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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
Really makes you appreciate life in the US. Better understanding now of "Bin Laden" world. A bit slow at times.
A look inside the Bin Laden family through the eyes of someone raised in the west.
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Fascinating, as Bin Laden was her brother-in-law! Again, it brought home the reality of how women are viewed and treated in the Muslim world.
This is the account of an Iranian/Swiss woman who married into the Bin Ladin family. Although it is 100% one sided, Carmen seems to be fairly straight forward in telling her account of life in Saudi Arabia with this very prominent family. She dwells quite a bit into the mindset of the Islamic man and what it's like to be a woman in a male-dominated strongly theocratic country which exercises apartheid to one half of the population. Highly readable, maybe a bit disjointed, but fundamentally excellent.
Informative.
Carmen Bin Ladin tells her story in Saudi Arabia and living with the Bin Ladens. Her story makes me appreciate my freedom more than ever. And that money and material wealth is meaningless when you have no freedom.
Carmen Bin Ladin tells her story in Saudi Arabia and living with the Bin Ladens. Her story makes me appreciate my freedom more than ever. And that money and material wealth is meaningless when you have no freedom.
dark
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
فقط ميشه گفت؛ايران٢٠١٩=عربستان١٩٧٦
عربستان٢٠١٩=ايران١٩٧٦
عربستان٢٠١٩=ايران١٩٧٦
If you're going into this book thinking you are going to get a bunch of juicy details about Osama Bin Ladin (as a lot of reviewers seemed to have done), you will be sorely disappointed. The most infamous Bin Ladin brother is only mentioned a handful of times throughout this whole book and is in no way the focal point or subject matter. This is a book about a women's struggle to fit into and Islamic family and society in Saudi Arabia and her coming to terms with the realization that it was never going to happen.
Carmen Bin Ladin grew up in Switzerland, her father being Swiss, her mother Persian. She meets Yeslam in Geneva one summer when his family rents out part of her mothers apartment. They fall in love and Carmen agrees to marry him, however Yeslam had to first receive permission from the King of Saudi Arabia because Carmen was an outsider, and once he did agree with it, they were forced to go to Saudi Arabia and marry in Jeddah. Once married they moved to the United States to attend school at USC where Carmen dropped out after they had their first daughter. Family business soon pulled them back to Saudi Arabia where Carmen described her life as essentially slavery. She eventually began to worry about the indoctrination her daughters were receiving and they are what ultimately gave her the strength to leave the country and her husband.
I absolutely flew through this book, it was so interesting. I know only a small amount of information about Islamic countries and culture so to read it from the perspective of someone who like me, didn't know what she was getting herself into, drew me into her life and story. While the writing is a little stuffy and pretentious, it was the actions and attitudes of the people around her that kept me hooked.
A few things that blew my mind:
* The Bin Laden's father had 22 wives and consequentially, something like 55 children.
* Women can't drive in Saudi Arabia...or do virtually anything without their husbands consent
* At one point Carmen demands she be allowed to go to the store to get what she needs and they clear the entire store of all people before they will let her in
* Women have to be completely covered including their faces (at least in the 70's) any time they leave the house
* No man but a women's husband can look them in the eye INCLUDING MALE RELATIVES
* Women are not allowed to pray in public with men
* Carmen had to fight for the custody of her daughters for 15ish years because the father has full claim on them in Saudi Arabia
There were so many more that I could go on for days but these were some that really stuck with me. Just think about those things for a minute. Let them sink in.
This is what a truly sexist society looks like. And the sad thing is, Carmen was in the upper class so her life was so far above most the women that lived there. I am at a loss at how we, those who live in western society, can talk about how "oppressed" we are when there are people all over the world in actual oppressive situations. Everybody should read this book if only to understand that.
Carmen Bin Ladin grew up in Switzerland, her father being Swiss, her mother Persian. She meets Yeslam in Geneva one summer when his family rents out part of her mothers apartment. They fall in love and Carmen agrees to marry him, however Yeslam had to first receive permission from the King of Saudi Arabia because Carmen was an outsider, and once he did agree with it, they were forced to go to Saudi Arabia and marry in Jeddah. Once married they moved to the United States to attend school at USC where Carmen dropped out after they had their first daughter. Family business soon pulled them back to Saudi Arabia where Carmen described her life as essentially slavery. She eventually began to worry about the indoctrination her daughters were receiving and they are what ultimately gave her the strength to leave the country and her husband.
I absolutely flew through this book, it was so interesting. I know only a small amount of information about Islamic countries and culture so to read it from the perspective of someone who like me, didn't know what she was getting herself into, drew me into her life and story. While the writing is a little stuffy and pretentious, it was the actions and attitudes of the people around her that kept me hooked.
A few things that blew my mind:
* The Bin Laden's father had 22 wives and consequentially, something like 55 children.
* Women can't drive in Saudi Arabia...or do virtually anything without their husbands consent
* At one point Carmen demands she be allowed to go to the store to get what she needs and they clear the entire store of all people before they will let her in
* Women have to be completely covered including their faces (at least in the 70's) any time they leave the house
* No man but a women's husband can look them in the eye INCLUDING MALE RELATIVES
* Women are not allowed to pray in public with men
* Carmen had to fight for the custody of her daughters for 15ish years because the father has full claim on them in Saudi Arabia
There were so many more that I could go on for days but these were some that really stuck with me. Just think about those things for a minute. Let them sink in.
This is what a truly sexist society looks like. And the sad thing is, Carmen was in the upper class so her life was so far above most the women that lived there. I am at a loss at how we, those who live in western society, can talk about how "oppressed" we are when there are people all over the world in actual oppressive situations. Everybody should read this book if only to understand that.
A truly fascinating perspective of life inside Saudi Arabia and inside the Bin Laden family. I often had difficulty relating to the author and her extremely (bordering on ridiculously) privileged life, and I didn't rate the book highly because I didn't find the writing to be very strong. Reading the description of her "escaping" an ultra-orthodox islamic clan and country I expected a little more drama than her just deciding to stay in her Swiss mansion instead of taking her private jet back to Saudi Arabia. But I still would recommend this book as a quick and easy read that gives a unique glimpse into this world. I feel I understand the complexities of the Middle east better after reading it.