Rating: 
Summary: Extremely touching
Review: This book has opened up a whole new world to me. I have read both of Waris's books. There are ways of life and cultures that I have never heard of before. This woman had an amazing struggle just to live. The pain of FGM when she was 5, Having to run away beacause your father wanted to sell you into marriage for 3 camels! This is real, people live like this. Waris went from being a desert nomad to being a model in the western world. Talk about culture shock. Hers is an incredibe story about life and love and the struggles we face. After reading Her books I was so interested that I went on to read "Do They Hear You When You Cry" and "Western Dress Bound Feet" I became so incensed that I continued not only to read more about this type of subject matter, but I also joined Equality Now and am trying to inform my peers of situations other than where we live. I would recommend this book and any like it to everyone and anyone. Read about the world and learn
Rating: 
Summary: Desert Flower - A remarkable piece of literature
Review: Dear editor, I read your book and I think this a remarkable, rather brilliant piece of literature in modern times. It is not only because of Waris` touching story how she finally succeeded in getting that modelling job. To me, it is more the insight in a nomad`s life how they live and how they are confrontated with western attitudes. It is quite certain that Waris` story sounds realistic to the reader, though I have to remark that some passages in the book seem either not to be happened or unrealistic. Sometimes I ask myself how a girl at the age of 13 years managed to find Mogadishu (her aunt) almost on her own when running through the desert for weeks without having anything to drink or to eat. Well, perhaps it is my lack of imagination or more her strong bond to nature or even simply her female intuition. Due tu the fact that the language is far-reaching, easy to understand and that I can easily identify with Waris Dirie, I think on the whole this is a very good book. Apart from some critical points I can only recommend this to others.
Rating:
Summary: A must Read!!
Review: I absolutely loved this book!! A Human Geography teacher recommended this book to me, as well as others in the class. I was very glad that I took her advice, and read it!! I could not put this book down! I read it in 3 days!! It's an incredible story. I think it's very moving to see how much some people have to go through. It really makes you appreciate what you have. Definitely read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Desert Flower
Review: Desert Flower
Waris Dirie tells the story of her life, from a world of poverty and the nomad lifestyle, to the pressures of being a super model. I found her biography to be one of the most compelling books I have ever read. She is able to tell the remarkable story of her life and in doing so teaches its audience about the struggles that women still face in many other cultures today. She truly takes advantage of her privilege of living in the United States where as many of American natives take the simple pleasures for granted.
She gives excellent detail in telling her story and captured my attention quickly. She starts talking about her life as a child and the hardships that were brought upon her living the nomad lifestyle, constant moving around and a father with several wives. To make matters worse she is attacked and raped several times. One of the most heart breaking parts of her story is that she had to have Female Genital Mutilation, which is a common practice in Africa, but definitely illegal her in the United States. Through telling of her experiences it helps the readers of the book especially women to be thankful of the rights and freedoms we have today.
This book is a true inspiration and shows the power and strength of the human spirit and the will to overcome struggles. The shortcomings are a lot of bad words were used in the book, although I realize sometimes a certain word needs to get a point across to the audience. That was really the only part that bothered me. Overall I would rate the book at four stars.
Rating:
Summary: Wow...:'(
Review: I read this book as part of a medical sociology class that I took, and all I could think was wow. The strength of Waris is amazing. I was brought to tears so many times throughout this sad story, and it really made me angry that this sort of thing still goes on. As part of the class we also watched a tape showing an actual mutilation occur, and I couldn't stop shaking and crying. This book is definitely a must read for evry person out there, especially those whom have never heard of this widespread yet horrific practice. To Waris, I am very saddened by your story and send all of my love your way, no one should have to go through what you went through, and thank you for having the amazing courage to stand up against this practice, even when it is so unspoken about within Islam and African society. I truly hope that these outcries will open minds and educate those who need it most, and save many young women and girls from such a horrible, traumatic thing. My heart is with you and all women who have had to suffer under this horrible practice.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This is a book sure to stick in your mind. This is the autobiography of Waris Dirie, who grew up as a desert nomad in Somalia, suffered female genital mutilation, and became an international model and United Nations ambassador. Waris proves to be headstrong and smart, with a deep sense of who she is and where she comes from. She's the best heroine you could find, and best of all - she's real. (A+)
Rating:
Summary: To Waris with love...
