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Summary: stolen llives
Review: i found this book very interesting, it is actually a chock for me to discover that such cruelty exists especially in a country that i really love; my home land: Morocco. I cried when i read this book, i felt sad for these people who are from the place that i come from, who know my culture, who speak my language. I actually felt as if i knew these people all my life.
I highly recommand this book to everybody. The whole world should know about this story.it is a real story about very strong and interesting people. This book taught me a lot about life, humanity, strength and survival.
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Summary: The Prisoners
Review: This book is Stupendous! It is incredibly to me how this could have transpired in modern times... in my lifetime. My path could easily have crossed hers in Morocoo, as I considered going there as a college student in southern Spain. I realize now that I'd have looked upon her with scorn and I am ashamed for that now. I never believed in Amnesty International and now I too have reconsidered that perspective. I always thought that if people are in jail, there is a good reason for it. But here you see that a 3 year old boy is jailed for 18 years and there is no excuse for that. Even though this is a horific story being told, it left me uplifted. I can only believe that the author is still deeply in shock to be able to have told this story and have left out what must be some very gruesome details. I've seen her on 60 minutes and on Oprah and I am in awe. Malika, you are truly a woman of courage. I salute you and hope that one day you will be whole.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor writing
Review: As other reviewers have mentioned already, the prose and editing of the book makes it a difficult read. The book had all the ingredients for a splendid read, beautiful heroine as narrator to boot as well, (and a recommendtion from Oprah!).
I came away from the book with the perception that the narrator (malika) was haughty and self-absorbed, not quite typical of your long-suffering prisoner. This however might be the one good point of the author, as she showed the true colors of its characters.
There are big gaps in the story, mainly where there is an opportunity to associate blame on the narrator or her family, Malika only chose to show us the good side of her family and her life, and then the abject torture that they were put through. This of course, is natural human tendency, and perhaps a writer with more knowledge of both sides of the story could have given the readers an interesting spin.
There are several unanswered questions that the reader will have after reading this book, which is annoying, more than an invitation to thoughtful discussion. More importantly, a lot of characters are not followed up on in the book, which would have personally been more intersting to me, like lalla Mina, the title characters "step sister". Still, for those of us who clamour for a glimpse into the veiled worlds on the east, this book gave some good descriptions of what life is like there, from the eyes of a privileged girl who saw both the best and worst that life can offer in Morocco.
Rating: 
Summary: Please
Review: I can see why this book is being peddled to a western audience. We in a democracy are more likely to be outraged at an entire family being held responsible for the actions of one member. In other parts of the world, a family like the Oufkirs who benefited royally from the father's power will of course be brought down with their father. It is not clear what Oufkir's father did, besides the attempt at a coup, but I feel like that information is necessary to understand this story, and Malika does not provide it. Overall, I don't find Oufkir's story terribly credible. There are too many contradictions. For example, in one sentence she says they got to spend times out in a court yard together all day, and in the same paragraph she says family members for years only saw each other by reflection of water in a shared gutter. Elsewhere she claims she and her brother seduced two people on a train to help them in their escape; this after saying her brother had three teeth and a mouth full of abcesses and that she herself was so swollen from malnutrition that she could barely fit through the escape tunnel, and that they were dressed in years-old rags... From Malika's laughable self-aggradizement throughout the book, I wonder if she doesn't suffer from some mental disorder. Malika does acknowleged and understand that she was just as imprisoned in her first 18 years of life as she was in the second half, but notice she only considers the second half that she supposedly spent in prison as "stolen." She doesn't seem to have much of a problem with the ridiculuous level of wealth and privilege she had in the first 18 years in contrast to the poverty in which the majority of her countrymen were living in at the time. I found this book poorly written and an insult to rational minds everywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story...but
Review: It was a great story and it really gave insite to life in her country,but the story was often contridicting, her hair is gone and then...its back. The radio was ingenious, but no radio can last for 15 years. It could have been a great story, but unfortunatly it the writing ruined it for me.
Rating:
Summary: Typical Oprah 'Success'
Review: Interesting story but who in the world edited this? The average sentence had 5 words in it and the prose, if that's what you could call this atrocity to the literary world, was suited to a third grade level. The author would also refer to events that hadn't happened in the story yet - apparently assuming that you were already familiar with her tale. This book was painful to read. How do you suggest a book for discussion that has no literary genre, no vocabulary, no plot, etc.? It's easy to understand now why it was the first time I was able to walk into the library and pick a hot 'best seller' right off the shelf.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely superb
Review: Although the writing at times could have been better, the tale that this book tells is so spellbinding that nothing could take away a five star rating. The story itself is an incredible tale that winds its way from a life of incredible privilege to a life of incredible cruelty and deprivation. So many intriguing personal, cultural and humam tableaus were passed on this journey that I was forced over and over again to reexamine my values, my beliefs and myself.
An absolutely fantastic book.
Rating: 
Summary: good book
Review: Here's a true account of a strong woman with faith in the future and determination to live her life. This is also about how thankful all of us who live in countries that allow us freedom should be. A book that should be read.
Rating:
Summary: The realistic autobiography of Oufkir's life
Review: Oufkir was the eldest daughter of the King of Morocco's closest aide: she was adopted by him and raised to be a companion to his daughter. She lived a life of luxury, but when her father attempted to assassinate the King, she and her siblings and mother were immediately imprisoned in a penal colony - for twenty years of isolation and pain until their escape. Edita Brychta's voice captures the realistic autobiography of Oufkir's life. High drama, covered by a sense of reality.
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Summary: Injustice in Morroco
Review: Oprah's selection of STOLEN LIVES allowed great injustices to be exposed. Malika Oufkir, once an adopted child of the King of Morroco, found herself thrown in prison because of political acts she had nothing to do with. She describes the horrors she was forced to endure. Fortunately, she found freedom and the courage to tell this story.
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