Review: The subterranean life — Rafia Zakaria
The Western imagination is both intrigued and appalled by the lives of women shrouded in the anonymity of the abaya. Stories of oppression and misery describing life underneath the all-encompassing blackness have increasingly made their way into print and the bookstores in the West. The latest in this growing list is Raja Alsanea’s new novel, “The Girls of Riyadh”.
Written originally in Arabic, titled “Banat al Riyadh”, Alsanea’s book follows the lives of four close school friends as they marry, get divorced and become mothers. Details of romances conducted on cell phones, trysts with boyfriends arranged by complicit neighbours and surreptitious drinking of champagne at wedding parties so outraged Saudi officials that the book was officially banned in Saudi Arabia.
[click on the heading to read the full review]
Written originally in Arabic, titled “Banat al Riyadh”, Alsanea’s book follows the lives of four close school friends as they marry, get divorced and become mothers. Details of romances conducted on cell phones, trysts with boyfriends arranged by complicit neighbours and surreptitious drinking of champagne at wedding parties so outraged Saudi officials that the book was officially banned in Saudi Arabia.
[click on the heading to read the full review]
posted by temporal at 8/25/2007
2 Comments:
You forgot to link :)
the daily times site is being fixed --(was hacked earlier)--will fix it soon as they come up
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