My Life Story: The Autobiography of a Berber Woman, Edited by Dorothy Blair [Hardcover]

Fadhma Amrouche (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 197 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; illustrated edition edition (June 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813514258
• ISBN-13: 978-0813514253
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,213,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fadhma Amrouche- Life as a Berber Woman, July 10, 1998

By 

Bridgette Belasli (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Life Story: The Autobiography of a Berber Woman (Paperback)

Fadhma Amrouche became a well known Berber poet and singer in Paris in the 1960's. She is the mother of the famous writer Marguerite Taos, and the Berber singer Jean Amrouche. Her detailed autobiography explains what it was like to grow up the illegitimate outcast of her village. A bright and strong-spirited girl, she was educated in French an age when few women were educated. The book describes her constant worry to provide for her eight children, a fascinating look at traditional family dynamics in a polygamous household, and a passionate love for Berber culture. It ends with a collection of some of her poetry.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving, January 5, 2001

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Life Story: The Autobiography of a Berber Woman, Edited by Dorothy Blair (Hardcover)

This book presents the life history of an ordinary- -yet very unique Kabyle woman. Fadhma Amrouche was born in 1882/1883 in an Algerian village. Never legitimized by her father, she was subject to endless ridicule by the villagers, prompting her mother to send her away to convent school for her own protection. It was at another convent where her future husband first noticed her, and where they were married, necessitating her conversion to Christianity. In the pages of this book, Amrouche describes her schooling, her marriage, and her children. Her personal and family struggles are the clear focus, while world wars, epidemics and the war of independence flicker through the background. She never had it easy, and she never felt at home, not in France, Tunisia, her husband's house, or even her own village. But when you consider the time period she lived through, how different was her experience, in the end, from those of her compatriots? This book is well worth reading for the wealth of information it contains about conditions in late Nineteenth Century Kabylia as well as for its story of simple endurance.