REVIEW: INFIDEL by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I have wanted to read this book for ages, and I am so glad that I did.  This is a perfect example of me not knowing much about a subject and then learning A LOT by reading a book about it.  In this case, Ayaan Hirsi Ali's life was a window into the muslim world from a woman's perspective;  although I know that this is not necessarily atypical of a muslim woman's life.  I get that.  But the opening of this book is just riveting.  It starts out with the violent murder of Theo Van Gogh in the streets of Amsterdam.  The killer shot him numerous times, and then plunged two knives into his chest pinning a note to his victim's body.  The note threatened Ayaan Hirsi Ali along with western countries, among other things.

Now THAT got my attention.

Ayaan's life was filled with spiritual questions that at times had her re-embracing Islam and at other times questioning the very existence of Allah.  Having been there in my own life, I related to her on this very basic level.  As a young adult I imagine many people question the faith that they were raised in, and some embark on their own way, and others cling to the religion of their youth.

One area that I felt I learned the most about was in female genital mutilation, which she talks about a fair amount, and being a chapter leader with Dining for Women and an activist for women's rights all over the world, I was fascinated to have an insiders look into this practice.  Many women in cultures that still practice FGM actually take it as an honor and a right of passage.  Some women hold it as proud badge that they have been cut, and worried that if they were not, that no man would ever marry them because they would be seen as "unclean".  After reading "Half the Sky", Nicholas Kristof also alluded to this fact, and wrote that in order for this practice to end, it would take many years of undoing the traditional, religious and cultural beliefs of the people with which this is an everyday occurrence.  It reminded me that when trying to fight for women's rights in other countries, that we must also look at how certain barbaric practices in our culture, may have other meanings for women in those areas.  It reminded me how complicated these issues are.  And I needed reminding.

The other thing that struck me, was how Ayaan was living a cloaked life as a muslim, she was covered, she was following all of the rules of Islam, yet at the same time was reading American romance novels and watching North American television shows.  She was seeing how women in the west had much more freedom, they talked back to their husbands, they had jobs.  This was all very appealing to her, and planted a seed that would stubbornly grow, until she could not reject the desire to be free any longer.  It made me realize that countries that suppress the female population, would feel the need to censor their lives, because once the women see how other women are living, some would be like Ayaan and want to escape to another area where they could live free, or more free.

Ayaan was severely abused by her mother, I mean like "Mommy Dearest" kind of abused.  But what is interesting is that she doesn't really realize it, I don't think.  This made me very sad for her.

The first 3/4 of the book was excellent, but once she entered school and politics, I felt it just lost its personal touch and was just a list of accomplishments and more of an autobiographical list of events.  In fact, after her first relationship, which she presented in such interesting detail, and her fears of intimacy with a man etc, when she finally did fall in love with a European, there was no mention of anything that after almost 1/2 of the book spent on her cultural differences and religious issues surrounding relationships and men.  That was frustrating.  It was just plainly put, we met, we fell in love.

Ayaan's tireless and relentless call to action to give more rights and freedoms to muslim women all over the world must be applauded, but it does not come without controversy and threat to her personal safety at all times.  She started a foundation called AHA Foundation that works to protect and defend the rights of women in the West from oppression justified by religion and culture.

So, all in all, I'm glad I read it.  I have no plans to read Nomad, because quite frankly, I can't imagine what else could have happened since Infidel that could fill an entire other book, but maybe I'm wrong.  Anybody out there read both books?  Is it worth reading?

Love to hear your thoughts...

RATING:  3/5

MY DAUGHTER IS CHANGING THE WORLD ONE GIRL AT A TIME!

My daughter is turning 12 in just a couple of weeks, and she is launching a great fundraiser for Because I Am a Girl!  Her goal is to raise $1200 and Plan Canada will match her donations for a total of $4800.  This will give four scholarships for girls in developing countries to ensure that they stay in school.  She was moved to have this fundraiser by watching this video from The Girl Effect:



It really hit her because the age of girl they use when everything changes is 12.  I think she realized that just because of where she is born, has enabled her to live the great life she has.  She is determined to help other girls her age in the world to help them gain an education and therefore a better life for themselves, their families, and their community.

I am so proud of her!!

Please click on her fundraising link and donate today!!

REVIEW: THE CIVILIZED WORLD BY SUSI WYSS

The Civilized World by Susi Wyss

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (March 29, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780805093629

First of all I want to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Christine over at Henry Holt & Co. for sending me a copy of this book.  I absolutely hands-down... LOVED.. IT.

