Customer Reviews

Girls of Riyadh: A Novel

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I'm a Saudi girl, I live in Riyadh and I was really eager to read this book but when I read it I was disappointed in away ..I have to admit it that the book was fun to read but it doesn't relate to Saudi girls that much, a lot of facts that have been mentioned in the book are in someway shocking to even imagine it happening in Saudi Arabia ...
The author is talented but she didn't look at the big picture.This book reflects Saudi girls and what she wrote is 1% of Saudi girls .....
others will read this book and think this is what Saudi girls are ,and what they are facing which is not true ...

I picked up the Girls of Riyadh after hearing about the uproar it caused in Saudi Arabia and for the fact that few pop-fiction books from the Arab world seem to show up in English. It's the story of four women of the "velvet" class of Saudi Arabia and their exploits of marriage, romance, and relationships in their early 20s. The story is narrated as if it occurred on a yahoo group/list serv and provides an interesting look into the secular upper class. It's an interesting read and despite the cultural look the book has a lot of fluff to it. It's an easy and fun read but differs little from young adult fiction in the U.S. (excepting the age group of the women involved). If you're looking for a light "beach read" go for it.

What I found most interesting about this book was not only the portrayal of societal expectations (and their contradictions!) of women in Saudi society, but how true these expectations are, even in more "western" countries, including the US.

I grew up in Mexico, and many of the attitudes of conservative older women as well as supposedly "liberated" men mirror those depicted in this book.

And the descriptions of "weak" men, who marry uneducated, unremarkable women in spite of loving and admiring stronger, educated women, the hypocrisy in this, the feminization of men who become subservient themselves to their families and societal expectations of what a "real man" should be, which in reality has NOTHING to do with what really determines a real man, are things I observed even while dating many American (US born and US raised) men.

I found it wonderful, how what Alsanea observes about Saudi men, is applicable even to the contemporary Western, supposedly "modernized" man.

Her story is not the story of "girls of Riyadh", but the story of any girl, in any country.

This is really a fun book to read. If you are not familiar with the Saudi culture, which differs tremendously from other Arab cultures, this book will give you a glimpse of it. Girls in Saudi Arabia are brought up with different principles from girls in other countries of the world. For example, virginity must be guarded at all cost, not necessary because the girl feels it is her moral and religious duty to do so, but because no man would marry her if she wasn't a virgin...at least this is the theory.

I first heard of the stories, which were transmitted through emails at the time, through friends when I used to work in Riyadh. At the time, it was the gossip of Riyadh, but I never was interested in gossip, so I paid no attention. I never chatted on the internet in the first place, except a few times on AOL with close friends, and I viewed this practice as a total waste of time. I couldn't understand the kick people got out of speaking to complete strangers whom they were unlikely to ever meet, and who were probably lying through their teeth. How would one really know whether the person online is male or female, or a hermaphrodite for that matter? Is the person lying about his or her age, looks, education, nationality etc...? My conclusion was that chatting was a complete waste of time. It was better to socialize with people in the physical world.

I admit! I was wrong! Totally wrong! Having read this book, I now understand the world of chatting better. Saudi Arabia is a society where women and men are forbidden to mix. Even in restaurants, there are sections just for single men and others for families only. Movie theatres are forbidden because of the fear of having both males and females, God forbid, in the dark!!! It doesn't matter that the country is corrupt, that innocent men and women are put in jail because of their political or social views; never mind the fact that Moslems all over the world are being unjustly killed by imperialist countries; never mind all that...the important thing is that men and women don't mix and women (and men too) remain virgins. This is the number one priority of the government, and Saudi Arabia has even special police to enforce this. A woman caught with a man is a trip straight to jail, with a phone call to her father and public humiliation. See now the difference in upbringing of Saudi women compared to Western women?

Back to internet chatting. How can girls and boys meet in Saudi, and get to know each other? You guessed it: the internet. The internet offered the Saudi society a way of meeting girls (and boys) that they would otherwise be unable to meet. And thus start the scandals...to some; to others they are not scandals at all but simply Saudi girls living their life and doing nothing wrong.

