2013-44 - Girls of Riyadh, by Rajaa Alsanea

44 - Girls of Riyadh, by Rajaa Alsanea
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by my friend Nushin
ELAPSED TIME: 1 day
RATING: Not Good

Ugh.  This book had such a fantastic premise.  To peel back the curtain and show the inner workings of women's life in Riyadh.  And the introduction boosted that expectation, where the author acknowledged that it wasn't representative of all women in Riyadh, and that many women are looking to find their own feminism - that keeps the good from their faith and culture while discarding that which does not work for them.

Sadly, the book didn't hold up.  Told as if released in a series of e-mails through 2004 and into early 2005, the author of the emails started out as an interesting character in her own right... only to descend into wanting the fame that was associated with these emails.  And her stories, the main story of this novel, ... ugh!

The characters were one-dimensional - how Hemingway would write, were he a Saudi Woman - where men are either good or bad, strong or weak... not struggling with the same cultural forces that the women are (albeit with a lot more freedoms).  And worse, the protagonists, were written so as to fill a category:
a) Gamrah - Who conforms to cultural expectation, and gets married out of high school.
b) Sadeem - Who stays with the guy who won't marry her.
c) Lamees - Who pursued an education, and found the husband of her dreams.
d) Michelle - Who spent time in America and who doesn't conform to societal pressures to break free.

Save your time, there are more interesting stories out there.