for: Adults (and YA's too)
Penguin Books, 2007 (originally published in Arabic in 2005)
paper $14.00
286 pgs.
Rating: 4
This is the story of four upper class Saudi girls and the customs and foibles they live with when it comes to dating (huh!), men, and marriage. Even though I had some background, some pre-established knowledge, there were many eye-opening new facts to learn. It was written in an interesting way. Supposedly, every week for a year or so, a "friend" of the four girls writes an email to a list of subscribers to uncover more and more of the girls' story. She gets quite a backlash - both good and bad - from different Saudis. The book itself was very controversial in Saudi Arabia and other Arabic, Islamic countries.
Read no further unless you want spoilers. The four friends:
Gamrah - first married, to a man who takes her to Chicago and goes out of his way to show his distaste for her. Come to find out, he's had a loving relationship, but his parents would not allow him to marry her. He continues this relationship, Gamrah gets purposely pregnant, and they divorce. She is left bitter and angry.
Sadeem - becomes engaged to Wahleed, it seems to be a love match until she gives herself fully to him shortly before the actual marriage and he dumps her. Then she meets Faras, an older-than-her politician and they are practically glued at the hip....until his family refuses to let him marry a "divorced" woman and forces him to marry another.
Michelle - half American, but fully a Saudi, since she's lived there through adolescence. She falls in love with Faisal, but his parents have someone else in mind for him. She eventually goes to the United Arab Emirates and becomes a producer.
Lamees - the most playful, flirtatious of the four, she knows how to have fun and finally, in medical school, sees the man she desires as a husband, plays her cards right, and follows the traditional path without too much glamour and fireworks. She was also the character that interested me the least.
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