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Title: Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson ISBN: 0-9676737-4-7 Publisher: Windsor-Brooke Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.35 (228 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A must read for anyone interested in women's rights
Comment: I was astounded with what I learned after reading this book and the sequel, Princess Sultana's Daughters. I had knowledge of how women were treated in the Middle East, but even I was shocked. I have spent some time in Iraq and Kuwait and can attest to the truth of some of Sultana's stories. Further, I find it hard to believe, as many of the reviewers insist, that this book is untrue. Why would Sultana exaggerate or lie if she knows her punishment will be harsh. At least with writing the truth and putting her life on the line she will know that if she is exposed, she will have given much needed human rights attention to the plight of the women of her country. And finally, I don't think Sultana is trying to malign Islam, just the misapplication of it in Saudi Arabia. So if you don't like the book, that is your opinion, but enough of trying to pretend that everything in the book is a figment of a Princess's overactive imagination. It takes courage to write such a book.
Rating: 4
Summary: Review of Reviews and then Princess
Comment: I have read most of the 131 reviews currently posted and have a few things to say about them. Some raise valid questions about the book's credibility (very important because the books claims to be a biography and relates horrifying events), and others say untrue things about the content of Princess.
I have read many atrocity accounts in online newspapers (unfortunately I don't remember the countries of origin so for now I'll reserve judgment on Saudi Arabia in particular), and I can believe they happen regularly. I respect the experience of reviewers who have lived in SA and have seen no such things, but please consider the possibility that these cases would be kept from you. I am more convinced by people with experience in the medical field because they are in a better position to see the damage firsthand. I am suspicious of reviewers who call it "sensationalized" without offering counterevidence, and I feel that the ones who objected to the portrayal because things are not like that elsewhere in the Middle East are missing one of her points.
Claims that it depricates Islam are nonsense: beginning on page 5 and throughout the book, Sasson carefully differentiates between the religion and many of the perversions portrayed. Female circumcision is addressed in only one chapter, and not until page 120, and I did not have the impression that it was a widespread practice. Be very suspicious of reviews that exaggerate the role of FGM or claim that it stereotypes Muslims or all Middle Easterners.
The fact that names and details have been changed, however, does reduce the impact on me because I have to wonder what she left out. I agree that it's likely that her identity could be guessed if the content were true, which further erodes my confidence in the personal details.
I rather enjoyed the writing style; it felt like it was being told by someone for whom English is a second language, and the rough spots made me feel that something--an idiom, a metaphor--would always be inaccessable to outsiders.
It is an angry, pessimistic, frustrated story told by an aggressive, sometimes downright unlikeable, extremely wealthy woman. It is not an ethnology; it relates policies and anecdotes, but gives no statistics about how often women are that badly mistreated. The picture is bleak: even in her relatively priveliged position, horrors leap out at Sultana at every turn. I can see how this could give an distorted impression of the frequency of these atrocities. She says time and again that the women are happy when and only when their men are considerate (and some are). The political message I got was that until women are protected under the law, anything could happen to them. The cultural message I got was that until all Saudis are raised to see each other as equals (or at the very least, human), there will be no happiness between men and women, and cruelty will abound. I gave it 4 stars because I would have liked more credibility and balance, but there is no such thing as objective reporting, and this book is no exception.
Rating: 5
Summary: Absorbing
Comment: This is one of those rare books which I pick up, and read it continuously till the end. Even when I get up to take a break, I feel drawn to this book. Maybe it is becuase I lived in Emirates most of my life and have been sheilding from royalty, but now I see that royality does not mean piousness and religious conformity. The wonderful stories of the princess does change you. I am a Pakistani male, but after reading this book, I think men should get somehow involved in correcting the misinterpreted Islamic History.... Qur'an does say to avoid extremism, chavunism, .... which is exactly what is happening.
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Title: Princess Sultana's Daughters by Jean P. Sasson, Jean Sasson ISBN: 0967673755 Publisher: Windsor-Brooke Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Princess Sultana's Circle by Jean Sasson ISBN: 0967673763 Publisher: Windsor-Brooke Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman's Survival Under Saddam Hussein by Jean P. Sasson ISBN: 0525948112 Publisher: Dutton Books Pub. Date: 16 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under the Taliban: A Young Woman's Story by Latifa ISBN: 0786869011 Publisher: Miramax Pub. Date: 13 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Desert Royal by Jean Sasson ISBN: 0553812181 Publisher: Bantam Pr Ltd Pub. Date: 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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