Customer Reviews

Do They Hear You When You Cry?

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are some books that are so wonderful, so intense, that I simply get lost in them for the few days it takes me to finish them, and once I'm done, I want to share it with the world. This is one of those books, a truly moving, inspiring, fascinating, terrifying, heart-breaking and rewarding tale.

Fauziya Kassindja is a Muslim African woman raised by a father she adored who did not adhere to many of the more restrictive Islamic customs relating to women. Upon his death, however, Fauziya is faced with a forced marriage and forced female circumcision and flees first to Germany and then to the United States, where she is promptly locked away in prision, initially denied asylum and kept imprisoned for an unbelievable amount of time.

The story itself is both fascinating and heart-breaking, but Fauziya tells it with such detail and brutal honesty that it becomes even more powerful. She creates a beautiful picture of her childhood in Africa and life with her beloved father and family, and she conveys clearly and easily her naivete about laws and customs as she went first to the strange land and then to the literal and figurative prison of America. Her ambivalence about America - as the land of hope and escape turned jail - is understandable and she describes why a return to the horrors that awaited her at home suddenly seemed better than remaining in the series of prisons to which she was assigned.

What makes Fauziya such a compelling figure - a real heroine - is her honesty and her struggle to stand up for her beliefs. She personifies the adage that courage is being scared but 'doing it anyway.' I grew angrier and angrier at the way in which women are treated here and around the world, that forced mutilation is not 'political' nor grounds for asylum, that gender has such an impact on how people are treated. Her faith in her religion, her love of her family, her wish to give in despite the horror that would greet her return to Africa all made her such a human, touching figure. This is not a book to be missed - everyone should read it - but for those concerned about the treatment of women and female circumcision - and far too many women have to deal with the brutality of it - this book is absolutely essential. When I finished, I wanted to learn more about Fauziya and what happened to her. I certainly hope that she has found the happiness and peace that she so deserves.

The beautiful yet shocking true story of a young woman who ran from her home in Togo to escape genital mutilation. She came to the United States hoping to gain asylum but because she did not have the proper papers and because at the time FGM was not grounds for political asylum she spent over a year locked up with other people trying to enter the country without legal reason. This book will make you angry at the injustices people face in the United States when trying to escape persecution in their own countries, but will help restore your faith in humanity when you read about all the people who were willing to work so hard to get Fauziya Kassindja citizenship here so she wouldn't be returned to Togo to face being genitally mutilated.

"My father was a modern man in a traditional culture who neither repudiated that culture nor let himself be bound by it. He embraced some parts of it, rejected others, and never stopped reevaluating his beliefs about good and bad, right and wrong. He also never deviated from his Muslim faith. We, his daughters, were the same- part modern, part traditional, and Muslim throughout". ~Fauziya Kassindja, Do They Hear You When You Cry, "Muslim Girl"

This book is the true life story of Fauziya Kassindja, who lived in Togo, West Africa, for the first sixteen years of her life. Her father, an influencial man in her small town society, had always protected her from the dangers that most girls faced as part of her culture. However, when he died, his property (the house where she lived with her mother and sisters) was given to her aunt and uncle, who were very traditional. She was pledged to be married to a man three times her age who already had three wives, whom she was expected to serve. She was also being prepared to undergo what is none in Togo as Female Circumsism and what is known in the U.S. as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Fauziya was afraid of having her sacred, female parts destroyed and did not want to live with this man and his wives. A friend told her she could come to America, which helps victims from other country find safety, and he got her a passport. She was young and didn't know what was going on, and when she got to the U.S., she was put in jail. In this maximum-security ward, the illegal immigrants were treated worse than the prisoners convicted of major crimes. She was in this jail for a very long time before a passionate lawyer discovered her story and fought for crimes committed against women )gender-based persecution) to be included in the law that lets foreigners become U.S. citizens because they are fleeing persecuation in their country and seeking safety in ours.

