Julie recommended this a few days as a must read and she's right. This is an excellent book in many ways about what needs to be done around the world to help women. If you do much reading about women's issues, there won't be anything new here, but to have chapters on fistulas, schools, rape, etc, all in one place in an accessible book is important.There's a lot in here. There are plenty of stories about individual women (the authors are obviously relying on the statistic that people are much more likely to help a specific woman than to donate to a cause that generally helps women). Many stories, especially at the beginning of the book, are horrifying. But many of the stories are hopeful too. I don't think they tell any story of a woman where there is no hope.
I appreciated the chapter on whether Islam is misogynistic. They don't gloss over the statistics that show that women are very often mistreated in Muslim countries, but they don't blame Islam itself; instead, Muslim societies are blamed for allowing so many women to be killed and mistreated. They also make the important point that Muslim women don't need us to tell us what we think is wrong with them. They don't let anyone else off the hook either, from conservative Christians who promote abstinence-only methods to avoid HIV to the American feminist movement that is far too parochial and dogmatic and plenty of people in between. They've also spent a lot of time in these countries, talking to these women, and have seen a lot of what works and what doesn't.
I also think it's important for people to understand that "women themselves absorb and transmit misogynistic values, just as men do...the greatest challenge is to change ways of thinking." There is no doubt in my mind that a significant reason why women are treated so poorly in so much of the world is because everyone thinks it's okay. Education is vital because it changes the way women see themselves. And that's what changes their world.
I kept wishing I had a book group to talk about this book and marked lots and lots of things in the book (I never kept track of anything in a book till I started reading ebooks and I love it now). This would be an excellent choice for a book group. There's a lot more in here to talk about, but that's it for this post.
An online friend mentioned that she thought this was one of her best reads last year, and since she's made other excellent recommendations, I thought I'd try this one too. And it is excellent. It's basically the story behind the 2005 Supreme Court case on eminent domain, but the author tells the story well.
I knew nothing about this book when I started it, except that people were reading it and thinking it was different. And it was different. But I thought it was well-written and I liked it quite a bit. No regrets about reading this one.
This was a book group read for my real-life book group. It's one of the few I've read for that one that I'd never heard of before. It'll be interesting to see what the group thinks of it since it's not exactly our standard fare. Almost makes me hope that we'll still be in Seattle in a few weeks so I can go to the group. Or at least it would make up for some of the disappointment if we're still here.
I've had several friends read this with varying opinions, and had returned it once to the library without reading it, but I did sit down and read it earlier this week for a book group. I liked it and thought it was a good description of immigrant life in the 80s. It's short, and simple, and nothing amazing, but that's the way most people's lives are anyway.
I wanted to like this, but I could only get about a third of it read before I couldn't stand it anymore. A theory (even a very interesting one) that's based on lots of happy coincidences isn't really my thing. Especially if you keep overlooking some obvious holes in your theory. This book should sit on the shelf next to 1421.