Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

Rating:
Summary: What a Pity!
Review: Malika and her family went through a truly horrendous ordeal. Too bad for the interested reader that this book does not do the horror, injustice, and the family's strength and determination justice! "Stolen Lives" is a vapid, childish attempt to elicit tears from sentimental and superficially activist American women. It's so easy to imagine this story as a starting point for an interesting account of the social and political environment in Morocco. Where are the intelligent editors who can take a fascinating personal story and turn it into a book that can provide the reader with a thought-provoking learning process instead of a late-night tear-jerker?

Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: I very much looked forward to reading this book after seeing Ms. Oufkir on "Oprah", but after finishing the book, I am left with
many questions and more than a fair amount of skepticism. Ms. Oufkir's descriptions of the brutal conditions she and her family endured sent chills down my spine, but at the same time, raised my antenna in terms of authenticity. So many things seemed utterly implausible, such as her description of their starved, emaciated bodies digging their way to freedom using only the lid of a sardine can and a spoon handle, and then being too "bloated" to fit through the tunnel they had dug. At one point, Malika's brother molds a "fake" gun from a mixture of flour and other materials, swearing that it passed for real. She describes her torn, swollen, and bloody feet in one sentence, and in the next, she is donning a pair of high heeled sandals. This family spent more sleepless nights than would be humanly possible to endure- staying awake to avoid the rats that crawled all over them, but miraculously never bit anyone. I now intend to do my own research regarding the historical accounts of the political climate in Morocco during this time. Too many questions remain unanswered, primarily why this punishment was chosen, and why their plight was ignored by international human rights organizations for so long. Taken with a very big grain of salt, however, this could be an interesting read.

Rating:
Summary: Words of Praise
Review: Powerful, riveting, poised, bright, courageous, articulate, intelligent, loyal, warm, genuine, kind, considerate, forgiving are words that readily come to mind when I think of Malika Oufkir.

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Summary: Inspiration!!!!!!
Review: This is a story that will remind you how fragil and changeable life is. It is a story that inspired me to live and fight no matter what! But most of all always to believe in the future!

Rating:
Summary: Adversity and The Human Spirit
Review: This is a true account of a family from Morocco who are imprisoned for twenty long years after an attempt to execute the king was led by their father. The story is told through the eyes of Malika Oufkir, the eldest daughter. The family endures such brutal abuse both physically and emotionally that it is miraculous that any of them survive it. Malika and her mother are two of the strongest people I've read about in quite some time. Throughout the ordeal they keep their spirits up for the young children and only cry when no one else can see them. They teach the children several languages, math and most importantly the love of family. They entertain them with stories and plays and remind them of the importance of creativity. When they finally escape their desert jail by digging a tunnel, we see the turmoil that still exists long after they are free of their constraints. This true account really is evidence of the strength of the human spirit to endure and live on. To see such violation of the most basic human rights is a travesty that should always remind us that injustice should never be tolerated. I only hope that Malika and the other members of her family along with Achoura and Halima find the peace that they so deserve. Their courage is moving beyond any words.

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Summary: From a reader in Cambridge, MA
Review: This book is unbelieveable!! I couldn't stop reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't be put down
Review: This story has the effect of a fairy tale complete with castles and dungeons. There were, however, inconsistencies - several "just happened to have this and that" incidents. In the mug shots they appeared rather wholesome to have just escaped an ordeal.

Rating:
Summary: Review of Stolen Lives
Review: The premise of this book is fascinating, however, that's where it ends. Tragic though the story may be - it is poorly written, choppy in delivery and lacking in evidence of mastery of the craft of writing by the author. It's unfortunate that this potentially riveting story gets in it's own way through simplistic presentation and a meandering unimaginative plot line.

Rating:
Summary: what's the rest of the story?
Review: I would have like to have seen more photos in the book...of anything to give more of a cultural feeling of Morrocco having never been there. I also thought the writing was a little cut and dried and many interesting facts were left out which could have made the writing richer and then at the end ...it just ended. I feel like I read half a book.

Rating:
Summary: Sympathy for the unsympathetic?
Review: Michele Fitoussi presents Malika Oufkir's story faithfully enough. As it is told by Malika Oufkir, it is memoir, not history, and it would be unfair to expect Fitoussi or Oufkir to attempt to be objective about General Oufkir's role in Moroccan history. Those seeking historical background should have known better. The most interesting part about the book is what is revealed about Malika Oufkir between the lines. In the details she chooses to provide, in the events she chooses to analyze, in everything she chooses to omit, she provides insight into her character. She is eager to present herself as the young hellion turned mother-figure, bravely carrying her family through years of hell. She may well have, but we have here only her word for it. I eagerly await Maria's or Soukhaina's tome. Am I sympathetic to Malika? She refers blithely to the lot of slaves and servants during her palace years, conveying the impression that to this day she doesn't regard their lot as particularly horrifying. Her brief references to politics and her comments on the inactivity of her friends while she was in captivity are either delightfully naive or dreadfully cynical; after all, during her description of her life in the palace, she herself refers to those sent to internal exile - and I don't recall a single instance of her trying to free them, smuggle them food, or otherwise reach them with messages of support. In the end, she comes across as half world-weary survivor, and half petulant, spoiled ex-princess. That's an interesting combination and this slowly emerging picture is alone worth the price of admission. In the end, it's hard to sympathize with Malika. Her family did suffer. The plight of Abdellatif in particular is heart-rending. But I never got the impression that Malika felt particularly bad about anything that happened outside of her family. I am left with a sense of her relative indifference to the two friends who chose to accompany the family into confinement. She didn't seem particularly concerned about those who preceded her into internal exile, and she is unabashedly and callously unconcerned about the danger into which she brought her friends during the brief escape. This would be merely interesting, except that the entire book is a clear call for sympathy - and on on that account, it left me feeling a tad...indifferent.