A follow up to her memoir Desert Flower, this is the recount of Waris' return trip to Somalia to find her family, especially her mother and father.

Traveling from her life with her son in New York City, after her Europe and US success as a model and spokeswoman for the United Nations on women's issues, and particularly female genital mutilation FGM, she travels to Amsterdam to meet up with her brother, and they make the trip together to Somalia, and the tiny village her mother lives in now.

Reverse culture shock in it's extreme is at play throughout her trip - she needs to dress and cover up, concede to a man's world where a woman's voice is not acknowledged even in making transport arrangements, and humble herself again to the most basic way of living. Waris' view on her homeland and way of life is critical and comparative, and then full of love and admiration too. Her privilege of having escaped her country and made a life in the West is ever present.

This read is an insight into the way of life in Somalia, the struggles of the country due to politics and tribalism, and also the plight of women. The issues of FGM, poverty and lack of health care, and also the disempowerment and burden of physical work is all explained, amd re-experienced by Waris.

This is a simple work of memoir, telling Waris' return home and her hopes for change for her country, and for the women and children of Somalia.

Having told her story in Desert Flower, I kind of felt Waris didn’t really have a second book in her. Working again with a ghost writer she repeats some of her previous story; criticises her in laws for not understanding her insistence of applying the nomadic norms of childrearing in New York; she dumps the father of her child for being black but not African; leaves her son with a total stranger and then stretches out the story of a brief visit to her home to fill the rest of the book. There is still a lot of interest in this volume but it is badly written and at time she contradicts herself and her previous storyline. Eg it emerged the mother she claimed in the first book not to have seen or heard of for 20 years had actually flow to Abu Dhabi during that time for hospital treatment and Waris had flown out to see her. She also contradicts herself often around her attitude to time; money and her father. At times she reveals odd rants eg about why her brother obeyed an air steward’s instruction to stay seated whilst the seat belt sign was on. The ‘in my country we don’t things this way’ line gets annoying after multiple repetitions and is in contradiction to the fact that she surfaces that in her country terrible crimes are committed on the girls and women in the name of tradition.
Waris is the victim of bad ghostwriting I think but otherwise I have to confesss that still I couldn’t put the book down!

amazing like the other two by Waris Dirie. All a must read.

Biographies are not tales. So if you don't like biographies in general, you will also not fully appreciate this one. But if you do like biographies, you will, I can assure you.
She takes you through a hard struggle, with so much love and passion for life in itself, that you will feel more alive reading this.
A book everyone should read.

Hoewel veel mensen vol lof over dit boek spreken, ben ik er niet over te spreken. Het verhaal zelf is ongetwijfeld indrukwekkend, daar zal ik het niet over hebben, maar de schrijfwijze vond ik buitengewoon irritant. Ik had het gevoel naar een storende grammafoon te luisteren waar telkens hetzelfde herhaald wordt.

Bookcrossing journal:

Very fascinating read about Somalia - of which I knew so little beforehand. And in some respects it sounds a bit nightmarish living there - eg. repression of women, female circumcision. But Waris is a Somalian herself, equally frustrated by these problems and yet she still loves her country and her people and this really comes through in her writing and allows you to see other aspects of the country.

She ran away from the country in her early teens to escape an arranged marriage and ended up becoming a model in the States - knowing little about fashion, I have never heard of her! This book is about a trip she takes back to Somalia to see her parents again after 20 years of living abroad. Her mother is an amazing character - so tough and independant.

It's also interesting to see the comparisons between Western and African lifestyles and attitudes. The chapter about her baby and the shock attitude of the American mother-in-law was one particular example. Although I get the impression that the mother-in-law would still have been telling her what to do whether she was African or not.

بهتره که قبلش کتاب گل صحرا رو بخونین تا با سرگذشت واریس دیری موفق بیشتر آشنا بشین.
این دو کتاب سرگذشت واریس دیری فعال حقوق زنان و مدلینگ معروفه که از دل سختی ها و تعصبات قومی قبیله ای سومالی بیرون اومد و تابوها رو شکست و تبدیل شد به اون کسی که دلش میخواست و به ازدواج اجباری تن نداد
خیلی سختی کشیده و حتی تا دم مرگ رفته و نزدیک بوده که توسط شیر بلعیده بشه
خوندن این کتاب برای همه جدابه بخصوص خانما
«طلوع صحرا» را از طاقچه دریافت کنید
https://taaghche.com/book/80191

Another great follow on to a wonderful 1st book. Just incredible to see what this woman has done with her life...