Here's an article that appeared in a Saudi newspaper that best describes what this book is all about: "Eminent national newspapers are writing about a prevailing uproar here and behind it is an anonymous young woman who sends an e-mail every Friday to a large number of internet users in Saudi Arabia. In these e-malls, she tells the stories of her four female friends, Gamrah AI-Qusmanji, Sadeem AI-Horaimli, Lamees Jeddawi and Michelle AI-Abdulrahman. The girls belong to society's "velvet class," an elite whose behavior is normally kept hidden to all but themselves. Each week, the writer reveals new and thrilling developments, leading her ever-widening circle of eager readers to await Friday noon prayers breathlessly. Every Saturday morning, government offices, meeting halls, hospital corridors and school classrooms metamorphose into arenas for debate about the latest e-mail. Everyone weighs in. There are those who support this young woman and those who object to her. There are those who believe that what these girls are doing is perfectly natural (and also is no secret) and there are others who boil with rage at the revelation of what they consider to be the excesses that are going on around them in our conservative society. Whatever the outcome, there is no doubt whatsoever that these strange and unusual e-mails have created a furor in our society, which has never before experienced anything like this. It is clear that these emails will continue to furnish fertile material for exchange and debate for a long time to come, even after the e-mails cease to appear." (p. 101-102).

The author says, "Frankly, I did not anticipate all of this flurry, all of this back-and-forth, around my modest little e-mails! A number of you ask how I conceived of this project. It all started in my mind about five years ago in 1999, that is, around the time when the story of my friends, as I am writing it to you and for you now, started. I didn't do anything to turn this idea into a reality until very recently, however. What got me going was that I saw my brain's capacity to hold anything reaching DISK FULL, The time had come to squeeze out the sponge of my mind and my heart, to really wring out that sponge so that I could absorb something new." (p. 75).

The author further adds, "I heard that King Abd AI-Aziz City (internet provider company) is trying to block my site to dam up the channels of communication and ward off malicious acts, scandalous deeds and all causes of corruption or evil. I know that most of you know a thousand ways to get into blocked sites. But I just might die of electrocution if this blockage happens before I can empty out (and load onto you) the charges--positive and negative--l carry in my chest, which have refused to balance each other out to neutral inside of me. I only ask for a small space on the World Wide Web to tell my stories through. Is that too much to ask?" (p. 82).

The book is full of funny anecdotes, and the author's writing style is both elegant and stylish...and let's not forget sincere! Consider the following excerpt, "Brother Adel-who, I will hazard a guess, is a statistician, sent me a message criticizing my e-mails for being of varying lengths and not symmetrical like the hems of dresses in vogue this year. Adel says that in order for the lengths of my e-mails to be even, they must show evidence of natural distribution. According to him, natural distribution means that 95 percent of the data contained therein will center around the mean (taking into consideration of course the standard deviation), while the percentage of data outside the area of normal distribution on both sides of the mean does not exceed 2.5 percent in either direction, such that the sum total of standard deviation is 5 percent. Shoot me!" (p. 208-209).

There is beautiful love poetry from Nizar Qabbani in this book. I have heard of this poet before, but never read any of his books. The quotes the author used of Nizar Qabbani (that left my body in shivers) made me go to amazon.com and order the two books of Nizar Qabbani that are sold online: `Arabian Love Poems' and `On Entering the Sea: The Erotic and Other Poetry of Nizar Qabbani'.

Will this book appeal to all readers? If you find yourself identifying with this book, you will love it. If you are unfamiliar with Arab culture and especially Saudi culture, you might not understand the psychology of the characters. In this case, either you will find it fascinating and informative to learn about a new and totally alien culture, or you will just not understand it, and thus not enjoy this book. Not everybody likes eating broccoli or understands its health benefits. For example, a newly married bride on her first night is busy in the bathroom preparing herself for her husband. When she gets out of the bathroom, eager to please her husband (and herself), she finds him fast asleep. I found this hilarious and just thinking of this scene later that day made me almost fall out of my treadmill. But many western readers will not understand this scene, for they will not grasp the psychology at play in such a scene. Here's a girl saving her virginity for this one night alone; a girl who was told all her life that sex was taboo; a girl who has had very limited contact with guys throughout her upbringing; a girl who probably learnt about sex from her married friends. What a bummer! Replace now the characters of this scene with western characters, let's say John and Jude, and this scene would appear normal, and the reader would not give it a second thought. A western reader might thus miss the flavor of this book and might not appreciate it.

