Rating: 
Summary: Eye Opening-Life Changing
Review: I have read all three of the Princess books by Jean Sasson and throughly recommend them to anyone who wants to have an insiders view on the introcities forced upon women in the Middle East. I doubt that anyone can read this book and not be moved. Many reviewers have taken points off because they are critical as to whether or not the author can maintain her identity. If you read the second and third books you will see that two days after this book was published the authors identity was discovered by her brother!
All in all I found this book to be very eye opening. Many Americans seem to have grown desensitized to the problems going on in other areas of the world. This book truly exposes the horrors that these women have had to endure and that have been hidden from the western world. It made me thankful to be an American and to be so blessed.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: I have read this book, and it revealed so much about muslim customs. It gave me a new knowledge about the culture, and the people. It held my attention, which is hard to find when you're seventeen. I would recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly fascinating,Emotional, and Sad!
Review: I read this book several years ago, without stopping, then I read the other 2 when they became available, also without stopping! I'm in the middle of Mayada. My library has all the Princess Books and I will never let them go. I was so moved by the stories, that I emailed Jean and offered her any assistance, and that I would love to go to the Middle East, do whatever I could as an American woman, to free women like the Princess from such horrible treatment! By the way: PLEASE do NOT think that any/all Islam Men automatically treat women this way. They do not! THAT IS NOT WHAT ISLAM IS!
Very sad that whole countries seem to treat women this way, though! Turns what the Koran said 'It is better for you' into some men/group FORCING it upon women (ie: covering up).
Rating:
Summary: It was emotionally stirring and tugged on the heart-strings.
Review: I recently read the book "Princess" because my friend (who is Indian, but Hindu) recommended it to me. The wonderfully-written book is a true story about a Saudi Arabian princess, and the cruelties that Muslim Saudi women have to endure "behind the veil" so to speak. I haven't been so affected by a single book in quite some time. In fact, I finished the book in one day and immediately picked up the sequel, "Princess Sultana's Daughters." "Princess" is a book that should be read by all women around the world. Although prior to having read this book, I had some knowledge about the way that Muslim women were treated in Saudi Arabia, I had no idea of the extent of it. Sultana talks about all aspects of the Muslim way of life, as well as Saudi traditions. The combination of the two made for an extremely unnerving and shocking book. However shocking it may be though, I feel strongly that this is a wonderful book that you won't want to miss.
Rating: 
Summary: A Tragic, but Necessary Read
Review: I'm a sixteen year old girl living in Vancouver, who happened to live in the UAE for two years. This book was banned there, so naturally I was curious about it, and when I came home to Canada, I had to read it.
Reading some of the reviews here, it is disheartening to me, how many people dismiss the story as lies, or in the very least, dismiss the existence of such a character alltogether. A friend of our families works for the ruler of Saudi, and as such, knew Princess Sultana (obviously not her real name.) Her brother was indeed the one who discovered it was she who had written the books, and she was in exile at the time. He invited her back, under the idea of a truce, and she was stoned to death. This is no fictional account.
As for the book itself, it is a shocking eye opener. I was lucky enough to experience the much more equality-embracing United Arab Emirates, and as such, the story of Sultana was every bit as foreign to me as it would have been to my Canadian raised friends.
One drawback of the book I'm sure, is that many people will assume this is the way it is everywhere in the Middle East, and indeed that it is part of the Muslim religion, which is certainly not true. The Muslim religion is peaceful and anyone who tells you otherwise, is not learned in the religion itself. The Middle East may be backward to many Westerns way of thinking, but anyone who reads, please know that Saudi is a grave exception. It is in no way a representative for the rest of the Middle East, but I fear that many western readers will assume this.
I strongly recommend this book, as the plight of women in Saudi has gone silent for too long, but I also STRONGLY recommend background reading, and a study of the middle east in general, to go along with it.
