Rajaa Alsanea

The author has taken an intriguing and unconventional approach to presenting her novel: it unfolds through 50 emails addressed to a group of readers from Saudi Arabia at the dawn of the 21st century. Through these emails, she narrates the romantic escapades of four best friends brought together by life in the capital city of Riyadh—hence the novel's title.

On the surface, the story follows the conventions of chick lit—a genre that humorously and often lightheartedly explores the show more contemporary lives of women. However, a closer reading reveals a deeper narrative, shedding light on the realities of contemporary Saudi society, where men occupy the central role. Each of the Riyadh girls embarks on her unique journey to love, encountering men from diverse social strata, upbringings, and cultural contexts, all bound by the enduring patriarchal traditions inherited from generations past.

The novel's underlying message, as I interpret it, is that beneath the hijab—which often unifies and depersonalizes women in the Arab world—lies a rich and complex individuality with aspirations, emotions, dignity, and a yearning for freedom and fulfillment. This story immerses readers in the contemporary realities of Saudi Arabia—a world that can surprise, fascinate, shock, or leave Western audiences speechless. show less

This book was a great window into the reality behind my theoretical understanding of Islamic law and practice when it comes to women. There are no men as primary characters here. This is a book about women’s experiences in Saudi Arabia. Different angles and aspects are illustrated through the lives of the four (or five?) women whose experiences navigating love, relationships, sex, and marriage are described the unknown narrator’s voice. This is a modern epistolatory novel, the updates show more sent out via email with a discussion of reactions and comments that the narrator is receiving from her readers at the beginning of each chapter. But these women are from the “velvet” set: relatively well-off and mobile women who can shake off the shackles once in a while with a trip away from the country where they can let their hair out and down away from the policing and prying eyes of other Saudis. I can only imagine how it is for the more marginalized parts of Saudi society who don’t have the ability to escape the oppression. I admit that I don’t have a lot of other experience with Saudi culture to juxtapose this book with; only Abdelraman Munif’s City of Salt, in which women are pretty invisible and in which it is never specifically stated that the setting is Saudi Arabia. One of the women sums up the situation pretty succinctly in this passage: ‘[Saudi men are]...passive and weak. They are slaves to reactionary customs and ancient traditions even if their enlightened minds pretend to reject such things! That's the mold for all men in this society. They’re just pawns their families move around on a chessboard! I could have challenged the whole world if my love had been from somewhere else, not a crooked society that raises children on contradictions and double standards. A society where one guy divorces his wife because she's not responsive enough in bed to arouse him, while the other divorces his wife because she doesn't hide from him how much she likes it!"’

Lest this review be seen as a polemic against Islam or Saudis, I will state that I’m a yogi that isn’t affiliated with any of the established religions or sub-religions. I’m a satyagraha who believes in non-harm, so I am supportive and appreciative of those parts of all the world’s religions, beliefs, and societies that don’t oppress or do harm to other inside or outside of their personal beliefs and institutions. So I am equally critical of the damage Christian fundamentalism and other “-isms” are doing to women in my country. But I am very familiar with that side, having grown up with the expansion of Civil and Women’s Rights and now having to watch it rolled back by fascism and fundamentalism. This is why I read so wide. I am expanding my world view by reading literature from other countries, languages, and cultures to wrap my head around our differences and try to walk a path of peace and love through those differences. It is especially gratifying when the voice of the writer is from a woman’s or other marginalized perspective. Books like this broaden my understanding of the world in ways that one from the dominant voice of a religion, country, or culture can’t. As one would expect, this book was a sensation in the Arab world that was simultaneously celebrated and condemned depending on the reader’s perspective and privilege. I am very appreciative of the insight Alsanea has given me by writing (and translating) this novel even as I understand she is not speaking necessarily for all Saudis. show less

"We-the Girls of Riyadh - have been forbidden many things. Do not take the blessing of love away from us too!"
By sally tarbox on 5 June 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
Sex and the City in Saudi! A very readable narrative following four well-to-do young women in Riyadh. The book opens with perhaps the "least favoured" of the group being the first to get married. A triumph - or is it?
In short chapters, the nameless narrator tells of her friends' lives in a series of e-mails. A message from her show more introduces each chapter - she discusses the comments that her soap opera has provoked - some sympathetic, many shocked and critical. She quotes poetry and the koran, mulls over possible book deals that seem to be heading her way...
But the true story rests with the four friends - their careers, their families, but principally their love-lives. And what a sorry lot many of their menfolk prove to be!
"They are slaves to reactionary customs and ancient traditions even if their enlightened minds pretend to reject such things!"
When a relationship fails, of course, there is not just the heartbreak but the social devastation as a woman finds herself no longer eligible, struggling to find a match at all once she's been repudiated by one. And all this alongside the ultra-conservative Saudi world, where women can't drive, organise a business or socialise with men...
"The two of us had an agreement not to meet in Riyadh. It's just too difficult, dangerous and awkward. It wouldn't be relaxing like it would be if we were abroad. Outside the country, you can loosen up, you can breathe without worrying who's watching you."
Very entertaining read. show less

Even though the gossipy format of the book wasn't exactly my cup of tea, the plight of young women of Saudi Arabia (before and right after their arranged marriages) came through rather poignantly. The humiliation they undergo during the process of arranging the marriage, having not much say in the process but hoping sincerely with all their heart for a decent husband, is overwhelming. Of course, we know in general terms about the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia, but even then it was a show more shock to read this explosive account of what's going on - "religious police" was one stark example...

Yet the author just touches the surface: she describes the most elite, upper-crust society of Riyadh, with all its privileges. So if those girls suffer that much, what to speak of the general population, who are not as fortunate economically... Unthinkable... (I am familiar with arranged marriages in India, but it's nothing like this, not even close...).

The author calls it "a society that raises children on contradictions and double standards", and it seems she is right about that. She calls the men of Saudi Arabia "passive and weak", "slaves to the reactionary customs and ancient traditions" and "just pawns their families move around on the chessboard" - with the result that crushes the very essence of life for young women. No wonder this book caused such a stir in the Arab world. show less