Girls of Riyadh [Mass Market Paperback]

Rajaa Alsanea (Author, Translator), Marilyn Booth (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 2008

When Rajaa Alsanea boldly chose to open up the hidden world of Saudi women—their private lives and their conflicts with the traditions of their culture—she caused a sensation across the Arab world. Now in English, Alsanea’s tale of the personal struggles of four young upper-class women offers Westerners an unprecedented glimpse into a society often veiled from view. Living in restrictive Riyadh but traveling all over the globe, these modern Saudi women literally and figuratively shed traditional garb as they search for love, fulfillment, and their place somewhere in between Western society and their Islamic home.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Four upper-class Saudi Arabian women negotiate the clash between tradition and the encroaching West in this debut novel by 25-year-old Saudi Alsanea. Though timid by American chick lit standards, it was banned in Saudi Arabia for its scandalous portrayal of secular life. Framed as a series of e-mails sent to the e-subscribers of an Internet group, the story follows an unnamed narrator who recounts the misadventures of her best friends, Gamrah, Lamees, Michelle and Sadeem—all fashionable, educated, wealthy 20-somethings looking for true love. Their world is dominated by prayer, family loyalty and physical modesty, but the voracious consumption of luxury goods (designer name dropping is muted but present) and yearnings for female empowerment are also part of the package. Lines like the talk was as soft as the granules in my daily facial soap or Sadeem was feeling so sad that her chest was constricted in sorrow appear with woeful frequency, and the details about the roles of technology, beauty and Western pop culture in the lives of contemporary Saudi women aren't revelatory. Readers looking for quality Arabic fiction have much better options. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Four close girlfriends from upper-class Saudi families attend university and medical school in Riyadh and in Chicago and San Francisco. They talk in chat rooms, IM on their mobiles to their boyfriends and each other. But even with all the hip technology, they cannot escape deep-seated oppressive traditions after they return to Riyadh. Sadeem's fiancé dumps her after she has sex with him. Gamrah's husband divorces her after she discovers he is having an affair. Michelle and Faisal adore each other, but he gives her up when his family says so. The Religious Police arrest one couple in a coffee bar. But most families don't need official help to interfere in women's lives. Translated from the Arabic, this debut novel was immediately banned in Saudi Arabia. The 25-year-old Saudi writer (now studying in Chicago but planning to return home) tells it from the inside, complete with the contradictions and betrayals that define daily lfe. The Sex and the City–type drama is fast, wry, witty, and anguished. And so are the politics: "He appreciates her independence. But can't find his." Rochman, Hazel --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Reprint edition (June 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014311347X
• ISBN-13: 978-0143113478
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars 1% of saudi girls, September 15, 2007

By 

Rana (saudi arabia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Girls of Riyadh: A Novel (Hardcover)

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 ...

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So-So, July 8, 2007

By 

R. Swaney - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Girls of Riyadh: A Novel (Hardcover)

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.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deeper than it looks, September 24, 2008

By 

Elisa Pasquali (Sunnyvale, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Girls of Riyadh: A Novel (Hardcover)

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.