22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In her own words..., October 20, 2007
In her own words you hear the author, Ayann Hirsi (Magan) Ali relate to you her life story with the passion and emotion that can only come from having lived it. It is a brutally honest portrayal of life as a woman raise in a Muslim society. What impressed me the most was how totally different and isolated her life was growing up in Somalia and Kenya from my western way of life. Clitoral excision; covering your body from head-to-toe lest you inflame male desires; submitting to the males in you family in all matters, including arranged marriages; all part of the daily life of an Islamic woman. Add to that beatings from her mother whenever she dared to question their ways and you have a compelling look into the life of one of the most oppressed groups of people on the planet.
I suspect if you were to ask Ayaan, she would say she had no choice but to seek asylum as a refugee in Holland, but everyday Muslim women around the world accept their lot to live this kind of life. Her bravery is inspiring, and I am grateful that she chose to share her story so that westerners like me can better understand a Muslim's way of life and the differences that separate their beliefs from Christian beliefs. Yet, I also take heart to know that we share many of the same values, concerns, and desires. She is someone I could easily befriend.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Riveting autobiography & illuminating history, June 20, 2008
This review is from: Infidel: My Life (Paperback)
It's rare to find autobiography as absorbing as this. Not only because of the author's unusual path from the desert of Somalia to the USA via the Netherlands, but also on account of the absorbing writing style. Clear and descriptive, the narrative of her eventful life had a profound impact on this reader. Born and raised in Somalia, Ayaan spent part of her youth in neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya, recounting what it was like to live there through the eyes of a child.
She gives a lively account of the history of Somalia under the dictatorship of Siad Barre, explaining the clan system and comparing the relaxed Muslim practice in that country with the rigidy of Saudi Arabia and the hypocrisy and racism that go along with it. The short experience of Ethiopia and later the long stay in Kenya, both predominantly Christian countries, were different again and she really captivates with her descriptions of places and people. One of her most salient memories is the obsessive
anti-Semitism in Saudi Arabia. Where her family lived in the city of Riyadh, Jews were blamed for
everything.
A sub-theme of the book is the increased radicalization of Muslims, partly because of the failures and the suffering brought about by Barre and the chaos of the civil war that unseated him. She noted this radicalization taking place amongst Somalis and others in Kenya where she spent most of her adolescence. This radical strain was brought to Africa by Arabs and Iranians, both
Sunni and Shia, also reflecting the failure of secular ideologies and bad government in the dictatorships of the
Islamic world.
There are sympathetic but honest portrayals of her family and friends: her mother who showed healthy signs of independence early in life but eventually lost hope and became embittered, her loving and tolerant but mostly absent father, her brother who stayed in Kenya and her sister who, when she couldn't cope in Holland, died tragically after returning to Kenya.
Far from stirring up feelings against Islam, this book makes one contemplate with empathy the location of each individual's birth, how little free choice there really is in a closed society, the powerful hold of your community's history and culture, the difficulty of resisting brainwashing and how grateful people in free societies ought to be for the blessings that a lot of us take for granted.
Infidel is also about a second journey: A journey of the mind from the strictures of stifling, oppressive faith to the liberation of enlightenment and the embrace of
Western values like individual freedom, freedom of speech and the rule of law. The fact that the individual mattered and had a right to life, to choice and freedom, was a joyful discovery.
This theme interweaves with the history she so deftly chronicles: the collapse of Somalia, the slow decline in Kenya, Dutch politics in the face of dysfunctional multiculturalism that however well intended, harms individuals in the immigrant communities and society as a whole. More information of these developments in The Netherlands and
Europe as a whole is available in
While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within by Bruce Bawer and
Menace in Europe: Why the Continent's Crisis Is America's, Too by Claire Berlinski.
It is humbling to read of the author's wonderment and appreciation when she discovered Dutch society where even the police were friendly and helpful and where everything worked. Ayaan clearly loves The Netherlands; her words radiate with gratitude and appreciation of the culture and society. I especially enjoyed the account of her studies at the University of Leiden where she studies the great Western philosophers.
Sometimes harrowing, the story of Infidel includes innocent childhood memories, mutilation, war, deprivation, tragedy, adventure, drastic adaptation and inspiring achievements. It is clear that Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an unusually courageous, empathic and resourceful individual. There are 11 black & white plates of family and other people who played a part in her life. As far as the religious aspect is concerned, I recommend the following informative books by two equally courageous women:
Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America by Brigitte Gabriel and
Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror by Nonie Darwish.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Harrowing account from inside the Muslim world, February 8, 2008
This first-hand narrative, read by the author, describes her early childhood in Somalia, her ritualistic genital mutilation, her treatment as a lesser being than males, her arranged marriage and finally her escape to freedom. Ayn Kirsi Ali became a member of Dutch parliament, but after she participated in making a film documentary critical of Islam's treatment of women, a Fatwah was issued calling for her death. The producer of the movie, a Dutch national, was murdered in the street by a muslim fanatic.
This book sets forth in passionate detail Kirsi Ali's journey. It is fascinating, and once I got through the first disc, read in Ali's unusual but pleasant accent, I was thoroughly hooked.
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