This story was utterly fascinating and inspiring; it kept me interested and rooting for Fauziya's case the whole way through. I found Fauziya to be a strong, perservering woman, and her lawyer was an inspiration to me as well.

This is an educational and enlightening story.

This book will stay with you for a very long time. It reads like a work of fiction, and at times when reading it, I was wishing it was. The inhumane treatment this women suffers at the hands of people in this country is unbelievable. Her journey from her country to the United States if very poignant. It also shed a little insight into what goes on in other countries. I will remember this story for a long time. I strongly recommend this to everyone.

As a law student, I studied the process of refugees applying for asylum in the United States, but this autobiographical story added a much-needed human dimension to the process. The picture offered by Ms. Kassindja shamed me as a citizen of the United States. This is supposed to be a country that offers refuge to the tired, oppressed and persecuted, but the "Welcome" Ms. Kassindja recieved, and her subsequent detention, shows the callous disregard for humanity that has grown in U.S. Immigration policy.

This story offers a day-by-day look at the process of U.S. Immigration policy, its political nature and one woman's struggle to gain her freedom from Female Genital Mutilation and an arranged marriage to a man who already had 3 wives.

I immediately felt a bond to Fauzy and wept at the treatment our country gave her. The judges and processes portrayed are a realistic and tragic picture of U.S. Immigration processes here in Pennsylvania.

This is not a look at a trajedy from a far away place that took place a long time ago - this is STILL happening to detainees in the U.S.

Fauziya Kassindja survived the horror to beat all horrors on United States soil, and I applaude her for telling her story, because, by doing so, she put the American government's brutal acts on display. I was inspired by her bravery and determination to honor her family and protect the wishes of her late father. The reason this book doesn't get the coveted 5 stars is because the exciting part--the part that kept my interest--didn't come until midway through the book, after she fled Togo. The first half was compelling, but a bit redundant.

Fauzy's tale of unjustice in her homeland to the unjustice she beared in our "free" country, is a book every women should read. Her story is an inspirational message to all women who have experienced hardship and it gives anyone who reads it hope. her story in Togo of hardships and lack of family support due to the culture, sends Fauzy to America where she expected to be greeted with warmth. Instead she spent her first two years in america's prisons. I appauld her for being able to ddeal with it and never give up hope. Read the book to understand what you feel after you read it and then you try to describe it, because it is undescribable.

I just finished reading this book and absolutly loved it. It is a must read for anyone who feels the calling to fight injustice in the world as well as at home. However I disagree with some of the reviewers who said she could have been more graphic about the FGM procedures. If you want to know more about it research. But I feel that for Fauziya relating it in more detail would be too painful and unnecessary. She has already been through so much and to have to relate something so private and personal once again would be insensitive to her. She is a courageous woman to go through all of this and to still be able to recount it. She is only two years older than myself and I admire her greatly.

This should be and could be on the bestseller list; Lord knows the girl deserves it. The issue I have is with the editor: had this been half the size, it would have been on the top five list. Instead, it languishes in parts that detract from the global horror women still experience on a daily basis. In the right hands, this would be on everyone's coffee table and progress, outrage and steps for human rights would catch on like the wildfire it needs. In all, still a fascinating story.

As I read this book, i couldn't stop talking about it ... she stood by her principles and ultimately got the freedom she both desired and deserved .. granted, a priveledged childhood shattered by the death of her beloved father made things more complicated as it only enforced the unfairness of things and the total lack of value of the females and their rights in her country ... amazing to think that in the US folks who have committed no crimes are treated like criminals, you wouldn't think your government would do such things .. makes you rethink your attitude on immigrants .. then again, it also makes you question your beliefs on "powers beyond ourselves" .. there were folks who impacted her life (and ultimately saved her despite being utter strangers at the onset) that could only be deemed angels/miracles .. that she was able to keep her faith through the trying times and encounter folks both internal and external to prison who would bolster her faith when she could not rise to the occasion made one grateful for what they had .. she never lost her faith in god and that was admirable ..