Girls of Riyadh
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Product Description
Review
Raises important questions about self-respect, tolerance and emotional maturity…lifts the veil of an obscured world (Telegraph Magazine )
Brave and surprisingly informative (Guardian )
'Highly readable…wonderfully vivid' New Statesman
Irresistible and thought-provoking…an entertaining read: revealing, hilarious and chilling in turn (The Independent )
Brave and surprisingly informative (Guardian )
'Highly readable…wonderfully vivid' New Statesman
Irresistible and thought-provoking…an entertaining read: revealing, hilarious and chilling in turn (The Independent )
Product Description
Gamrah’s faith in her new husband is not exactly returned …
Sadeem is a little too willing to please her fiancé …
Michelle is half-American and the wrong class for her boyfriend’s family …
While Lamees works hard with little time for love.
The girls of Riyadh are young, attractive and living by Saudi Arabia’s strict cultural traditions. Well, not quite. In-between sneaking out behind their parents’ backs, dating, shopping, watching American TV and having fun, they’re still trying to be good little Muslim girls. That is, pleasing their families and their men.
But can you be a twenty-first century girl and a Saudi girl?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book really is good. It blasts away all those stereotypes of Saudi women leading miserable, loveless lives with absolutely no freedom. The four main characters in this book have varying opinions about how a woman should live her life and what's important. They also have goals, ambition and desires - like women in the west, although it's different with an eastern twist to it.
Of course the four main characters in the book have a difficult time finding love and without doubt they are to some extent under the control of the men in their families, but along the way they manage to meet and flirt with men, have boyfriends and even have some physical contact with them. It's just the way they do things over there is different from the way it's all done in the west.
But it isn't any the less passionate for that.
The four girls Lamees, Gamrah, Sadeem and Michelle manage to find their men outside a shopping mall, at work, among their relatives and abroad and they have real relationships with them. OK a lot of the relationship is conducted on mobile telephones, but that's as good a way as any to get to know someone properly - after all you are still talking to them.
I realise that these women who are from the Saudi "velvet" class - the rich elite, (though not the Royal family) are quite priviledged and not necesarily representative of all Saudi women. But it's nice to see them as real human beings and not just silent shrouded people.
Of course the four main characters in the book have a difficult time finding love and without doubt they are to some extent under the control of the men in their families, but along the way they manage to meet and flirt with men, have boyfriends and even have some physical contact with them. It's just the way they do things over there is different from the way it's all done in the west.
But it isn't any the less passionate for that.
The four girls Lamees, Gamrah, Sadeem and Michelle manage to find their men outside a shopping mall, at work, among their relatives and abroad and they have real relationships with them. OK a lot of the relationship is conducted on mobile telephones, but that's as good a way as any to get to know someone properly - after all you are still talking to them.
I realise that these women who are from the Saudi "velvet" class - the rich elite, (though not the Royal family) are quite priviledged and not necesarily representative of all Saudi women. But it's nice to see them as real human beings and not just silent shrouded people.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Alsanea's novel takes the form of a series of emails publicising the adventures of the writer's friends in their search for love. Following the fates and foibles of four women (Gamrah, Lamees, Sadeem and Michelle) in their quest for Mr Right, the format is not dissimilar to the infamous Sex and the City series: it's funny with four very different heroines. However, this is set in the affluent families of Saudi Arabia, so despite education, wealth and experience of life abroad these are nonetheless women imprisoned by the peculiar social formalities of Saudi society. So, behind every weak or ignorant man there is almost always a stronger more competent woman trapped by his actions and therein lies the tragedy that stops this being a funny book. You read every page grateful that you don't live in Saudi Arabia.
It's a hugely illuminating book, showing women in Saudi as real women with real aspirations and desires, and a good way of destroying the image of Saudi women as simply compliant shadows to the men in their lives. It also serves as a testament to the perils of socialised mysogyny. My one reservations was that the email format of the book (which allows each chapter to begin with a discussion about emails supposedly received in response to the previous installment) slightly detracted from the power of the story as a whole. Nonetheless, a good read.
It's a hugely illuminating book, showing women in Saudi as real women with real aspirations and desires, and a good way of destroying the image of Saudi women as simply compliant shadows to the men in their lives. It also serves as a testament to the perils of socialised mysogyny. My one reservations was that the email format of the book (which allows each chapter to begin with a discussion about emails supposedly received in response to the previous installment) slightly detracted from the power of the story as a whole. Nonetheless, a good read.
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have an interest in modern Arab fiction, so when I saw this Saudi novel was translated and published by a major press I couldn't resist checking it out. Unfortunately, the story is pretty thin gruel and fails to provide a particularly rich or insightful glimpse into the Arab world -- or rather, 99.9% of the Arab world. It revolves around the social life of the rich and pampered young elite of the Saudi kingdom, and the picture it paints is not very pretty. Framed as a kind of online serialization of a roughly six-year span in the lives of four young women of the "velvet class", the story is confined to soap opera antics that could occur among privileged teens in China, India, Canada, or any number of other places.