I loved this book and rank it as the best novel and memoir I have read this year. This author is very talented and I can't wait to read her next novel.

Behind the shelter of the strict, religiously-dominated society of Saudi Arabia, it is difficult to imagine the daily lives of young women on the cusp of maturity, imagining the ecstasy of first love and the handsome men who will become their husbands. Four such women are members of the "velvet" Riyadh upper class, their every material desire provided, empty hours fueled with romantic fantasies and plans for the future. Well-educated and accomplished, the four, Sadeem, Gamrah, Michelle and Lamees, exist in a rarified atmosphere, feeding on one another's dreams and expectations. Their romantic tribulations are accounted, chapter by chapter, by an anonymous female narrator who posts the unfolding events on the internet. Refusing to disclose her identity, the moderator offers comments and reactions to each phase of her narrative before beginning the next adventure of her sympathetic protagonists.

The girls are similar in background, but dissimilar in their choices and admonitions to one another along the way. What they clearly share is a fascination with the rituals of seduction experienced by marriageable girls of every culture, theirs more rigidly designed to limit exposure to acceptable classes and familiar interests. Yet within this structured framework, the friends manage to indulge in all the excesses of first love, the desperate attraction and yearning for the beloved, interminable phone calls that last until the wee hours of the morning, the timely seduction approved by the society they live in. Each girl manages to fall hopelessly in love, harboring "the dream of marrying the first love of their lives". All but one fail in this pursuit, each enduring the endless anxiety of waiting to be chosen, the rapture of the beloved's acknowledgment and the ultimate pain of love lost.

To this end, their experiences are familiar, but the author subtly manipulates her stories to illustrate the demands of a culture that does not cater to love matches, in most cases the mother of the beloved more influential than the girl the young man desires. Falling into the usual trap of denial in spite of their best intentions, the girls agonize over lost opportunities and poor choices, learning the harsh lessons of young love as they seek to redefine their identities to better protect themselves from failure. Finishing the novel, it is difficult to assign more than a voyeuristic curiosity for the brokenhearted protagonists. Though culture and religion are strictly defined, as well as the young women's unquestioning obedience to family tradition, there is no deeper context, nor does the author claim one. This small peek into a fascinating culture does, however, indicate a universal rite-of-passage for young women everywhere, betrayal, the loss of innocence and the unsustainable yearning that precedes reality. Luan Gaines/2007.

Over half a century ago Mary McCarthy wrote The Group a perceptive and satirical novel on the lives of eight graduates from Vassar. The novel was widely acclaimed, in part for discussing numerous issues that had hitherto been taboo relating to the lives of upper class American women. Ms. McCarthy was applauded for the honesty and realism of her portraits, which covered a spectrum of aspirations, hopes, and in smaller measures, fulfillments.

Ms. Al Sanea's book, "The Girls of Riyadh" is a similar chronicle of the lives of four upper class women in Saudi Arabia. Her style is updated from Ms. McCarthy's time, done in an e-mail format, which can be irritating, glib, or innovative, depending on your perspective. But the essential element is there: an honest, realistic examination of the lives of these women, and the adaptations to cultural norms that they make or defy. And in the end, about the same percentage of the women, American and Saudi, find fulfillment and happiness.

Ms. Sanea makes numerous observations on Saudi society. For example: "Our Saudi society resembles a fruit cocktail of social classes in which no class mixes with another unless absolutely necessary, and then only with the help of a blender!" With this, as well as other comments, I found myself wondering how unique this is to Saudi society. America has far greater egalitarian pretenses, but socially is it not at least as stratified?

There is a small cottage industry in the West which depicts the people of Saudi Arabia as bizarre, three standard deviations outside human norms. Ms Al Sanea's book is a wonderful, refreshing antidote to this standard Western view. In presenting her more realistic view of life, she has shown significant courage, and no doubt will endure the wrath of the religious conservatives of her own country - who, like the Hollywood of Ms. McCarthy's time, had their rigid standards of what issues could be discussed, and what must be hidden. Her book is a recommended read, and I look forward to reading her next one.