Review: To Waris Dirie, the most amazing story of a womans life...The most fantastic story I have ever read!!! I cried.... over and over again. First I cried because of the faboulous descriptions of the remarcable desert, the tough life as a nomad and naturally the terrible circumsision. Then I was amazed over the willpower and guts of that little girl, leaving her parents, everything she knew, for the unknown, for a dream she didn't even really know she had. This is the story of a fighter, the toughest woman I have ever heard of! Waris, You, and Your work inspire me.
Thank You for what you are doing.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: Cheers to Waris for writing her extraordinary life story for the rest of us to read! It took such courage to write, but I am sure is going a LONG way to ease and prevent some of the suffering of African women/girls. This book is a quick read (I could not put it down for 2 days) and shockingly memorable. I have a new empathy and respect for the Somali refugee women that abound in the Pacific Northwest. These women are undoubtedly fighters like Waris, and continue to fight private struggles that I would never have known about. Thank you, Waris.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Has An Important Message
Review: I don't think it matters that this book is not "world-class" literature. Waris Dirie has a wonderful story, full of hardship, striving, and pain. But due to her continual striving, she has made a success of her life, in spite of the odds.
Her experiences meant something to me. One of the most vivid was the description of her circumcision in the bush. This is an inspiring book, showing what can be accomplished with fortitude and a positive attitude.
Rating:
Summary: Freedom of the Flower
Review: Desert Flower
By Waris Dirie,
Virago Press, 369 pages
____________________________________ Louise Nicholls Desert Flower is an intimate journey through the childhood, adolescence and early adulthood of the author, Waris Dirie. Inspiring and repressive are two words that best describe the polarities that are Dirie's life. Dirie came from a strict African culture that endorsed female circumcision. The only way to describe the pain and suffering endured by Dirie, (as a five year old) is devastating. This would be considered an absolute violation of human rights in the Western World, however this is one of the best depictions of the cultural difference. Dirie describes it as her "womanhood being stolen", a true portrayal about her feeling of female circumcision. Throughout Desert Flower (the meaning of Waris in the Somali language), Dirie shares her experiences living as a nomad in the harsh and arid desert of Africa. Her description of the surroundings is so powerful, as the reader you can almost smell the desert air. Her flight from her family at age twelve to avoid yet another Somali custom of arranged marriage is inspiring. I feel as if this act took strength and this is
a perfect example of Dirie's courage as described throughout Desert Flower. Dirie explains that she knew "this was not the life for her" and took her destiny into her own hands. Her journey to freedom was confronting. Along the way Dirie reveals many experiences that will send shivers down your spine. An instance is when a truck driver picking her up as a hitch hiker and taking advantage of her susceptible nature and gullibility. Dirie spends time working for her extended family in Mogadishu as a house keeper, baby sitter, cleaner and cook. She then gains employment, as a house keeper, with her uncle, who is also the Somalian Ambassador in England. A fortuitous move to London with her uncle and his family is where the journey, from desert nomad to supermodel, intensifies. As the reader you are encouraged to empathise with Dirie during this time of her life. You feel her suffering with things such as her lack of the English language, the unrelenting work load as house keeper and her
disturbing encounter with cousin, Haji. Feelings of jubilation are also shared with the reader at happier
times of dressing up and discovering modelling. Dirie
had both positive and negative experiences which create interest for the reader and balance the story. Dirie grows throughout this journey. Desert Flower explores her emergence from a young nomad, in many ways as "free as a bird" because of the open land of the desert, but in many ways trapped in a stifling culture, to her
development into a woman super model, a mum and an ambassador for the rights of women in African and other third world countries. Desert Flower is a quality read and I recommend this inspiring story. This book offers African culture and history, growth and development of a woman who could see light and followed what she knew was waiting for her, but most of all offers inspiration for anyone. It is uplifting to know where you have come from doesn't even compare to Dirie's childhood. To achieve what she has from where she started means that nothing is impossible, it is just a matter of following your dreams, no matter what it takes!
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