE CONTENTS OF ITS STORY. BUT IT IS TRUE, ITS HISTORY AND PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IT. ITS JUST SO SCARY TO THINK THAT REAL WOMEN GO THROUGH THIS, WOMEN IN SAUDI ARABIA REALLY DO LIVE BEHIND THE VEIL AND ITS TIME FOR THEIR STORY TO BE TOLD. JEAN SASSON IS AN AWESOME WRITER AND AN EVEN MORE AMAZING LADY. AND THIS BOOK IS BY FAR ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS EVER WRITEN BY A WOMAN. SO CONGRATULATIONS JEAN, FOR YOU HAVE MADE YOUR MARK IN HISTORY WITH THIS inconcieveable, MIND BLOWING STORY, OF LIFE THROUGH THE EYES OF A DESERT WOMAN,INTO THE HEART OF A SECRET SOCIETY!!
Rating: 
Summary: Is this a true account?
Review: Some people who [read this book have said that] they don't think it is true. I admit, it never occurred to me that it might not be true. But there are some clues as to whether it is true: (Book #1)Has there been a case of two women propositioning men in parking lots in Riyadh? If so, do the specifics fit the description of "Nadia" and "Wafa"? (#3)The author included a concrete name, Margaret McClain, a university professor whose daughter was kidnapped to Saudi Arabia. Does this woman know any members of the royal family of Saudi Arabia? (#2) "Jafer" and "Fayza". "Jafer" was a Lebanese expat working in Saudi Arabia, according to the book, who ran away with the daughter of a wealthy family and got married in Nevada. The girl's father and brothers went to the hotel and managed to bring her back, after which Jafer's passport was revoked. Is there any such situation on the books? (#2) Maha, the older daughter of "Sultana" was a good friend of a girl named "Aisha." The two girls started practicing with guns. When they were discovered, "Kareem" and "Sultana" met with the parents of Aisha. Some of the things Maha said worried her parents, so they arranged for her to see a psychiatrist in London. If there is such a doctor in London, then he will be able to say if he has met with such a girl.
Rating:
Summary: Eye-Opening
Review: I buy relatively few of my books; Princess, like most other books I have read, was one that I found in my local library. But this is one that I certainly find worth the price--I am going to add it to my personal library. It remains difficult for most to believe that these personal stories could happen anywhere, but I am not truly surprised-saddened of course, but not surprised. I find the stories of the authors' friends--"Sameera", "Nadia", "Sara", horrifying. I sincerely suggest that you read this book, as well as the two sequels.
Rating: 
Summary: Plays to American stereotypes
Review: I've lived in Saudi Arabia, too, and I've known Saudi women. Yes, there are abuses, but no, they aren't as widespread as "Sultana" makes it seem.
If someone worked in an American hospital, and saw battered women there, would you say that ALL Americans mistreat their wives? Or that our society consideres it "normal?"
Women in Saudi culture are considered the real foundation of the family - Mohammad the Prophet himself said, "Heaven lies at the feet of Mothers." Saudis can be quite sentimental about families - women and children included. You can't compare it to 21st Century American attitudes; the nearest I can think of in our culture is the Victorian attitude towards women: protective, idealized paternalistic and BOSSY.
Saudi women don't vote, true. But they are the ones who run the home, sometimes with a rod of iron, strange as that may sound to Americans!
Westerners presume arranged marriages are heartless. Have they ever asked themselves, if young people can't go to discos or hang out after school with each other - if, in fact, the boys aren't even supposed to see the girls' faces, let alone go on dates - just how young people are supposed to get married? In most cases, the mothers talk to a widespread and closeknit circle of friends and relatives, find out whose marriageable kids might make a good match, and then suggest it to the husbands. And like all mothers, they really do have their kids' best interests at heart. They aren't going to force girls OR boys into a marriage that they suspect would be miserable.
Yes, Saudi men can take more than one wife, and they don't have to ask permission. Sometimes this causes a lot of heartache. I personally know three families with multiple wives. In one, the two wives made friends and get along fine. In another, the first wife demanded (and got) a separate house. In the third, it ended in divorce. So, my impression is, Saudi women's lives are lived inside boundaries most Americans don't understand and couldn't accept, but they are by no means powerless.
My impression of "Sultana" is that Jean Sasson is a skilled novelist who has written a fictional "bodice-ripper" which appeals to American's stereotypes of the victimised Saudi woman. We like reading horror stories, and "Sultana" is a sort of horror story. If Sasson had even given a really balanced view - shown the good husbands and really happy marriages, as well as the monsters - I'd be inclined to take it more seriously. It's human nature to find a workable solution to human situations, and Saudis are no exceptions.
