Customer Reviews

Princess Sultana's Daughters

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After reading the first book about Princess Saltana (Princess) I knew that Daughters would be fascinating. And it is! The book discusses her 2 daughters and 1 son and picks up where her last book left off. Her youngest daughter is a devout Muslim with an extremely oppressive mentality towards her society. Her second child is a wild child by Saudi standards but her mother loves her just the same. And Princess Saltana's oldest child, her son is as compassionate and liberated as his mother. She raised him well. This story takes place in Saudi Arabia where women are treated as second class citizens. The men use their religion to justify all sorts of heinous crimes which is sickening when I thick about it. These men who degrade women are cowards but they get away with anything they want. In the USA they would be called pedophiles and locked up in jail. But in Saudi Arabia they are free to do exactly as they please. This is also about a country that regards wealth and physical attributes of the most important things in life, money and sex go hand and hand. And women are treated as property to gain social and economic power. Princess Saltana is a heroine for telling her story, even though her family found out about her first book. She is also a heroine for preaching women's rights in a land that has no rights for women. She is a heroine because she sees hope in the future for the women of her country. The book isn't only about her daughters it is also about Princess Saltana's life and family. She is a deeply moving person with a lot of conviction. And I can only hope that one day all the women in her country will be treated with the basic human rights that they all deserve - but do not have. I just found out there is a third book about Princess Saltana titled Princess Saltana's Circle, I am sure it will be an interesting read too. Also I want to say that Jean Sasson is a genius and a brilliant writer!

I've worked for the royal family in Saudi Arabia for the past twenty-five years, and I can say with all honesty that this book depicts the lives of Saudi Princes and Princesses very accurately. This is a natural outcome for a family that has low morale values and encourages its members to indulge in life's materialistic leisure in every possible way at the expenses of the Saudi people. While at the same time leaching the religious police to tighten the iron grip on the their poor citizens in the name of Islam. However, let not confuse Islam with the practices of the royal family, the religious police, or the religious fanatics in the country. The majority of Saudi men and women live according to the principles of their religion in what they consider it to be a near perfect way of living, despite the obvious lack of freedom, human rights violations, and social and economic injustices that they suffer.

I have lived in Saudi Arabia, my husband, and children are from there, and I myself am an Arab. I can tell you that Jean Sasson knows what she is talking about, as I myself have had similar experiences living in Saudi, as have friends and family. I know that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but many reviewers have said that the accounts in the books could not be true, because their Arab boyfriends told them, or because an Arab friend denies it. You would have to live in that country to know how true it is. And really live there, emersed in the culture, and society, and not living on some campus, or compound, surrounded by westerners, and with limited access to the average Saudi. I totally related to the books, PRINCESS, and DAIGHTERS, and found that some of the experiences the Princess had were exactly the same, or similar to things I myself had gone through, or others that I knew had. Those who think this book is fictional have obviously had no experience living in Saudi, or have some agenda, possibly someone who has been paid to give the book a bad review, as the Saudi government is very keen to keep up a facade, favourable to their royal family, and have been known to use these kinds of tactics, even going so far as to purchase large amounts of stock in certain media, either radio, television, and newspaper, to keep bad press about Saudi Arabia hidden from the outside world. These books are a danger to the Saudi Royal family, and I applaud Ms. Sassons courage, and that of the Princess for bringing the truth to the world, in a way that is both respectful, and in no way and indictment of the Islamic faith. Beleive me, it is true, and my only regret is that I only have 5 stars to give.

Princess Sultanas daughters is just as sad and heart wrenching as the earlier book Princess. It infuriates me to think about the hypocricy, brutality and insensitivity of Saudi men. I lived in Bahrain for 11 years and am also a Muslim. Jean Sassons books are a very accurate description of Saudi culture and the treatment of women, and it is very important when reading the book to realise that the injustices that are taking place in that country are based on years of tradition and not the Islamic religion. Once again, I think that point has also been stressed on numerous occasions throughout the books.

I admire the princess for her courage and strength and I adore the way she stands up to what is wrong. For those who may think that the "princess who told the story is an activist, but not much of one", it is obvious that the readers have missed a major point in these books. That is to illustrate the absolute helplessness of women in these societies. In a country where a women is raped by a man and then murdered by her father for 'allowing' it to happen, it is clearly difficult for women to voice their opinions. In a country such as the United States where there is freedom of speech it is feasible for people to form large powerful support groups to fight for a cause.....In Saudi Arabia, a group of women fighting for a cause would simply mean......the group of women would suffer! The princess has done the best she can in a country where the penelty for doing so is death. The women in Saudi Arabia are not "the most spineless creatures on earth", but are trapped in a society where no matter where they look they are alone and have no support, and understandably so prefer to live for their children.

I was required to do a paper on this book for my government class. Well, I had other books to choose from, but I love to read about Royal families.