Rating:
Summary: A Women's Rights Must-Read
Review: In the course of the true life stories found in the book Princess, by Jean P. Sasson, the reader becomes enveloped in the terrible and heart-wrenching lifestyles of middle-eastern women. Through the course of the narrative, though horrifying stories are related in a truly eye-opening manner, the reader discovers a true slice of Princess Sultana's imaginative and vivacious personality, and weeps as it slowly becomes lost in the process of womanhood in Saudi Arabia. "The history of our women is buried behind the black veil of secrecy. Neither our births or deaths are made official in any public record. The common emotion expressed at the birth of a female is either sorrow or shame." These few sentences, which bring about the whole theme of the non-entity of women, lead us to much more shocking crimes against women which, in that society, are not considered to be crimes whatsoever. The stories of Nadia, who was drowned in the family pool by her father as a way of "protecting her honor", her sister Sara, who attempted suicide after being sold as a wife to a sick and sexually brutal elderly man, and a brave Filipino maid named Madeline, who was raped nightly by all the male members of the family she served under, illustrate how Jean Sasson was able to intertwine other supporting character's stories with the life of Princess Sultana effectively and believably. Some stories, which show how these incredibly courageous women, can survive in this kind of life, bring the reader to cry and cheer simultaneously. Others, which, sadly, lack the happy ending we could hope for, are gut-wrenching due to the fact that they are horribly true. Behind the black veil of the Muslim women lie incredibly diverse personalities, characters, and spirits, which come alive to us through the voice of Sultana. I admired how the life of one woman, who lived a lifestyle vastly different from those of her readers, could showcase such a passion for life that I was able to relate to her and her stories. While listening to her descriptions of daily crimes against others like her and her description of her feelings of powerlessness, causes the reader to have feelings of injustice stir within them. During the episode where Sultana finally uses her ingenuity to it's potential and manages to flee her country and abusive husband, you are able to applaud her efforts and cheer her on. Overall, this book becomes a touching experience for most, if not all, who read it. Through the coldheartedness of males such as Ali, her brother, and her father, it is a miracle that Sultana manages to respect members of the male race when it is entirely obvious that they have little, if any, respect for her. "I waited for my destiny to unfold, a child as helpless as an insect trapped in a wicked web not of it's own making." Although this statement was Sultana's, it translates the general feeling of oppression hidden behind the black veil in the middle east. Indeed, these words could have been spoken by nearly every female character in the book, because they all, at one point in time, are overcome with the feeling of helplessness and realize that there is not one person who can deliver them from whatever circumstance they are in, because they are all suppressed by the male race. The men are nearly all, with the exception of King Faisal, portrayed as the iron fist in the velvet glove. Their views of women, and how they make their opinions clear, is extraordinarily chilling and saddening. The dignity, the souls, and occasionally, the lives of these women are lost throughout the course of the book. The issues that are addressed, such as honor killings, sexual slavery, arranged marriages, and female genital mutilation, all bring to mind the horrors that still exist today. In conclusion, although this is first of all a must-read for anyone with an interest in human rights and women's rights, I would strongly recommend it to anyone. It touches the heart and stirs the soul so that the reader cannot help but be moved by the stories of these women. Hopefully, with this book's publication, the fact that Sultana risked her life to allow her story to be heard will not have gone in vain.
Rating:
Summary: definately gives you the view of lives of women in Saudi
Review: It is the best book I have ever read by a woman, bringing out the actual hidden reality faced by women in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Suitable for teenagers and adults,this book will appeal to any one intrested in women's rights and where they stand in Muslim society.
One thing which disturbed me after reading this book is that of course what she wrote about how women are treated is right but she choose to write the most horrible incidents of abuse and discrimination against women. If some non-Muslim reads the book she will generate that all Muslim women are treated the same way.
Jean Sasson has written a very effective account on how women are treated. The way she illustrates the text from the princess would certainly leave anyone of its readers in sorrow. Whoever comes across this book, must read it, for it will certainly improve thier knpwledge on discrimination against women in Arab countries
Rating:
Summary: Beguiling
Review: My cousin Faida sent me this memoir from her then-home in Paris, France. When I opened the package, it delighted me to see a book.
As I read it, my heart warmed for the Princess and her materially rich but emotionally stripped existence. It opened my mind to see that as a woman of American nationality, I am allowed to walk freely without fear of institutionalized persecution. I hope it opens the eyes of readers from both sexes.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible insight of life in the middle east
Review: Once again Jean Sasson wrote a book I could not put down. Emotionally hard to read but well worth it. I will never again take my freedom and rights as a women in America for granted. I look forward to reading many more of Jean's books.
Rating: 
Summary: Readers beware
Review: Remember what you are about to read is far from a literary materpiece but more a bunch of urban legends put together. As an Egyptian descendant myself I am insulted that the Western readers of this book mistake its happenings for something that is a general rule in the entire Middle East. Saudi Arabia is a very special case in Human Rights. While the rest of the Middle East may not be the perfect example of Human Rights either, their problems are not as intense, even by the accounts of the character herself. I lived in the nearby UAE for 17 years and women and expatriates there are treated with much more respect than notorious Saudi Arabia. With much skepticism, I was curious enough to read this book which is banned in the Persian Gulf. If you research further you would conclude that Princess Sultana only exists in the mind of Jean Sasson for it is unlikely that any Saudi woman, especially a Royal with family ties to her country would reveal such a story, let alone 2 sequels, unless she was in exile. Also, it is very unlikely that an American woman would get to know or befriend a female member of the Royal family on such an intimate level, especially if she is not known to have worked for them. However, I tend to believe about 65% of these stories for I have met Saudi men myself and they have never failed to fascinate me with their incredibly distorted view of women. Who knows whether there have been women really killed or kept in solitary confinement for years by their own flesh and blood for fornication in the 20th century or did the writer aim to keep the book sales high? I would think twice before I believe it.
|
