A Woman Like Her, Sanam Maher
A Woman Like Her, Sanam Maher
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

A Woman Like Her
The Story behind the Honor Killing of a Social Media Star

Author: Sanam Maher

Narrator: Deepti Gupta

Unabridged: 9 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/18/2020

Synopsis

The murder of a Pakistani social media star exposes a culture divided between accelerating modernity and imposed traditional values—and the tragedy of those caught in the middle.In 2016, Pakistan’s first social media celebrity, Qandeel Baloch, was murdered in a suspected honor killing. Her death quickly became a media sensation. It was both devastatingly routine and breathtakingly brutal, and in a new media landscape, it couldn’t be ignored.Qandeel had courted attention and outrage with a talent for self-promotion that earned her comparisons to Kim Kardashian—and made her the constant victim of harassment and death threats. Social media and reality television exist uneasily alongside honor killings and forced marriages in a rapidly, if unevenly, modernizing Pakistan, and Qandeel Baloch’s story became emblematic of the cultural divide.In this deftly reported and artfully told account, Sanam Maher reconstructs the story of Qandeel’s life and explores the depth and range of her legacy from her impoverished hometown rankled by her infamy, to the aspiring fashion models who follow her footsteps, to the Internet activists resisting the same vicious online misogyny she faced. Maher depicts a society at a crossroads, where women serve as an easy scapegoat for its anxieties and dislocations, and teases apart the intrigue and myth-making of the Qandeel Baloch story to restore the humanity of the woman at its center.

About Sanam Maher

Sanam Maher is a journalist who writes about Pakistan’s culture, business, politics, religious minorities, and women. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Al Jazeera, and BuzzFeed, among other places. A Woman Like Her is her first book.

About Deepti Gupta

Deepti Gupta is an Audie-nominated narrator and actress based in Los Angeles. Fluent in Hindi and Urdu, her career spans across India, Singapore, Pakistan, and the United States. She has earned praise from the New York Times for her performance in the feature film Walkaway.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Anum on August 05, 2018

More than a year after she made her last video or uploaded her last photograph, we are not done talking about what Qandeel did. I’m so, so glad Sanam Maher wrote this book, because someone needed to. Pakistan is, let’s face it, a country bursting with issues that we don’t talk enough about. We’ve got......more

Goodreads review by Alice on April 28, 2019

Really interesting discussions on social media, culture and freedom to be whoever one wants to be throughout, but the writing style felt a bit messy and I wish we'd actually gotten to know Qandeel a little better. PS: I read this as an uncorrected proof, so it's possible some of the stuff with the wr......more

Goodreads review by Tariq on September 08, 2018

If love marriages don't succeed in movies, then how can they succeed in real life? A judge giving his judgment..... There is a huge issue of honour in the Pakistan culture, and in order to really understand its complex and intricate nature, this book is a must-read. Sanam has really worked hard to pi......more

Goodreads review by Shamsia on April 12, 2020

I was overly excited to read this book because since Qandeel Baloch’s murder in 2016, I went insane researching everything to find the truth about her life. Like others, I had so many questions. But sadly, not only did I find this book poorly written and structured, but it didn’t add anything to my k......more

Goodreads review by Madhulika on August 19, 2018

Dubbed ‘Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian’, Qandeel Baloch was a social media maverick, the very personification of scandal. Thousands avidly followed her on social media, watching videos of her as she danced, sang, and lisped outrageous promises—to strip for Shahid Afridi if his team managed to defeat the......more

Quotes

“An exemplary work of investigative journalism…delves into the story of a woman as misunderstood in death as in life.” New York Times

“Unfolds like a thriller, only it’s true…Maher’s investigation of Baloch’s life and death is remarkable: It is not just the story of one rebellious woman but a study of an entire country and culture in collision.” Washington Post

“This fascinating portrait of Qandeel Baloch, Pakistan’s first big female internet sensation, is also a skillfully reported account of a country in which conservative mores conflict with the pace of social change, and in which women all too often pay the price.” New York Times Book Review

“Maher’s courageous reporting for her first book deserves recognition. She entered into male dominated and often hostile spaces—despite pushback—to pursue the truth behind Baloch’s meteoric rise and tragic fall. The result is a fascinating, richly detailed tribute to the fearlessness with which Baloch pursued her dreams.” Shelf Awareness (starred review)

“A compelling account of the tragic fate of a creative woman who might have excelled brilliantly in any other milieu.” Kirkus Reviews

“Immersive and eye-opening…This deeply researched account illuminates the qualities that made [Baloch] so galvanizing in life as well as death.” Publishers Weekly

“A breakthrough book, A Woman Like Her bracingly illuminates an increasingly global if yet under-covered phenomenon: the tragic collision between the forged selves of social media and the brute realities of ordinary life. It also describes, with rare intimacy, some profound cultural tumult in a society that is largely known for its political dramas.” Pankaj Mishra, author of Age of Anger

“The highest calibre of investigative journalism, written with tragedy, poetry, and passion befitting of its subject.” Molly Crabapple, author of Drawing Blood

“Qandeel was a marvellous blaze. She set our dark world on fire and made enough light to expose the hypocrisies of Pakistan’s pious patriarchy. In Sanam Maher’s terrific and necessary book, these flames burn brighter than ever.” Sonia Faleiro, author of The Girl

“A breakthrough book.” Pankaj Mishra, author of Age of Anger

Awards

  • New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
Add to Cart
Add to Wish List