Wow - what that WLAN has gone through!

V tejto knihe sa slávna supermodelka Waris Dirie vracia do rodného Somálska, aby navštívila svoju rodinu. Počas strastiplnej cesty do svojej rodnej krajiny Waris zisťuje, aký odlišný je život na Západe a v Afrike. Aj napriek tomu, že je dušou a telom Somálčanka, návrat domov pre ňu nie je taký ľahký. S jej zmenenou mentalitou sa po dvadsiatich rokoch vracia navštíviť svoju rodinu, ktorá nemá pochopenie pre Warisinu snahu zlepšiť život svojej rodine. A nie len jej. Ako veľvyslankyňa OSN sa pred spiatočnou cestou do New Yorku informuje o potrebách dobrovoľníckych skupín, ktoré sa snažia zmeniť a hlavne zlepšiť podmienky Somálčanov a predovšetkým aj žien a detí.

Myslím, že táto kniha má aj „tretí diel“, ale nie som si istá. Púštny kvet a Svitanie nad púšťou sú však veľmi silné autobiografie, ktoré ani nepotrebujú pokračovanie. Sú o sile človeka, ženy Afričanky, moslimky, ktorej osud doprial iný život ako jej rodine a ktorá si išla za svojím a využíva svoje meno na dobrú vec.

Liked that book and it's still a though way for Waris Dirie, but she is still a strong and admirable woman. I respect here and she is great.

n   Handlung: n
Diese Geschichte setzt fast 20 Jahre nach der Flucht von Waris Dirie aus Somalia an. Erzählt wird wie sie, nach einer privaten Krise, den Entschluss fasst zurück in ihre Heimat zu gehen um ihre Familie zu finden. Dort muss sie sich mit ihrer Vergangenheit und mit der Widerbegegnung ihrer Familie auseinander setzten und die Herausforderung meistern, sich hier, trotz ihres neuen und komplett anderen Lebens, wieder einzufinden um einen Zugang zu ihrer damals verlassenen Familie zu bekommenen.

n   Meine Gedanken:n
Eine berührende Geschichte, die einem über das eigene Leben zum nachdenken bringt und einem aufzeigt, wie schön man es doch in Wirklichkeit hat, und man den Luxus in denen wir leben, oft nicht zu schätzen wissen. Dieses Buch zeigt einem eine andere Welt mit harten Regeln und man bekommt einen Einblick in die Ungerechtigkeit, die auf dieser Erde immer noch herrscht. Auch wenn es für mich schon lange her ist, dass ich dieses Buch gelesen habe, ist mir dieses bekommenes Gefühl beim lesen immer noch bewusst. Auch kann ich mich noch an das schlechte Gewissen erinnern…, da wir in einer Gesellschaft leben, wo wir immer mehr haben wollen; obwohl doch schon jeder hat was er braucht.

n   Cover: n
Gefällt mir nicht so gut wie das Cover vom ersten Buch, weil es mir zu bunt ist für diese Thematik. Hätte wieder eine schwarz/ weis Illustration bevorzugt.

n   Fazit: n
Ein Buch für diejenigen, die auch gerne mal etwas zum nachdenken lesen möchten und nicht nur leichte Koste bevorzugen und sich für andere Kulturen interessieren.

I had heard of Waris Dirie as a child and her story suddenly opened up to me the cruelties that young girls must endure in impoverished countries. It was a surprise to find her book in Frankfurt at a book swap. Unlike other accounts I have read of Africa, she is sympathetic, kind and level headed when she explains the Somali culture. This book dwells in the Grey - there are no purely evil or purely good people. Humans are complex and them believing in outdated and harmful traditions does not make them horrible. I like that she was so forgiving of her family but on the other hand did not deride the European or American way of life she was used to. Even though she loved her country and it's people, she knew they had to change and that she was meant to escape.