Rating: 
Summary: A Beautiful Story of Family, Love, and Strength
Review: I began this book with many typical Western preconceived notions. I expected the exoticized harem of one sheik with many wives that we hear about in the movies and in literature. However, this discussion of a real harem without all the exotic trappings shows Mernissi's family life and her experiences growing up while finding her place in the world. It is a story of family, but also Mernissi's own feminist story of breaking through the patriarchal walls and gaining a higher education and social standing despite tradition. Telling the story from the perspective of a female child coming of age shows the reader how far Mernissi came from her childhood locked within the walls of the harem. Mernissi's mothers, aunts, and cousins, while not able to escape the harem themselves, plant the seeds within Mernissi that allow her to find her own path in the world outside the harem.
Rating:
Summary: Harem Life
Review: I had to read this book for class and I found this book to be easy to follow and interesting. It was interesting because it discussed what life was like in a harem. The book was written from a child's perspective, which made it more personal. The book provides a lot of information on harem life that the reader does not even realize they are being taught while enjoying the story. I also thought the title was good because it describes how the women of the harem are dreaming of the outside world and what is beyond the walls. I thought Fatima Mernissi did a good job describing harem life and I would recommend reading the book for those interested in harem life, Moroccan women, or for enjoyment.
Rating: 
Summary: Insights into the harem life
Review: I thought Dreams of Trespass was a great autobiography that gives us a look at life within the walls of a harem. Mernissi tells the story through the eyes of herself as a young girl in Morracco. The young Fatima's innocence and confusion about what a harem truly is makes this book inspiring to read. It is written in such a way that the audience is taking a journey of discovery with Mernissi leading the way. This was a great book and I would recommend it to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: mernissi's book
Review: i was surprised to find only one unfavorable view on this book.. i found it's ornate diction along with its detailed descriptions and banal subjects most suffocating and tedious to read. and i was disappointed that she made Islam such a big part of the book.. it's clear her frustrations are merely an image of her mother's.. and those are just fantasies of wanting to be like the others.. if she was to speak about islam.. she should have mentioned islam was the first to give women political and social rights.. and the women that are veiled today are the true hardcore feminists.. the book really disgusts me.. she is a pseudo feminist.. if she wants to rebel.. why not do it against her culture and her dress.. she enjoys her lavish abode.. spends countless hours on beauty (and a million pages it seems).. it's no wonder she wants to go out and flaunt it.. i thought the book sucked..
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book with a mediocre title
Review: I would have given this book a 10, but subtracted a point because of the title. I agree with Kirkus' review (below) which suggests a more appropriate title, _The Making of a Muslim Feminist_. The present subtitle, _Tales of a Harem Girlhood_, is not only sensational and provocative, but detracts from the real subject matter of the book. Yes, the book does contain tales of a harem girlhood in a sense, but more importantly it provides a rich, eloquently told description of a culture in which women were (and still are) held back from achieving their potential because of prejudice, ignorance, and blind obedience to a dysfunctional cultural tradition. I find this book to be an enlightening account of the life of an intelligent, courageous woman for whom I have the utmost respect and admiration. After first reading _The Veil and the Male Elite_, what Mernissi has to say in _Dreams of Trespass_ provides insight into some of the events and perceptions of her early life that helped shape who she is today. I highly recommend this book, but would urge readers to first read some of her non-autobiographical works (then you can more fully appreciate her autobiography).
Rating:
Summary: Ignore the Title; this book is a Must Read
Review: Insightful. Clever & Amusing. Beautifully written. An interesting & worthwhile read. I could not put down this book & I could not stop laughing. Highly recommended.I look forward to exploring other works by Mernissi.
Rating:
Summary: easy and educational
Review: It is hard to negatively criticize a book that is easy, fun, and informs you about the topic it is addressing. I enjoyed the tales of the narrator's life. I was also interested in learning thata harum is not what most people think that it is. The only problem I had with the book is that it glossed over a serious issue. The author sacrificed credibility for readability.
Rating:
Summary: The Fantasy and the Hope
Review: It is rare and hard to find a book like this. So emic, so true, so feminine. Through the simple stories of her life as a child, Mernissi shows us the falseness of Western stereotypes and the tragedy of Islamic sexism. She shows us what a true harem is- the pure companionship of women, and not the sexual lasciviousness which the Western imagination dreamed up in it`s ideal of the exotic- in the process revealing far more the degradation of Western society than they anything true of Arabic culture. But she writes with great honesty about her own people as well, and the control that a woman is constantly placed under, perceived as the "devouring vagina" (as she writes in another work, Beyond the Veil), needing to be controlled and put into it's place for the protection of men. One sees here, not through telling, but through story, how Moroccan women have so little freedom to be who they desire in a world where all that is public is also male. But we also see the beauty of women together in that same society, and through that, can dream.
Rating:
Summary: The Fantasy and the Hope
Review: It is rare and hard to find a book like this. So emic, so true, so feminine. Through the simple stories of her life as a child, Mernissi shows us the falseness of Western stereotypes and the tragedy of Islamic sexism. She shows us what a true harem is- the pure companionship of women, and not the sexual lasciviousness which the Western imagination dreamed up in it's ideal of the exotic- in the process revealing far more the degradation of Western society than they anything true of Arabic culture. But she writes with great honesty about her own people as well, and the control that a woman is constantly placed under, perceived as the "devouring vagina" (as she writes in another work, Beyond the Veil), needing to be controlled and put into it's place for the protection of men. One sees here, not through telling, but through story, how Moroccan women have so little freedom to be who they desire in a world where all that is public is also male. But we also see the beauty of women together in that same society, and through that, can dream.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book
Review: It is really difficult for Americans to comprehend a culture as different as traditional Moroccan culture. In particular, the lot of women, confined in domestic harems and obliged to submit to male rules, seems intolerable. This lovely book gives a portrait of one Moroccan family living in a tradtional way. Or are they? Rebellious ideas abound, and women find ways of stretching restriction. The stories are beautifully human and funny. It is easy to be critical of another culture that seems so different, and I would never be able to live that way. But I feel that I have a better understanding of how they did. I sent a copy of this book to my mother.
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