When I was first sent the email inquiring if I would like to read this novel, I was immediately drawn in by the cover.  Isn't is gorgeous?  And then I was told it was set in Africa, which I think I have mentioned, I have always loved to read books that are set there.  But especially now that my 4 year old daughter was born in Ethiopia, I have a particular fondness for books about Africa in general. 

I read this book in 2 days.  It was extremely engaging and although the cover says, "A novel in stories" (which at first makes it sound like a collection of short stories -- it's not), it weaves several story lines together in the most gentle way, and leaves you feeling very satisfied at the end. 

The novel follows the story of several characters, Ajoa and her twin brother Kojo being the "face" of the book, in my opinion.  I fell in love with Ajoa and her dream of opening a salon back in Ghana while she was a practicing massage therapist for foreigners in the Ivory Coast.  Her character reminded me of Mmm Precious Ramostwe from the #1 Detective series by Alexander McCall Smith.  She is instantly likeable and her vision of her salon as a means of providing freedom for her and her brother pulls the story along beautifully.  Even when her brother becomes desperate to leave the Ivory Coast for their beloved Ghana, she holds onto her dream while turning a blind eye to his fledgling criminal career -- to disastrous conclusion that would change her life forever.  Janice is the flip side of the story, a single woman living in Africa for decades and adopting an Ethiopian baby.  Janice was once Ajoa's employer, and it is through Janice that Ajoa is finally able to have peace with what happened to her brother in the Ivory Coast.  

There are other characters as well in the story, but they seem to just provide a further backdrop for the main story lines of Janice and Ajoa. 

Wyss' account of Africa is palpable, you can smell, taste and see clearly the landscape and people before you.  The author lived there for many years, and this lends an air of realism to the narrative, and pulls you into the setting and allows you to escape into the world she has created. 

If you liked Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies Detective series, you will really enjoy this book!

For more about Susi Wyss and The Civilized World you can visit the author's website here.

RATING:  4/5 

MAILBOX MONDAY!

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme created by Marcia over at The Printed Page, but now is hosted monthly by different blogs.  This month is:  Passages to the Past (which just happens to be one of my FAVOURITE blogs!)

Last week I did a book in the mail from Henry Holt & Co (THANK YOU!!!) called "A Civilized World" by Susi Wyss.

Here's the blurb:

Set in Africa, the novel follows five women as their lives intertwine in surprising and even explosives ways.

When Adjoa leaves Ghana to find work in the Ivory Coast, she hopes that one day she'll return home to open a beauty parlor. Her dream comes true, though not before she suffers a devastating loss—one that will haunt her for years, and one that also deeply affects Janice, an American aid worker who no longer feels she has a place to call home. But the bustling Precious Brother Salon is not just the "cleanest, friendliest, and most welcoming in the city." It's also where locals catch up on their gossip; where Comfort, an imperious busybody, can complain about her American daughter-in-law, Linda; and where Adjoa can get a fresh start on life—or so she thinks, until Janice moves to Ghana and unexpectedly stumbles upon the salon.

The Civilized World is a deeply moving novel that “beautifully and effortlessly captures the essence of human connection” (Library Journal). If you would like to receive a copy of the book for review, I would be happy to send one along. Just e-mail me at the address below.

Any book set in Africa is already awesome in my books, even before we adopted our youngest from Ethiopia I had always loved books with a setting from there.  This one sounds fabulous!

For more Mailbox Mondays click here!

REVIEW: LEFT TO TELL by IMMACULEE ILIBAGIZA

Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza

Several years ago I was going through a terrible personal crisis and a fellow mother at my daughters school put this book in my hand saying, "I think you should read this."  I stammered a thank you, not really getting the connection to why I should read it at this particular time in my life, but it turns out to have been JUST the right book at JUST the right time.  Later she admitted she had no idea why she felt compelled to lend it to me, but when I told her how powerfully it impacted my life at the time, she was thrilled.. to say the least. 

Left To Tell is an incredible story of survival during a completely unimaginable harrowing experience had by Immaculee Ilibagiza and the other women of this story.  It begins with Immaculee's youth where she learned her first startling lesson about the ethnic hostility among tribes in Rwanda.  She was in a public school for the first time in grade 4 when the teacher yelled for children to stand when their tribe name was called.  Immaculee did not stand at any tribe name.  She was thrown out of her class in disgust when she claimed she did not know what tribe she was from.  Her brother told her that whatever tribe her friends were from, that was the tribe SHE was then from.  She must be "one of them"... in other words, one of the majority she was associated with.  It turns out she was actually one of the Tutsi, and therefore a death sentence was already placed on her young head, along with every one of her family.

