Rating: 
Summary: I want to cry and I want to cheer.
Review: As a man living in Canada, I can only think when I've read this book and the first two others by Jean Sasson, how lucky and grateful that I am to have the freedoms that I take for granted.
This book, in addition to the first two are the best and most thorough that I've ever read about the grim realities that few people outside Saudi Arabia are even aware of.
After reading some chapters I was almost brought to tears and anger, and others gave me joy as I read about the little victories that could mean so much to women who feel so trapped.
I could feel emotions as real as my own when I read about the helplessness and resentment experienced by the Princess, and I kept reminding myself that the story is a true one, of a real person in a real-life situation.
The story here is as powerful and dramatic as it is real and reading it has changed my life for the better and taught me about my role as a human being and the power that is within me.
Reading the book from cover to cover will make a huge difference to the millions of women who have are faceless and voiceless in the quest for justice and equality.
Rating: 
Summary: Great--but not QUITE as good as the first two
Review: I couldn't wait to read this 3rd in the series and it was very good. I guess I just get so weary of Sultana's FEW victories. Yet, she does have a plan at the end, which I won't give away.She's a brave, strong, Princess and I have a feeling we will one day hear more about this wonderful woman... I give the Princess books as gifts and everyone is sooooo appreciative... Go Sultana!!! I hope Jean Sasson writes yet a 4th book about you!
Rating:
Summary: Princess Sultana is a true heroin!
Review: I had read all three of the Princess books, and I loved them all! I think that Princess Sultana has so much strength and courage to do what she did, especially deciding to continue to share her story with the world after her family found out. I think this really means a lot to people, I know it did for me. Princess Sultana has been an inspiration to many people around the world, and is showing the importance of both human rights and women's rights on a personal level. Thank you Princess Sultana and Jean Sasson for sharing your story with the world. It has meant many things for many people!
Rating:
Summary: Sultana Captivating
Review: I have seen his book several times, and thought it was another story of some poor woman, crying about the harems in her country,
...well was I wrong. This book is nothing such.
Princess Sultana could be your best friend. Though living in the finest of Saudi royalty, she is feisty, strong, trouble-making, and is defiantly the heroine.
Jean Sasson Makes no attempts to soften the harsh reality and the mistreatment of women in such places. However,
you will gain some perspective of just why it's impossible for women to fight back,..in countries where women don't have the legal rights.
I did gain a positive perspective of the Islamic/Muslim religion from Sultana. It is sad to see how people can distort a religion that is extremely loving, and riotously disciplined,
as we have seen recently.
I went on to study the religion more after reading this book.
This was a smooth read, very easily to follow. It's a great book to read, now especially.
it will inspire you!
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've ever read in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I have never read Princess or Princess Sultana's Daughters and I didn't need to. I still would want to because I think the author did a fabulous job. Not only is it just interesting but it's educational too. I love this book because you feel like you are truly experiencing these horrible yet fascinating situation. I would defenitley read this book if you are any where from 10 yrs old to 110 years old. So read this book and tellme what you think!
Rating:
Summary: Insightful
Review: As I read this book, there were many times when I found Sultana to be so irritatingly spoiled that I wanted to slap her. Which is why I ranked this book five stars. Sasson could have made Sultana a completely sympathetic character; an oppressed idealist who is struggling to better her culture and liberate womankind. Instead she's allowed us a glimpse of the true Sultana: oh yes, the idealist is there, but there's also the spoiled, naive, alcoholic woman; in other words a person with good intentions and faults, just like the rest of us. I applaud Sultana for her desire to reveal to the world the human rights violations occuring in her country, however no one should read her books to find out what life is like in Saudi Arabia or any Islamic culture as her's is considerably abnormal. I daresay most Saudi citizens don't fly to New York and spend $388,000 on a single trip to Bergdorf Goodman's! I highly recommend the book "Women of Deh Koh" by Erika Friedl, to anyone wanting to know about the day to day life of non-royal Islamic women. What I liked best about this book was the way Sultana finally does something to help women. I know she's done so much by sharing her life with the outside world, but I'm so proud of her for actually standing up and not being afraid to show her face when helping mistreated women. I also found the follow-up we got on Hadi, Ali's obnoxious and cruel friend from "Princess", interesting, although the circumstances saddened and disgusted me. For the third time, Sultana and Jean Sasson have created a book that will absorb you and keep you drawn in from beginning to end. Once I started reading I couldn't stop until I had finished. I loved the people the people that are introduced (especially Omar!), and the continuation of the stories we already know, such as Sara & Asad. I would recommend this book to anyone (I would suggest having read the first two in the series first though). Five stars for giving such an honest, descriptive portrayal of Sultana as well as an absolutely riveting book! I can't wait for the next one!