This is a very well written book, but what the Saudi women go through is very sick. I must say that I admire Princess Sultana for standing up for what she feels is only fair treatment for women. This book also exposes all the secrets of how the women royalty get treated like doormats. I think it is high time that the Western world sees what really goes on across the globe.

Since when is it alright for a husband to have numerous affairs when the wife is required to wear a veil in public and not even associate with a man who is of no relation to her? They already have more than one wife as it is, then they are allowed mistresses and nobody says a thing about it. I give a lot of credit to Princess Sultana that she did not allow her husband, Kareem to take on another wife and she put an end to his affairs by threatening divorce. Princess Sultana sure kept Kareem in line.

Princess Sultana's oldest daughter Maha ended up rebelling in her own ways. Then her son Abdullah's friend escaped with a girl the family knew to be together. Now my friends, would such a step be nessary if there were no such restrictions as to who they are to marry or not to marry?

Here is a family of enormous wealth, but of very little happiness. I don't mean just problems with Princess Sultana's children, but of her brothers, sisters and relatives as well.

Princess Sultana clarifies that she strongly believes in the Koran and from her explanations in the book, it seems that her faith does not condone treating women like they are subhumans. As I stated in another review, and it is quoted in this book: Mohammed did not ever state that a girl born is less than a boy. In fact, Mohammed states that a girl born is just as much a gift as a boy born. I may not have the exact wording here.

This book makes for interesting as well as educational reading.

Jean Sasson's 'Princess' trilogy is a heady, thrilling cocktail of erotica, exotica, and sheer spine-chilling barbarism that will turn the blood of most Western readers thick with cold. 'Daughters of Arabia', the second sensational installment of wealth, corruption, and appalling crime within the royal family circles, reads like a fairytale.

I have lived in Saudi Arabia as an English Christian woman for the past seventeen years, and - along with many other expatriates - I believe that there is something fishy about the 'Princess' trilogy. For one thing, the books are riddled with mistakes - mistakes that anyone who has more than a nodding acquaintanceship with Saudi culture and religion will instantly be able to detect. Here is just a small sample of the glaring errors that I found within 'Daughters of Arabia'.

Princess Sultana's second daughter, Amani, is a Muslim fundamentalist who covers her hair all the time and even goes so far as to wear black gloves, black stockings, and the thickest veil whenever she steps outdoors. Yet Amani is also a passionate animal lover. She keeps dogs.

Alarm bells should now be ringing for anyone who is remotely familiar with Islam. Dogs are considered spiritually unclean by even moderate Muslims; they believe that it is impossible to pray in any room where a dog has set foot, until it has been purified. This is why there was such outrage in Iraq when American soldiers attempted to search houses with sniffer-dogs - it wasn't the search that people objected to, but the use of an animal that is second only to a pig in the uncleanliness stakes. In her first book, 'Princess', Jean Sasson herself mentions that dogs 'are not favoured by Muslims'. And yet she now wants us to believe that this raving fundamentalist girl not only keeps a pack of dogs as pets, but actually encourages them to urinate on her uncle and drink out of his glass? Even though respect for one's elders is an enormous part of Muslim culture? I don't think so. My suspicions deepened when I read on Jean Sasson's website that she herself is an ardent animal lover whose favourite hobby is rescuing abandoned strays. How...convenient.

Also convenient is the fact that Amani's sister Maha is her complete opposite in personality, going so far as to renounce Islam in favour of American rock music and a lesbian relationship. I find it very difficult to believe that the same set of broad-minded parents could have produced such radically different girls. The gulf between their personalities sparks much tension and conflict, which of course is a useful narrative technique in any novel. But this isn't meant to be a novel, is it?

The language that these royals use is extremely convoluted and archaic, peppered with arcane proverbs and filled with starchy grammatical constructions. Their dialgoue might easily have been lifted straight from the 'Arabian Nights'; I am only surprised that Sasson didn't make them say 'thee' and 'thou' instead of 'you'. Modern-day Saudis just don't talk like this. I know; I speak quite good Arabic. None of the conversations in this book ring true.

Coupled with these mistakes are the many lurid references to female circumcision. That is an African tribal practice; it has never ever been widespread in the Arab world, although Sasson gives the false impression that it happens to every single Saudi girl. She implicitly suggests that the keeping of concubines and unjust temporary marriages are also a big part of Saudi life, when they are virtually unheard-of. Oh, abuse of women goes on over here - I've seen it with my own eyes. Saudi Arabian women hold fifty-two percent of the university degrees and only six percent of the jobs. That's discriminatory. That's demeaning. Why doesn't Sasson write about this, I wonder? Could it be because lack of educational opportunity isn't topical and fascinating and frightening? Because it doesn't make the bestseller list?

