In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom [Paperback]

Qanta Ahmed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

"In this stunningly written book, a Western trained Muslim doctor brings alive what it means for a woman to live in the Saudi Kingdom. I've rarely experienced so vividly the shunning and shaming, racism and anti-Semitism, but the surprise is how Dr. Ahmed also finds tenderness at the tattered edges of extremism, and a life-changing pilgrimage back to her Muslim faith." - Gail Sheehy

The decisions that change your life are often the most impulsive ones.

Unexpectedly denied a visa to remain in the United States, Qanta Ahmed, a young British Muslim doctor, becomes an outcast in motion. On a whim, she accepts an exciting position in Saudi Arabia. This is not just a new job; this is a chance at adventure in an exotic land she thinks she understands, a place she hopes she will belong.

What she discovers is vastly different. The Kingdom is a world apart, a land of unparralled contrast. She finds rejection and scorn in the places she believed would most embrace her, but also humor, honesty, loyalty and love.

And for Qanta, more than anything, it is a land of opportunity. A place where she discovers what it takes for one woman to recreate herself in the land of invisible women. (20080801)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This memoir is a journey into a complex world readers will find fascinating and at times repugnant. After being denied a visa to remain in the U.S., British-born Ahmed, a Muslim woman of Pakistani origin, takes advantage of an opportunity, before 9/11, to practice medicine in Saudi Arabia. She discovers her new environment is defined by schizophrenic contrasts that create an absurd clamorous clash of modern and medieval.... It never became less arresting to behold. Ahmed's introduction to her new environment is shocking. Her first patient is an elderly Bedouin woman. Though naked on the operating table, she still is required by custom to have her face concealed with a veil under which numerous hoses snake their way to hissing machines. Everyday life is laced with bizarre situations created by the rabid puritanical orthodoxy that among other requirements forbids women to wear seat belts because it results in their breasts being more defined, and oppresses Saudi men as much as women by its archaic rules. At times the narrative is burdened with Ahmed's descriptions of the physical characteristics of individuals and the luxurious adornments of their homes but this minor flaw is easily overlooked in exchange for the intimate introduction to a world most readers will never know. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

Denied visa renewal in America, British-born Pakistani physician Ahmed, 31, leaves New York for a job in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she celebrates her Muslim faith on an exciting Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca even as she encounters rabid oppression from the state-sanctioned religious extremist police. She is licensed to operate ICU machines in the emergency ward, but as a woman, she is forbidden to drive, and she must veil every inch of herself. Her witty insider-outsider commentary as a Muslim and feminist, both reverent and highly critical, provides rare insight into the upper-class Saudi scene today, including the roles of women and men in romance, weddings, parenting, divorce, work, and friendship. After 9/11, she is shocked at the widespread anti-Americanism. The details of consumerism, complete with Western brand names, get a bit tiresome, but they are central  to this honest memoir about connections and conflicts, and especially the clamorous clash of “modern and medieval, . . . Cadillac and camel.” --Hazel Rochman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc. (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402210876
• ISBN-13: 978-1402210877
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > History > Middle East > Saudi Arabia
  • #12 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Islam > Women in Islam
  • #26 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Travel

More About the Author

Dr. Qanta Ahmed is the author of In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom. She is a board certified sleep disorders specialist at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, New York. She is Associate Professor of Medicine at the State University of New York (Stony Brook). Dr. Ahmed is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. She practices sleep medicine exclusively in Garden City, Long Island.

Previously, she has practiced in the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, in the National Guard Health Affairs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC. Dr. Ahmed holds an Honorary Professorship at the School of Public Health at Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. She is the first Muslim woman and the first physician to be selected to be a 2010 Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellow in Science and Religion at the University of Cambridge, England. The fellowship seeks to ignite public discourse on the nexus of matters scientific and religious, a dialogue she brings here to Huffington Post.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars working draft of a fine book, August 5, 2009

By 

JAF (NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom (Paperback)

I almost gave up on this book after just a few pages, frustrated by the sub-par writing and editing. Editing is one of those jobs that's invisible when done well. Not here.
But: I'm glad I kept reading. The substance of the book is compelling and important, and the author's perspective is sane and intelligent.
If you adjust your expectations of writing as art, you can enjoy and appreciate this book. I only wish it were dystopian fiction and not 21st century reality.

59 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long overdue for ALL Amercians (not just women) to read, October 2, 2008

By 

theguvn'r (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom (Paperback)

This book is a fascinating account of the experiences of a Muslim female physician, educated in the U.K. and America. What is amazing is that Saudi Arabia has been our 'ally' and formidable trading partner, but that 99.9% of have us have no clue as to the ideological and spiritual compass of the people of this country. We just know they are our 'friends' and that our 'friends' spawned a terrorist named Osama Bin Laden (then again, Tim McVeigh used to work at WalMart). This book gives great insight into the value system and machinations of this culture and its religion, and presents some historical perspective on how its modern day presence evolved. The book is not the first but one of the best narratives of the shocking disparity between men and women in Saudi society. Dr. Ahmed described her experiences with colour, insight, and perspective. Yet she refrains from coarse judgment, appropriately so, as the modern Saudi people are proud and principled society. Hopefully our next President (and Vice president) will bring it to the White House Book Club!

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Cinematic - This would make a great movie!, September 8, 2008

By 

Peter Wentworth (Mt Pleasant, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom (Paperback)

I read this over the weekend, based on the Dianne Rheme interview and I couldn't put it down. The language is very descriptive in a very personal and equally unconventional way. There are dozens of images and scenes that I can picture vividly.

This was a real joy!