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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Bahiah Shaheen is a young medical student outwardly obedient to the wishes of her petit bourgeois family but inwardly starved for freedom and affection. Egyptian feminist writer Saadawi ( The Face of Eve ) does little to flesh out this stock situation. The nature of the student movement Bahiah joins (and goes to prison for) remains a mystery, and the lover whose own imprisonment impels Bahiah's involvement is a vaguely characterized prop. Practices such as clitoridectomy that might usefully have been discussed in an introduction go unexplained. Whatever Two Women in One may have meant to its intended audience upon its original publication (Beirut, 1975), it is unlikely to stir many readers here. Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Holly Smith
In contemporary Egypt, eighteen-year-old Bahiah Shaheen struggles to fill her inner need for independence. Her world consists of her family home and medical school, but she yearns for a freedom of which neither her mother nor her female classmates seem to be aware. As she looks at the women around her she is struck with despair by the falseness she feels about their lives. In her culture, where women's skirts bind their legs together by narrowing at the knees, she wears pants and causes people to wonder: "Was she a woman or a man?...But since she was a woman, it was legitimate to stare." Her involvement in a student uprising further defies her family and cultural expectations; it is a decision that changes her life. She notes: "We never know the reality of things: we see only what we are aware of. It is our consciousness that determines the shape of the world around us - its size, motion and meaning." Much of this story is told through Bahiah's thoughts, which are not always literal, imbuing the reality of her life with a dream-like quality. With her awareness, drive, and action, Bahiah Shaheen's search for a life different from the expected provides insight into the power of ancient and traditional Egyptian culture over women's lives. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14.
See all Editorial Reviews
Bahiah Shaheen is a young medical student outwardly obedient to the wishes of her petit bourgeois family but inwardly starved for freedom and affection. Egyptian feminist writer Saadawi ( The Face of Eve ) does little to flesh out this stock situation. The nature of the student movement Bahiah joins (and goes to prison for) remains a mystery, and the lover whose own imprisonment impels Bahiah's involvement is a vaguely characterized prop. Practices such as clitoridectomy that might usefully have been discussed in an introduction go unexplained. Whatever Two Women in One may have meant to its intended audience upon its original publication (Beirut, 1975), it is unlikely to stir many readers here. Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Holly Smith
In contemporary Egypt, eighteen-year-old Bahiah Shaheen struggles to fill her inner need for independence. Her world consists of her family home and medical school, but she yearns for a freedom of which neither her mother nor her female classmates seem to be aware. As she looks at the women around her she is struck with despair by the falseness she feels about their lives. In her culture, where women's skirts bind their legs together by narrowing at the knees, she wears pants and causes people to wonder: "Was she a woman or a man?...But since she was a woman, it was legitimate to stare." Her involvement in a student uprising further defies her family and cultural expectations; it is a decision that changes her life. She notes: "We never know the reality of things: we see only what we are aware of. It is our consciousness that determines the shape of the world around us - its size, motion and meaning." Much of this story is told through Bahiah's thoughts, which are not always literal, imbuing the reality of her life with a dream-like quality. With her awareness, drive, and action, Bahiah Shaheen's search for a life different from the expected provides insight into the power of ancient and traditional Egyptian culture over women's lives. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14.
See all Editorial Reviews
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10
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- 500 Great Books by Women: A Reader's Guide by Erica Bauermeister on page 18, and page 32
- The Politics Of Mothering: Womanhood, Identity, and Resistance in African Literature (Opening Out) by O. Nnaemeka on page 76, and page 80
- Americanism: New Perspectives on the History of an Ideal by Michael Kazin on page 254, and page 261
- Lonely Planet Oman & the United Arab Emirates (Lonely Planet Oman and the United Arab Emirates) by Lou Callan on page 36
- Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society by Akbar Ahmed on page 193
See all 10 books citing this book