Several years later it is April 1994 and the president has just been assassinated.  The genocide has begun.  During the next 100 days over 1 MILLION people were brutally murdered by the rebels, merely for belonging to the "wrong" tribe.  To save herself Immaculee was told to go to a pastor's  house, and along with 6 other women, to wait out the violence:

Pastor Murinzi carried a flashlight and led us down the dark hallway to his bedroom.  Our eyes followed the beam of light along the walls until it landed on a door that I assumed opened to the yard.

     "This is where you'll stay," he said, swinging the door open to reveal our new home:  a small bathroom about four feet long and three feet wide.  The light shimmered as it bounced off the white enamel tiles on the bottom half of the walls.  There was a shower stall at one end and a toilet at the other -- the room wasn't big enough for a sink.  And there was a small air vent/window near the ceiling that was covered with a piece of red cloth, which somehow made the room feel even smaller.

I couldn't imagine how all seven of us could possible fit in this space, but the pastor herded us through the door and packed us in tight.  "While you're here, you must be absolutely quiet, and I mean silent," he said.  "If you make any noise, you will die.  If they hear you, they will find you, and then they will kill you.  No one must know that you're here, not even my children.  Do you understand?"

For the next NINETY-ONE days these seven women lived in the crampest quarters.  But this was only a small part of the hardship.  The lived every second of those ninety-one days in paralyzing fear that they would be hacked to death by machete's or blown to bits by a grenade at any given moment. 

Imagine that for just one second. 

Now imagine it for ninety-one days worth of seconds. 

I heard the killers call my name.

     They were on the other side of the wall, and less than an inch of plaster and wood separated us.  Their voices were cold, hard, and determined.

    "She's here.... we know she's here somewhere... Find her---find Immaculee."

     There were many voices, many killers.  I could see them in my mind:  my former friends and neighbors, who had always greeted me with love and kindness, moving through the house carrying spears and machetes and calling my name.

     "I have killed 399 cockroaches," said one of the killers.  "Immaculee will make 400.  It's a good number to kill."

     I cowered in the corner of our tiny secret bathroom without moving a muscle.  Like the six other women hiding for their lives with me, I held my breath so that the killers wouldn't hear me breathing. 

    Their voices clawed at my flesh.  I felt s if I were lying on a bed of burning coals, like I'd been set on fire.  A sweeping wind of pain engulfed my body; a thousand invisible needles ripped into me.  I never dreamed that fear could cause such agonizing physical anguish.

Left to Tell is a story about the power of one's faith.  And in reading it, you feel as if you are paying a reverant homage to those that were butchered and to those that were "left behind" to tell the story of the horrors of the genocide.  And many of those who were left behind, still hold the amazing faith that brought them through those dark days of the killings.   Told in powerful language, and seering passion for survival, I believe that every human being on this earth should read it.  Especially when there are still, at this very moment, heinous crimes against humanity being perpetrated around the globe.  So, have we really learned our lesson here? 

One thing  I took away from this book,  at that devestating time of my life, was that my problems were puny, insignificant, and nothing in comparison to someone like Immaculee, and many like her.  It quickly sunk my feet firmly to the ground, and made me humble and grateful for my home and family and country.  It renewed my faith in God or in a universe that can cradle you and protect you in times of crisis. 

You can read more about Immaculee and her book at her website here.

REVIEW: The Book of Negroes

The Book of Negroes (released in the U.S. as Someone Knows my Name)

Harper Collins Publishers Oct 15, 2007

This is one of those books that I kept going to on the bookshelves at Chapters. I kept picking it up and wanting to buy it, but for whatever reason I didn't. You know how it is. When I finally did buy it was after about a year after we brought our adopted daughter home from Ethiopia, so the story had even more meaning to me.

This book is one of my all time favourite reads. Written by a Canadian Author and highlighting much of the history of slaves who were sent to Nova Scotia. I have to admit I knew nothing about that history, and I was blown away by the accounts. But let me back track a bit. The story follows a young African girl named Aminata Diallo, a fictional character, but the "face" of many many slaves of all sexes and ages that went through the living hell that was her life after her capture. It was an extremely compelling read that had me, at times, almost in tears at the absolute terror that this young girl must have felt during her captivity. Lawrence Hill is an incredibly gifted writer that, for a man, captured his heroines heart and soul and laid it out on the page. Not knowing any of the history of the journey to Nova Scotia or of Freedomland I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next!

This is a piece of historical fiction that is beautifully written, educational as well as heart wrenching.

It is interesting to note that before the novel was released in the US they had to change the name reportedly because the publishers or distributors down there thought the name might be to inflammatory. But the truth is there really is a record of names of slaves that travelled via ship to Nova Scotia from Africa and it is actually called "The Book of Negroes."

RATING: 4.5 STARS