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Loading... Infidelby Ayaan Hirsi Ali
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. wonderful book! ( )Great to see a woman's perspective. Opens with too much story-building, too-detailed, for which US readers have no frames of reference (Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia). The rest being mostly polemic, it is clear why she did the storytelling first. But memoirists must be trained to whittle down to the compelling story and tell it, rather than provide every detail of the lives that led them to the real topic of their memoir. Very strong statement against the viability of Islam in 21st c unless it undergoes reform. She dedicated her book to the "millions of Muslim women who have had to submit". The story of a very courageous woman who grew in the Muslim world in Africa, emigrated on her own to Holland, supports herself, becomes educated, and then a member of Dutch Parliament. Her words "shake up" a country that prides itself as tolerant, and condemn Islam as a "backward religion". An amazing woman and an incredible read. I was fascinated by how Ayaan Hirsi Ali overcame tremendous obstacles in her life. I couldn't put the book down. 0.087 seconds to build listing
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0743289684, Hardcover)In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West.One of today's most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following an Islamist's murder of her colleague, Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the movie Submission. Infidel is the eagerly awaited story of the coming of age of this elegant, distinguished -- and sometimes reviled -- political superstar and champion of free speech. With a gimlet eye and measured, often ironic, voice, Hirsi Ali recounts the evolution of her beliefs, her ironclad will, and her extraordinary resolve to fight injustice done in the name of religion. Raised in a strict Muslim family and extended clan, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries largely ruled by despots. In her early twenties, she escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim immigrant women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Even though she is under constant threat -- demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from her family and clan -- she refuses to be silenced. Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali's story tells how a bright little girl evolved out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no story could be timelier or more significant. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:01 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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