Nujood Ali

This is the true story of Nujood, and ten year old girl who is married off by her father to a man three times her age. All Nujood wants to do in life is go to school and play with her friends. Her father marries her off to a man who agrees not to consumate their relationship until the year after Nujood reaches puberty. However, that man does not keep that promise and begins sexually assaulting her the firt night they are back at his home. Not only is this poor little girl married and show more viciously sexually assaulted by this disgusting man, but she is also fiercely hated by her new mother-in-law that she abuses Nujood too. Having more than enough, Nujood is able to talk her husband into letting her visit her family where she makes an escape to the court house. Nujood is able to find help from a lawyer who agreed to help her win a divorce, something that was unheard of in her home country of Yemen.

This story is so heartbreaking yet inspiring at the same time. How anyone can think it is ok to do such horrible things to children is beyond me. I think we as people need to stop hiding behind the gauze of "culture" and do something about it. We are all to blame for not taking action because "that is just their culture" and nobody wants to offend it. Well, I am sorry, but just because something has been happening for a long time, it does not make it right. Nujood is an amazingly brave girl for getting herself out of that situation and paving the way for other girls to find help too. This is definitely a must-read! show less

A short ebook with an astonishing story from Yemen. Child marriage is common in certain parts of the world. The girl is the property of the father, who can transfer his property to another man at any age. The marriage "ceremony" was among men behind closed doors. She never met this man till after the "celebration" (which included only women) when he and his family members came to pick her up. The long drive to his village was tense and awful. The family was as mean as he was.

The most show more astonishing part is that, at age 10, she escaped her abusive husband and found her way to a courthouse to request a divorce. This was unheard of.

The story struck me as YA. The journalist who helped her write the story maintained the voice of a 10-year-old girl.

Recommended. show less

This book left me speechless. When I saw the cover, I was struck by the shy expression on this young lady's face that was so similar to my 10 year old grand-daughter's.

Thank the good lord that my grand-daughter lives in a country that would never knowingly tolerate the abuse this young woman suffered. At the age of somewhere between 8 and 10 (there are no official birth records in poor villages where babies are born unattended at home), Nujood was married to a man in his 30's. Her father show more signed the contract, claiming that the groom promised he would not touch the girl sexually until she reached 13 or puberty. Ripped from the school and the childhood friends she loved, she was taken miles away to an isolated village, where she was immediately raped by her "husband" with the support and encouragement of his mother and the rest of his family. For months she begged and pleaded to be left alone, to go back home to her parents (even though her mother had not prepared her at all for what would be involved in "being married" and her father was the one who put her in this position to begin with.) Finally the husband took her back to visit her parents, where, with the encouragement of her father's 2nd wife, she daringly left home one morning when her mother asked her to go to the corner store, hopped a public bus, then used the bread money to pay a private taxi and asked to be taken to the court.

When she finally came before a judge, and was asked what she wanted, she answered "I want a divorce."&Nb; The ensuing story of her journey through the legal system, her befriending by a prominent female attorney and ultimate triumph are a tribute to the strength of the human spirit.  Overnight, she became somewhat of a media darling, and several benefactors have stepped forward to pay for her private education. Her life has improved, and she hopes by telling her story that other women will never have to suffer the trauma she went through. She is back in school now and says she wants to become a lawyer to help other girls.

The book itself was published last year, and her story may not be front page news in FOX or CNN land anymore, but the story is still compelling. The writer Delphine Minoui who helped Nujood by putting her words onto paper did a splendid job of capturing the anguish of the young girl without making it a soap opera tear jerker. It's factual, depressing, but hope filled. Its short, clear text makes it easy to read in one sitting, but impossible to forget.It's a must read. show less

Nujood is a Yemeni girl who grows up with a father with a gambling problem. When she is around 9 or 10 (her mother has many children and no calendar with which to keep up with birthdays and ages), her father marries her off to a much older man, with his eye on her bride price. Overnight,Nujood's life is turned upside down as she goes from a regular 9 year old playing with her siblings to a wife, with no rights or freedoms. Despite his promise to her father not to touch her until she reaches show more puberty, Nujood's "husband" savagely rapes her on their wedding night.

A cultural tradition that has held for hundreds of years in Yemen, child marriage has been coming to the forefront of children's rights issues lately. Yet no news story could bring the shocking truth to light in the way that a child's narration of her own experiences does. Nujood's voice allows us to lose our adult perspective, and see this practice as it looks and feels through the eyes of a 9 or 10 year old. The result is heartbreaking.

As devastating as Nujood's story is, what truly stands out is her courage. This little 10 year old has the spunk to get away from her situation and go to the courts to request a divorce. The story moves back and forth, starting with Nujood making her way to the judge, then coming back to her childhood, marriage, and through to the ultimate outcome of the court case. It's a story that manages to be appalling, riveting, terrifying and uplifting all in less than 200 pages. Nothing brings an issue to light like the true, and well-told, story of one who has lived it. show less