Customer Reviews

Interviews with Muslim Women of Pakistan

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This books gives an insightful, intimate view of how Muslim women view America and the Western world after the events of September 11. The book is well written and the reader feels he or she has traveled with the young author and journeyed to Pakistan. I felt like I was in the sitting rooms in the private homes of these Pakistani Muslim women, listening to them tell of their lives and of their aspirations. How different their world is from ours, and yet one perceives similarities between these women and American women! Well written, adventurous, a book to enjoy and to learn from! The book includes chapters on Islam, Poverty in Pakistan, Womens' Space in Pakistan, Female and Maternal Health Care in Pakistan, and other educational and informative chapters. All in all, this book is highly informative and fascinating reading. My favorite chapter was the photograph gallery, which made me feel I was indeed an armchair traveler to Pakistan. Well done!

I picked up this book hoping to find some revealing clues about Pakistani women. Not in this book. According to most of the women interviewed, to be a Muslim is wonderful. Women are revered, up on a pedestal. One woman even claimed that "Islam is the only religion that gives women the right to divorce". No mention is given about anything remotely criticizing the religion of Islam. I found some of the author's questions to be rather shallow, such as, "Is your life as a Muslim woman any different from that of your mother's or grandmother's?" (as if time has not changed anything). On the whole, I found her book to be rather silly and patronizing. A much more interesting book on the lives of Muslim women can be found elsewhere. Don't waste your money.