The four co-protagonists are Sadeem, Gamrah, Michelle and Lamees -- girls of roughly similar backgrounds (although Michelle spent a good deal of her childhood in the West) who become friends in high school. Though they are of varying temperament, they are like teens and young people everywhere, mainly obsessed with the opposite sex. Unfortunately for them, the oppressive social climate of Saudi Arabia makes actual interaction rather problematic. For example: shopping malls operate such that men and women cannot mingle, wooing consists of driving next to a carload of women and holding up signs with one's cell-phone number, and speaking of cell phones -- billing records are scrutinized by family and prospective in-laws to asses the wholesomeness of a prospective bride.
This separation of the sexes leads to a lot of daydreaming and romanticizing among the four women, which in turn leads to some predictably bad relationships. Some are so intent on getting married that they leap into marriage with the first man who comes along, and are then caught in bleak, loveless marriages. Others are so intent on "true love" that they ignore all the warning signs and become emotionally entangled with men who have no intention of marrying them. Many of these predicaments follow the familiar storylines of "love matches" vs. arranged marriages in a supposedly modern society -- a topic that's been more or less done to death by South Asian writers. In the same vein, relationships that cross class lines are pretty much taboo, a theme well-covered in British literature.
Ultimately, it's hard to care for any of these pampered, haute couture-consuming brats when their love lives crash and burn. Lip service is paid to feminism, and that's certainly a valid point to be made in terms of Saudi society, however these four women are awfully superficial messengers.
The four co-protagonists are Sadeem, Gamrah, Michelle and Lamees -- girls of roughly similar backgrounds (although Michelle spent a good deal of her childhood in the West) who become friends in high school. Though they are of varying temperament, they are like teens and young people everywhere, mainly obsessed with the opposite sex. Unfortunately for them, the oppressive social climate of Saudi Arabia makes actual interaction rather problematic. For example: shopping malls operate such that men and women cannot mingle, wooing consists of driving next to a carload of women and holding up signs with one's cell-phone number, and speaking of cell phones -- billing records are scrutinized by family and prospective in-laws to asses the wholesomeness of a prospective bride.
This separation of the sexes leads to a lot of daydreaming and romanticizing among the four women, which in turn leads to some predictably bad relationships. Some are so intent on getting married that they leap into marriage with the first man who comes along, and are then caught in bleak, loveless marriages. Others are so intent on "true love" that they ignore all the warning signs and become emotionally entangled with men who have no intention of marrying them. Many of these predicaments follow the familiar storylines of "love matches" vs. arranged marriages in a supposedly modern society -- a topic that's been more or less done to death by South Asian writers. In the same vein, relationships that cross class lines are pretty much taboo, a theme well-covered in British literature.
Ultimately, it's hard to care for any of these pampered, haute couture-consuming brats when their love lives crash and burn. Lip service is paid to feminism, and that's certainly a valid point to be made in terms of Saudi society, however these four women are awfully superficial messengers.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Group
Over half a century ago Mary McCarthy wrote The Group a perceptive and satirical novel on the lives of eight graduates from Vassar. Read more
Published 18 months ago by John P. Jones III
Interesting and fun
This is a great book: it lifts the lid on what young Arabic (Saudi) girls do- like young girls the world over, they're gossiping about boys and trying to look cute. Read more
Published 21 months ago by anonymous
A Little Wishful Thinking.
I must admit, I thought the book was a Non Fiction Novel. Had I known it was fiction I would not of purchased it. But having done so, I thought I might as well read it. Read more
Published on 28 Nov 2009 by Limarki
sex in the city with veils on
Love this bit of alternative chick lit, a proud boast for the sexuality and desires of modern women in Saudi Arabia, it rang as very true to me, the characters made me smile with... Read more
Published on 2 Nov 2009 by DonnaB
Highly entertaining.
The book is very easy to read and highly entertaining. Also, provides an insight into a highly obscure society. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2009 by Sana M. Toukan
Love this book!
I wouldn't describe this book similar to "Sex and the City". After reading the book "Sisterhood of the travelling pants" springs to mind. Read more
Published on 19 May 2009 by Z. Patel
Arab girls not just expensive handbags and big glasses!
I think this book is well written and an excellent read, it breaks the stereotype that these girls are fed with golden spoons, well they do have the golden spoon but it isnt always... Read more
Published on 22 April 2009 by R. Yunus
Errrrmm.... Very unrealistic
Quite simply put - this book is very unrealistic. It doesn't represent the Arab society at all. I mean a Saudi woman, whether upper classs or middle class, doesn't just pack up and... Read more
Published on 26 Dec 2008 by Sara
Suffragettes of Saudi
Along with Khaled Hosseini's 'A Thousand Splendid Suns', this book was a 'must-read' in Dubai last Summer. Read more
Published on 5 July 2008 by DubaiReader
Suffragettes of Saudi
Along with Khaled Hosseini's 'A Thousand Splendid Suns', this book is a 'must-read' in Dubai this Summer. Everyone is talking about it and all the book groups are reading it. Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2008 by DubaiReader
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