Geraldine Brooks is indeed one of my favorite authors. While searching for her books, I happened to come across this particular one. It is a non-fiction work and one of her earliest. It is based on her experience working with Muslim women, a topic that I know very little about, yet it piqued my interest.

Ali, the first Shia Imam, once said, "God created sexual desire in 10 parts; then he gave nine parts to women and one to men." In other words, a woman is regarded as a dangerous creature. Hmm. From this statement springs the title of the book.

The author delves into personal stories, retells tales, and presents stories from Islamic scripture. She explores countries and nations that have adopted Islam and its culture in very diverse ways, such as Iran, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Eritrea. She vividly shows how the interpretation of scripture and the application of social traditions have had a profound impact on the lives of women across those regions. Moreover, she strongly advocates against female genital mutilation (FGM) and honor killings.

This book is truly a worthy read as it enables us to learn more about our sisters in this world and gives us hope for their happiness and well-being.

As the work of investigative journalism, this book definitely doesn't read like a novel.

It requires one to take it a bit at a time to understand, comprehend, and not get overwhelmed with the cultural, social, religious, and political dramas of Muslim countries and Islamic women in particular. I did not "enjoy" the book per se. It is not something I would read for pleasure, but it sure is an eye opener and a learning opportunity.

The book was published 30 years ago. One can just hope that things have changed for the better, despite the pessimistic vision that the writer had for the future of the Islamic woman and Muslim countries at the time she wrote the book.

I thought her writing lacked structure and jumped from one place to another, from one theme to a different one, and often came back to previously discussed issues in later chapters. It read somehow like a set of short stories put together under the same binding. However, this does not mean that the book is without value. The insights it provides into the lives and struggles of Islamic women are still relevant today. It makes one think about the challenges they face and the progress that has been made. Overall, it is a thought-provoking read that is worth considering.

A highly illustrative look into the lives of Muslim women from 1980 - 1999 offers a fascinating perspective.

Since then, many changes have taken place, but it is equally interesting to observe from today's vantage point what has remained constant.

Brooks, in some areas, leans more towards fictionalization rather than strict journalism. Some of her statements seem to be blatant judgment calls.

Good writing, in my view, is about reporting the bare facts without injecting opinionated commentary. The more copious the facts presented, the more lucid the morality will become to the reader.

Fortunately, Brooks becomes far more balanced towards the end of the book. However, I do wish she had presented her stance on universal human rights more prominently at the beginning of the book. This would have provided a clearer framework for the reader to understand her perspective throughout the narrative.

Overall, the book offers valuable insights, but it could have been enhanced with a more upfront and consistent approach to presenting facts and viewpoints.

Oh, the injustice!
A journalistic book presents a point of view that is less controversial than others.
It contains right and wrong and interpretations!
But what really hurt my heart was at the beginning of the book when it mentioned that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) at the start of his mission sought refuge with a woman.
As if it was saying (the woman was a trust, a stability, and a manager of the trust), so the establishment of the mission began with a woman. But over time, the woman became a source of dispute, weakness, and fear when she was associated with the man in a certain way.

This is the result, what I have actually seen, and what we are living under. The relationship of a foreign woman with a man is either as his (wife or lover) or a temptation to be avoided!
Even if in the end she gets married, she will only marry a man from a certain group, thus highlighting her relationship with all men in one man. And in the Quran and the life of the Prophet, there are many evidences of human and Islamic brotherhood, cooperation, and more.

Truly for the lustful minds that have killed us.

A truly great book, originally published back in 1994. I would really love to have some updated information. I was completely unaware that Geraldine Brooks, who wrote "People of the Book" - one of my all-time favorites - had been an Australian journalist covering the Middle East for many years. Her curiosity regarding how Muslim women in Middle East countries felt and reacted to the increasing necessity of having to totally cover themselves when outside the house, along with all the other inhibitions on their activities, is quite understandable. I too had been asking the same questions - how could women allow this to be done to them? I must admit that this book answered all my questions, but unfortunately, I didn't like the answers. I'm not really much further ahead in getting the answers I truly seek, and I just don't understand the answers that this author documents. This book should be required reading for anyone who doesn't live in or isn't familiar with the politics in the Middle East. My conclusion from this book is that we don't seem to have a chance of overcoming the will or overtaking of the fundamentalist religions in the Middle East. I highly recommend it.

Narrow-minded yet quite informative.

Brooks has a difficult time distinguishing between religion and cultural traditions. She asserts that she grasps the disparities between the two and even quotes evidence from the Quran and Hadith that prohibits practices like clitoridectomies and honor killings. However, she persists in viewing the Middle East through a Western perspective. She witnesses, and at times even experiences, the misogynistic environments in Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia during the late 1980s - 1990s. Nevertheless, she has only developed a superficial understanding of what true empowerment for Muslim women entails. Her most significant act of solidarity involves learning how to belly dance in Egypt and performing at a low-class nightclub to protest the ban on bellydancers.