Even if there is a kernel of truth in 'Daughters of Arabia', what good has this book accomplished? American women buy the book under the fond delusion that they are helping these bejewelled Eastern beauties in some small way. Nothing could be further from the truth. The book is banned in Saudi Arabia, and anyone who has any knowledge of the Saudi reverence for privacy will know that this kind of hurtful and over-exaggerated expose will only damage women's rights, rather than further them. Change has to come from within the Kingdom, not from without. Today I went to Jarir Bookstores (the Saudi answer to Barnes and Noble) and found a stack of poetry anthologies by Nimah Ismail Nawwab. 'The Unfurling' is a deeply honest book that calls for change at a profound level. One of the poems even damns the infamous religious police. And no one is rushing to arrest her, to beat her, to execute her - instead, they're inviting her to speak at King Fahd University and giving her book awards. While Sasson rakes in the cash, Nawwab is quietly working for the cause that Sasson claims to be so passionate about - only Nawwab has her eyes trained on real issues, not fabricated ones.

All Sasson's books have achieved is to to force Saudi Arabian ladies to carry unbearable burdens on their veiled shoulders. If a Saudi lady visits the West and chooses to keep her veil on, she can't walk down the street without some well-meaning woman gazing after her and wondering whether she chooses to dress like that or whether she's brainwashed, whether she's beaten, whether she's crying behind her mask, whether she wants to be freed or whether she hasn't realised how unlucky she is. Saudi friends of mine have told me that they get extremely tired of having to dispel these stereotypes. In short, all Sasson has done is to create extra work for Saudi women. I'm not sure that they're all that grateful.

While Daughters does not have the same shock effect on the reader as Princess, I admit that I got into this second book on Sultana as much as the first. I believe it goes deeper into the lives of Saudis, and Jean Sasson tells the story in the same highly readable, enjoyable manner as the first. As someone who lived and worked in that country for many years, I can tell you without a pause, that the book relates very truthfully the life of women behind the veil. I don't know how much longer the Saudi men can hold their women back, for the women are becoming educated and I believe that is the first step forward for any mistreated group in a society. I can't wait to hear what else happens with Sultana, her family and her friends. Is there a 3rd book coming out?

As her family found out that "Princess" was her story, I am amazed that she wrote the sequel. One would think that many of the things she says about her family members would create some hard feelings. I am glad that she has matured a bit, but is still principled. I am glad to know more about her children and her other sisters. Many of the reviewers swear that this isn't indicative of Saudi culture, but a reader make decisions for themselves. It gave me the impression that the royal family gets away with atrocities that others would not...similar to a major political family here in the US. It also gives some insight into the sociology of a culture, not just this one. Extremes breed extremes. It was good reading, true or not.

I read the first book in the "Princess" series and read this one soon after. At first, it was a bit less exciting than the first book in the trilogy, as it has far less shocking new stories and startling information about life in Saudi Arabia.

However, by the time I finished the book, I realized how important it was. While the first "Princess" book lights a fire in the reader as they feel Princess Sultana's rage with women's rights, "Princess Sultana's Daughters" demonstrates how difficult it is for anyone in Saudi Arabia to have an impact on the barbaric social norms. It is not merely an update on Princess Sultana's life, as she raises 3 teenagers, but rather it is an update on the fight for women's rights in Saudi Arabia. There are several stories of not only women, but also men, in the royal family who want to change many of the social customs that have been so long accepted; yet when they try to reason with authority, rebel against it, or even flee the country, they are most often met with a force greater than themselves, and horrifying consequences. Thus, they are often driven to accept the ways of the culture and keep their mouths shut as they grow old behind the veil.

In short, "Princess Sultana's Daughters" makes you realize that the battle is much harder and the future more grim than the first book would have you beleive. Sadly, it delivers a large dose of reality and a small amount of hope.

I am an arabic young woman, and i loved the book. Princess Sultana conveys her opinions and she had the courage to stand up and tell the world what she was going through.

Such activities of torture and harm which were described in the book, are not allowed in arabic countries and they are unacceptable in out faith as Muslims. Our Prophit Says that a boy and a girl are equal in everything.

As for the practice of having more than one wife has a reason, which is because of the need of a husband to have children if his wife is barren, so he marrys a woman other than his wife and he keeps his original wife for a very important reson and so that loved ones are not seperated , because having mistresses is not allowed in our faith. BUT that does not mean he is allowed to be unfair between wives (Ex. spending more time or money on one more than the other) , Islam INSISTS on the importance of fairness between wives. and that men who will not be fair with their wives are not allowed in islam to marry a second because he would be harming his wife.

Arabic women are educated and are working in very high positions. the world has changed a lot since her diary has been written and published, and arabic countries have became so much better. the things that sultana's family were doing are not right things, and they must not be mistaken to be the way that arabic families are. You must keep this in mind when reading this book.