If readers want a different view, they don't have to take my word for it - see if you can find "At the Drop of a Veil," by Marianne Alireza (out of print) which is the autobiography (no names "disguised") of an American woman who married a Saudi. She tells the good, the bad, the hilarious and the heartwarming with much more authenticity than "Sultana."
Rating:
Summary: GREAT, but sad
Review: I had to do a book report on a biography. When i first read what the book was about it didn't sound very interesting. I was wrong. This is a great book. It is very sad to hear how much women in Saudi Arabi must got through every day, but also very informational about how good American women have it. I promise u, u will like this book. It's a real eye opener!
Rating: 
Summary: Sickening wealth or freedom? Tough choice here.
Review: I would have been a bit more impressed with Princess Sultana's story were she not a princess and had spoken more for the lower classes than for her personal experiences. I think if I had exhorbitant wealth and status, not to mention the ability to move about in other countries freely with the flick of a wrist and the appearance of a newly - bought jet, I would buckle down and be a bit more accepting of the conditions around me. The book seems to be written in too much of a "me me me" style, and shows little concern for the impoverished classes, where they have no way out of their lives of mediocrity and pain, where they must live in the desert, and have no choice in life or death. Believe me, I know these problems of women's rights exist in Arab countries, but the whole book did not really hit hard enough, because the wealth of Sultana overshadowed everything and softened the grittiness of daily Arab life.
Rating:
Summary: Saudi¿s Prospective
Review: To be honest, I can divide the stories of this book into three equal parts. True, mix of true and untrue, and untrue stories.
For the first part, I can say that some stories might happen in my country, Saudi Arabia. The legal protection for women in Saudi, like most countries in the world, is less than men. Women in Saudi still can't drive. No freedom in the media in Saudi likes the freedom in the West. Covering the face is a controversial issue in Islamic law. Even though women in most Islamic countries don't cover their faces, Saudi women tend to cover their faces. Notice that many stories in this book were about 20-30 years ago. Some might have taken a place at the time when black people in some western societies were enforced to give up their seats in buses to whites and they were not allowed to use whites' restrooms. MY POINT HERE, many things changed!!
The second part of these stories contains exaggeration, generalizing and stereotyping. It gives people a wrong impression about Saudi people. I think it is not fair for someone to go to any hospital or court in the U.S., for example, and narrate some stories as if they represent the whole society. Do you think it is fair for someone to watch Jenny Jones show on ABC and make a judgment on American society? This is not fair at all. Working at a hospital in Saudi Arabia for 8 years would definitely give Jean Sasson a chance to set her eyes on many negative stories and aspects of life there. My POINT HERE, it is wrong to judge or assess a nation or a society by exceptions!!
The third part of these stories contains untrue stories. For example, the story of the dark room, the kidney donor and many other stories. These kinds of stories raise questions about the book's credibility. Some details also are untrue like "King Abdulaziz married 300 women" WHAT A MAN? Or like "most Saudi men like to drink alcohol". Wow.. Too BIG lie!! People who have lived in Saudi know these kinds of lies. Also, The fact that names have been changed doesn't make sense. Sultana's identity could be guessed if the content were true. Anyway, Jean sasson knows that people love reading horror stories!!
Finally, I just want to mention that there is inaccuracy and misinterpretation in translating and explanation some verses of the Holy Quran.
Rating:
Summary: TO CATHY DOLL
Review: In response to the Islamic religion you have it all wrong. I have studied the Islamic Religion extensively and in Islam they don't go by the book of Genesis. In the Qu'ran they detail in a different format the story of Eden. In Islam we don't punish women in the way Xtian and Jews do per story of Eden, since we know that Adam was just as much at fault. Just trying to clear up the matter.Anyways, the book is a great read. It does detail life for women in Saudi Arabia. I recommend to anyone who won't take it that personally.
Rating:
Summary: Who knows?
Review: Some people seem to believe this is [bad], and maybe it was all made up, but who knows. Islam, in case most people haven't noticed is a totally different religion and if you hadn't grown up in America you would have had a totally different perspective. In the beginning, who took the forbidden apple off the tree? Eve. This is Islam's perspective of how the daughters of Eve were meant to live. Who knows that there wasn't really an Eve who stole the apple off the tree? They believe that the garden of Eden was in Africa and how far is the middle east from Africa? If you are questioning these people's way of life then you are questioning their whole religion. If you know what happens after you die then you are way ahead of the rest of us, and maybe there are things that are wrong in this world, but so are killing people and hurting people. Everyone from that country grew up in a totally different world than the rest of us, just like you would have if you had grown up a hundred years ago. Still there's no saying that back then, there wasn't good people who had good ideas and were kind. The same as saying that there are good people now in the middle east who were raised on a different value system. America became a super power because of smart people who thought hard about the world around them, not because of egocentric people who couldn't think beyond what they were used to. You should think about that and what truly made us different from the rest of the world.
|