Regardless, I确实 learned a great deal from her writing, and I cannot refute her talent for captivating her audience's attention. Her dialogue is simultaneously witty, blunt, insulting, and entertaining. Her opinions sparked insightful discussions and inspired me to delve deeper into something I wholeheartedly believe in.

I do wish she hadn't concluded her work with the cliched 'I stood alongside a woman at the beach, me in my bikini, her in her burqa, and we both gazed at the sun, smiling. I observed her daughter, and felt remorse for when she would soon have to cover herself, but that is her own battle to fight' ending. It is clear that she cannot report on societal issues without injecting her own opinions onto the page.

I had to continuously remind myself that this was published in 1996.

A very detailed examination of first-hand experiences with Islamic women in the Middle East. I had never read anything by Brooks before, although two of her novels were in my to-be-read pile. I picked up this book at a Borders going-out-of-business sale because it seemed interesting.

Brooks is one brave mama, I must say.

The presentation is rather interesting and it is somewhat surprising, at least to the reader. Even women who are fundamentalist or anti-American (or even anti-Jewish) are presented in such a way that while you may dislike or hate their politics (or isms), you like the women themselves. This is a far more open approach than what is shown in American news and reminds me of the International News Network before Al Gore bought it and turned it into Current. Thank God for MHZ.

At times, the book will make you laugh, such as when people show up at a college wanting to arrest St. Thomas Aquinas. At other times, the book will frustrate you, as when it discusses female genital cutting (ruining, mutilating). Strangely, it was timely for me considering I know a woman who revealed that it had been done to her. It is immensely readable.

As a non-fiction work, I might rate this book 4 stars. However, when compared to fiction, 3 stars is the maximum. The book was an easy read, and I gained a great deal of knowledge from it.

In the beginning, I had to adapt to the book's structure. But once I accepted the organization, it became clear.

Towards the end of the book, Brooks poses the question, "how was it possible to admire her for the courage of her convictions, when her convictions led to such hateful reasoning?" I felt this way throughout the entire book. Part of me wanted to judge this religion, and I couldn't fathom how anyone could be a follower. But another part of me held back my judgment. In a sense, such unwavering belief (even if I disagree) is somewhat admirable (but perhaps even scary).

I appreciated this unflinching look into the Muslim world, even though it was disheartening to see how these countries could have chosen to liberate their women but instead took a completely different path.

Since this book ends in the early 1990s, I wonder if the countries have become more fundamentalist? I'm afraid the answer might be yes.

Lots of touching first-hand accounts of women's lives are presented. We learn about how they live, what their concerns are, and what their aspirations are. It's truly great to hear about such a wide range of experiences, which cover a massive range of societies. However, it does get a bit "white lady feminism" in some places. GB makes it clear that she's very much an outsider trying to understand these places, and being white, western, and Jewish are all barriers. There are two moments that particularly bugged me. When she talks to a Muslim feminist who tells her it's really unhelpful when people link FGM with Islam and hurts their cause, and when she talks to a Turkish woman who complains that journalists ignore all the positive work and progress and only want to talk about lurid extremism. In both cases, GB pretty much continues doing exactly what they've warned her against. On the other hand, I found the post-9/11 postscript particularly interesting. In it, she seems to have a bit of a more nuanced view about self-determination and intersectionality.

Islam means submission. This is just one of the facts that I learned from this book.

As I continued reading it, it became not just a fact but an insight.

The excellence of the book is demonstrated by the fact that 13 years after its publication, it is still being read. Since its publication, there have been many books on this topic, including social studies and personal narratives, but this one still stands out.

Brooks spent 6 years traveling to Middle Eastern Islamic countries to cover the plight of women. While there is a chapter on Queen Nour, the book is primarily about the many anonymous middle-class women who must submit to decisions about their lives, their health, their time, their children, where they can travel, and even their death, all made by men. These men are not required, and most are not conditioned to, value her or consider her opinions or needs. They seem to be driven by their "honor," which is reflected by how well she masters the art of submission.

Brooks gives the clearest presentation I've read on the origins of the anti-woman practices that are permitted. She describes Mohammed's relations with his wives and the aftermath of his death, which set the stage for others to interpret and misinterpret his words and actions.

The last chapter, where the author summarizes the issue and the lack of attention it receives worldwide, is pithy and strong. It makes the reader realize the importance of addressing this issue and taking action to improve the situation of women in Islamic countries.

This book was originally published in 1995, yet its content remains highly relevant today.

I had very limited knowledge about Middle Eastern countries and their religions prior to reading it. Even after completing the book, I still have a sense that I don't have a comprehensive understanding of these countries.

I firmly believe that I need to engage in more reading to stay updated on what has transpired in the last 30 years. Have the conditions for women in these countries improved or deteriorated?

I count myself lucky to reside in a liberal country such as Australia.

The situation in the Middle East is complex and multifaceted, and this book has only scratched the surface.

To truly understand the region, one must explore a wide range of sources and perspectives.