"Girls of Riyadh" is a fun, easy read that gives you a glimpse into the world of four Saudi girls. I think the takeaway from this novel is that girls are girls anywhere--be they Saudi or American, Muslim or Christian. We all long for love and happiness. We all go through heartbreak. We all have societal conventions and expectations to uphold, even those of us in the West. And don't worry, there's a happy ending for many of the girls.

Buy this book for a fun summer read which just might humanize Saudi and Muslim girls in your eyes just a bit. Which isn't a bad thing, BTW. ;)

It was Virginia Woolf in A Room of One's Own who made the observation that writing untainted by the bitterness and anger that accompanies unfair circumstances is the best way to write pure and unthwarted literature--thus best revealing that same circumstance. This was in reference to the enormous success of female authors such as Jane Austen and Aphra Behn because there is no detectable resentment in their writing as a result of the oppression they experienced as female writers during their lifetimes.
On the same token, Rajaa Al-Sanea recounts the lives of these four Saudi girls of the upper class with similar simplicity, so that the reader is able to enjoy the narrative. On the one hand, most reviewers seem appalled by the condition of Saudi women despite the fact that women do not have equal rights in most of their own countries. Refreshingly, Dr. Al-Sanea's focus is not bemoaning women's status, but narrates from a twice-removed perspective: through the anonymous narrator who recounts the feelings of her protagonists. And in this way, the reader is struck by the constraints placed upon these women.
Al-Sanea has been criticized for representing only a small percentage of Saudi women since her characters are of the upper class, but it should be noted that this is an accurate representation of their lives and that by writing about the more privileged and their grievances, Al-Sanea has paved the way for more literature--perhaps by herself!--to be written about the condition of Saudi women in other classes, in Bedouin tribes, in Buraydah, Jeddah, Ha'il and a whole host of situations and locations.
The mere style of this book should be reassuring for an audience horrified by what they have read--the condition of the lives of Saudi women, the way these four girls conduct themselves, etc. The internet, albeit censored, is one of the channels that women can express themselves on a level more equal than pre-Internet times permitted. And I believe that to be another point in the story, women in Saudi Arabia are not allowing themselves to be helpless, they are using accessible forums to express themselves. It happens to be a part of reality that upper-classes everywhere have a louder voice. When literacy was unique to men of the privileged class and religious men, which perspective of history are we receiving? The very fact that this book has had such success even in Saudi Arabia (it is not even censored), despite the fact that the author is a talented female, reveals the changes going on within the kingdom. This book is yet another stepping stone towards awareness of the on-goings in this society closed to foreigners and I applaud the author for her initiative.
Being a Saudi (Riyadh) born-and-raised American female (and no, my family was not affiliated in any way with the military or oil), I can say I was honestly thrilled and delighted by this book that sent me reminiscing for a `simpler' time in my own life. All in all, this was a book that I could relate to and I have a tremendous amount of respect for an author who can relate this story in terms that people who have not experienced Saudi lifestyle can appreciate; not to mention the difficulties in translating from Arabic to English.
This is an essential read for people wanting to better understand the dynamics of this unique society.

Who among those of us in the West would have thought that four women in Saudi Arabia could go through so many of the same things that we do. Dreaming of the right guy, heartbreak and romance, professional aspirations. It's all in this extremely well written and highly enjoyable first book by a young dental student named Rajaa Alsanea. Written in the form of a weekly email to a listserv group, we become highly acquainted with this foursome, childhood friends from the upper class of Riyadh. Each woman is unique, and you'll soon become friends with each of them.

Thank you, Rajaa, for your ability to transform women whom we often perceive as merely burka-bound beings into real human, feeling women! Hopefully, there will be time within your professional demands to either revisit these same women's lives, or delight us with a completely new story. But please keep writing!

In this book 4 girls from the same social class but not the same social ladder will experience life's bouts with love. You will go through every emotion with this book from happiness, sadness, betrayal, love, forgiveness and a whole lot of others. This book show cases the difference between the western and eastern world as well as the christian and muslim world without being to religious. These girls go through what life has to offer in a male dominated and gossip rampant society. A Must Read