Girls of Riyadh, Rajaa Alsanea
Girls of Riyadh, Rajaa Alsanea
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Girls of Riyadh

Author: Rajaa Alsanea, Rajaa Alsanea, Marilyn Booth

Narrator: Kate Reading

Unabridged: 8 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 07/05/2007


Synopsis

When Rajaa Alsanea boldly chose to open up the hidden world of Saudi women—their private lives and their conflicts with the traditions of their culture—she caused a sensation across the Arab world. Now in English, Alsanea’s tale of the personal struggles of four young upper-class women offers Westerners an unprecedented glimpse into a society often veiled from view. Living in restrictive Riyadh but traveling all over the globe, these modern Saudi women literally and figuratively shed traditional garb as they search for love, fulfillment, and their place somewhere in between Western society and their Islamic home.

About The Author

Rajaa Alsanea is the author of the novel Girls of Riyadh, which was long-listed for the International Dublin Literary Award. She grew up in Saudi Arabia as one of six siblings in a family of doctors and dentists. Alsanea received her bachelor’s degree in endodontics from King Saud University in 2005. Translator, author, and scholar, Marilyn Booth has had an interest in Arabic since the age of 12, when she spent a year in Beirut, Lebanon. Since graduating from Harvard-Radcliffe College with a degree in Near Eastern studies, she has had a varied career as a scholar at institutions such as the University of Oxford, St. Antony's College, Brown University, University of Edinburgh, New York University Abu Dhabi, and Magdalen College. In addition to Booth's many credits as a translator for books such as the bestselling Girls of Riyadh, her authored works include Classes of Ladies of Cloistered Spaces: Writing Feminist History Through Biography in Fin-de-Siècle Egypt, May Her Likes Be Multiplied: Biography and Gender Politics in Egypt and Bayram al-Tunisi's Egypt: Social Criticism and Narrative Strategies.Kate Reading is the recipient of three AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has narrated everything from Patricia Cornwell to George Eliot. Her favorite BOT recordings include Like Water for ChocolateMiddlemarch, and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Times series, which she narrated with her husband, Michael Kramer.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Karen on December 22, 2007

I think the author wrote a true account of life in Saudi Arabia. I am married to a Saudi, and I didn't find anything she wrote about to be in conflict with what I know from my 29 years of marriage, experience in SA, and extended family. Most importantly,her story rings true based on what my children......more

Goodreads review by Baba on January 13, 2022

Sex in the City, upper class Saudi society style! An unnamed blogger sends out an email newsletter with episodic stories of four young women's quest for love in Saudi Arabia in the 21st century. Love and dating is foremost, with Islam, gender equality and Saudi society taking a strong second place.......more

Goodreads review by Ava on June 30, 2008

When this book first came out, I was living in Saudi Arabia and it caused quite a stir - so much so that it was banned in Kingdom. I was teaching ESL at the time, and the women in my classes were frantic to get their hands on a copy of it. Turns out the enthusiasm they felt was short lived - as in a......more

Goodreads review by shahadblossoms on January 29, 2012

Girls Of Riyadh Where could i possibly begin? I will begin with the first time I saw it on the "Best Sellers" shelf in one of our local bookshops in Kuwait. The cover attracted me so I grabbed it and read few lines of random pages of the book and ended up liking it but i did not buy it at the time an......more

Goodreads review by Tea on April 12, 2013

Malo egzotike... Nesto drugacije od onoga na sta smo navikli... :)......more


Quotes

“Alsanea's wisdom and insight into the female experience seem surreal. She captures the core, universal truths of the complications in finding and holding a life partner. Her characters provide wisdom to each other that are astounding in their accuracy, and Alsanea thus speaks for countless women everywhere.” —Bookreporter.com