Perhaps with further study, I will gain a deeper appreciation for the unique cultures and challenges faced by the people of the Middle East.

Aaargh. I just wrote a bloody long review of this book, and then the ******* Goodreads website ate it. Anyway, starting over.

"Read, in the name of thy Lord
Who hath created all things, who
Hath created man of congealed blood.
Read, by thy most beneficent Lord,
Who taught us the use of the pen,
who teaches man that which he knoweth not."

The Koran: The Chapter of Congealed Blood

I have been living, working, and traveling in the Middle East since I was nineteen years old. That's over eleven years now. During this time, I have taken various means of transportation, such as buses, boats, service taxis, trains, planes, lorries, scooters, camels, and horses, to get across Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey. I've traveled from the Iraqi Border to Istanbul, from Aqaba to Aleppo, and still have yet to reconcile my feelings on various attitudes towards women. I suspect it is something I will never fully make my peace with.

Geraldine Brooks has written an approachable and easy-to-read guide to the Koran and what it says about women. She makes a clear distinction between the teachings of the Koran and the Hadith and how they are then interpreted by various different groups. Interpretations vary widely across the pan-Islamic world, and hence the variety of rules and regulations that govern women's lives vary quite greatly from country to country. However, this is only a very introductory guide - it is not a definitive examination. So, go out, seek other books, and talk to other women! You will not finish this book and walk away with a complete and unbiased understanding of the Islamic faith in its many, rich, and varied forms.

Brooks, in a relatively privileged position as an established journalist, was able to talk to numerous successful and powerful women, including Queen Noor of Jordan, several of her female advisers, and one of the daughters of the Ayatollah Khomeini. This is not your average cross-section of Middle Eastern women by any stretch of the imagination.

My time in the Middle East usually involved living and working in fairly rural communities. Although that said, I also lived in Aqaba for a fair period of time, and the shores of the Red Sea at Aqaba are graced with a Pizza Hut, a Radisson, and a Movenpick hotel - not exactly small potatoes.

The women I have met, like Brooks' group, came from a variety of backgrounds. There were young professionals who went sans headscarf in the city, young village wives newly married, family matriarchs, and government officials. A gentleman who used to work for me had two wives - a town wife and a country wife. The country wife was the first wife and a marriage of love. She lived off the desert highway in a small freeholding with goats, sheep, chickens, vines, and a lovingly tended vegetable patch. She was unable to have children, so a second wife, the town wife, had been acquired through an arranged marriage. The town wife was young, spangly, and lived in a small modern air-conditioned apartment with a big TV. There was quite a stark contrast to the beautiful but humble dwelling of the wife out in the country who drew her water from the well. Both wives knew of each other's existence but chose not to live together in the same house.

All of the men I have worked with have treated me with kindness, respect, and deference. They have paid me what they believe is their highest compliment, often telling me that I'm "as good as a man." As massively sexist as that sounds, it is just the way they see things, and I'm not about to cack-handedly try to alter their benchmark or world view. Through them, I met their charming, erudite, spirited, and happy wives and daughters who were knowledgeable and talented at things I was not. Sure, I got my "good as a man tag" by being good at 4x4 off-road desert driving and being a good marksman when handed a rifle or semi-automatic, but I cannot sew, weave, bake bread, sing, dance, or grow and maintain a magnificent garden in an arid desert environment. If I lived in the Middle East, I think I would value those talents more too. As a woman who has lived and worked in these countries, I can empathize with some of the situations that Brooks describes. Here are my top 5 "not great being a woman" experiences, in no particular order:

1. Having my ass groped in Martyr Square, Damascus (I avenged myself by punching the offending busy-handed git by smacking him in the side of the head. The two French guys I was traveling with were very surprised by the sudden flurry of violence as they hadn't noticed what was going on. NB many local gents drinking tea in the vicinity applauded - apparently, avenging honor is not just a male prerogative).

2. Having my breasts grabbed while walking along the Corniche in Alexandria. Strolling along, minding my own business when a boy of about 13 ran up, put out both hands, grabbed, squeezed, and then legged it. Random.

3. The Tampax Police, Amman - While departing from Amman, I was searched in the ladies' privacy booth by a female security guard who was lovely, polite, and patient with my child-like Arabic. She emptied my bag, and out fell a cluster of tampons. She asked what they were. I tried to explain (cue basic Arabic and a fairly graphic mime). No. She shook her head and called her supervisor. The supervisor turned up, opened all of them, snapped them in half, and then gave them back to me. Uh, thanks, I kind of needed those. Needless to say, they went in the bin.

4. Narrowly escaping serious sexual assault on board a bus to Van Golu.

5. Being chased by men on scooters near my pension in Tripoli, Lebanon.

See, none of those experiences were exactly great, but they have never deterred me from returning to work in this part of the world because the good far outweighs any bad experiences perpetrated by a few ignorant individuals. I have worn many elements of Islamic dress and have an extensive collection of head scarves. There is more beyond the veil than many might expect.