Rating:
Summary: Just keeps getting better!
Review: I am speechless. Jean Sasson has once again written a GREAT book. I only wish that there were more in the series (Princess, Daughters, and Circle). This book kept me tuned in the whole time that I read it, all the way until the end. She is for sure my favorite author.
Rating:
Summary: Magical Sultana
Review: i purchased 'Princess' about two years ago and since then i am hooked on books relating middle east women. Obviously i couldn't resist buying 'Daughters of Arabia' and 'Desert Royal'.Both books are 'magical'; they transported me into a land far away and made me live each documented instant with Princess Sultana.I felt as if i was travelling with her through emotions,thoughts and all those feelings of insecurity,hopelessness and void that she felt.On the other hand i was rejoycing when she passed through personal victories- small as they were,insignificant as they might seem to people who are living in a free world as we are.However these accounts of Sultana made me realise that people are still being treated unjustly ;and i really hope that the step that she ,together with Jean Sasson, made doesnt go unnoticed ,but leaves a mark on each one of us and makes us aware of these restrictions against humanity and makes us fight against them.The future should be free of men who illtreat women so that people like Sultana can enrich our world without the fear of being punished for the right of speech.
Rating:
Summary: Women of the World, Unite!
Review: Having now finished the trilogy, I highly recommend all three, including the last installment. It's not the best writing always, but it is a valuable glimpse into the mysteries of female life on the peninsula. As a man, much of this world is forbidden to me. I enjoy studying Islamic culture, but I am naturally restricted in observation to the world of men, whereas Western women can at times be with women, and be "honorary men" in the world of men. So I am indebted to depictions such as this, getting into the mind, heart, and life of a woman. Sultana isn't always the most likable character- but, at least in the version written by Sasson, she freely admits this. And there are times when it is difficult to believe that this actually comes from a true Saudi woman, because of the great awareness the protagonist has of Western points of view. I appreciate the insights the book gives into one particular worldview- that of a wealthy, royal, Saudi woman. She effectively communicates the oppression she faces as a woman, and yet the extreme privilege she has obtained by being born into the House of Saud. But there are a number of times when Sultana's unquestioned assumptions are more revealing than her message. The quickness of husbands to buy something to soothe their wives only serves to placate the women and buy them off from truly grappeling with reality- it dismisses their genuine concerns by encouraging them to find answer in wealth rather than God. Likewise, Sultana and Sasson do a very effective job of showing the great discrimination by women faced on the peninsula, but bend over backwards to praise the religion of Islam and separate it from what Sultana faces on a daily basis. Sadly, while the Wahhabi sect in Saudi Arabia has certainly gone much further than the Qur'an in it's treatment of women, there are strong seeds of second-class status in the Qur'an and hadith themselves. This is seen in places where women are considered as less equal to a man in inheritance, the arguement by Muslim theologians being that women need to be protected by men, and therefore men should have more money. Or in hadith (stories of Mohammed) that Sultana herself quotes about Mohammed having to redo prayer if a woman walked in front of him. Or in the story that Sultana relates, again relying on Hadith, that a woman's silence means agreement to a marriage. This of course is based on a premise that women should be silent, not expressing themselves, and men should be doing the talking and thinking. These books are valuable, I believe, primarily because they reveal a world that needs such healing. Not simply a change in the actions of the Saudi government and religious police, but a change in the very nature and core of Islamic belief systems. Again and again Sutlana shows us a world where the concept of gender reconciliation is completely foreign. Even when she has problems with a comparitively loving husband, she turns to scheming and gossip for answers; others turn to magic to control their husbands. These are the only answers they know. There is no call from either gender to try to understand the opposite, in order to fully love them. Understandably, for there is no call in Islam itself for this. Sultana's Circles shows us the fully surmountable obstacles to love.
Rating:
Summary: The Princess Tells All
Review: Princess "Sultana" shows candidly a story of love for her family and vigilance for the cause of women in the Saudi world. She is effective in garnering the support of other women as well as one man, her brother-in-law, in supporting the rights and dignity of a woman in a critical situation. This is a must read for those who want to see the whole picture.
|
