Mirage

Rating:
Summary: Wealth, women and oppression
Review: Khashoggi dedicates her debut novel to the memories of two women who 'inspired me to write about the special bonds that exist between women in other places and other times.' Yet her story of a woman's flight from an abusive husband and a culture which sanctions brutality in the name of Islam, contains almost no evidence of female support for female victims.

The story opens with a prologue introducing psychologist and successful author of a book on battered women, Jenna Sorrel, a woman living a lie and in mortal fear of exposure. The prologue concludes with the realization of her terror as she is confronted with her real name - Amira Badir -abducted from her apartment, drugged and loaded onto a private jet.

The first chapter jumps back in time to the late 1960s. Amira, a child of privilege and wealth in the desert kingdom of Al-Remal, conspires with a peasant midwife to spirit the child of Amira's best friend, an adulteress, and Amira's brother (who is not exposed) out of the condemned woman's prison cell. This act is perhaps the only instance of women risking themselves for another woman. It does not, of course, save the mother, who is stoned to death the following day. 'To Amira's horror, the women were the fiercest executioners, screaming curses as they threw, then scurrying to grab another stone.'

With subterfuge and money, Amira's brother, Malik, is able to set himself and his child up abroad but Amira understands that, though she may be clothed in the finest fabrics, she will never have the option of choice. Not permitted to go to school, she is educated by a governess, a privilege since most girls receive no education at all.

And when she is caught dancing alone to her father's radio, he orders her into the veil, the abeyya, that all women must wear, even though she is still a child. Her mother pleads for her but when her husband insists she silences her daughter's tears, saying, 'Do you dare dispute your father?' Later her father takes a second, younger, wife. The other women in the house console Amira's mother, then scold her for her continuing depression, then condemn her to isolation.

The lives of the women revolve entirely around their men - even in their homes they are restricted to the 'women's country.' Not that life is without pleasure. Lavish sex-segregated entertainments are occasions for gossip and food and shedding the veil to show off foreign fashions to one another.

Amira's wedding to Ali, a royal prince, occasions lavish entertaining and from the beginning handsome Ali showers her with sumptuous presents of jewels and clothes. But much more wonderful to Amira are their foreign travels and Ali'sencouragement of her intellectual life. Abroad she does not wear the veil and is invited to social occasions which include men. And once she has a son she has more than almost any other woman in Al-Remal. Except for her husband's gambling and drinking, life is good.

But after the birth of her son, her husband seems to avoid her. His occasional sexual interest can only be satisfied by pain. There is, of course, no one she can discuss his increasing brutality with. And when he almost kills her the whole palace conspires to call it an accident - caused by her own willful disobedience. Escape seems impossible, death inevitable.

Kashoggi is not a scintillating writer but the drama and glamor of her story carries the reader along. Besides the plight of her heroine, the author threads several subplots and themes through the narrative - her brother's lifelong feud with Ali, and the secrets of his life with his daughter, Amira's involvement with battered women in America and her difficulties as a single mother, the loneliness of isolation from family.

And the setting is wonderfully exotic with a fully realized portrayal of the lives of the fabulously rich, spoiled and decadent oil royalty juxtaposed to the stifling luxury of their women behind their veils.

Rating:
Summary: an excellent book
Review: An excellent book. Written with intellingence and compassion, its a fascinating journey that the writer took us into the heart of the Muslim women's world. its an intriging and frank book that lifts the veil not only on the women of Islam but on our own stereotypes of Muslim culture. It is one of the best and strongest books I ever read, a page turner, a story I wished would never end.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: I am happy I came across a book as Mirage, it's a page turner very well written, a book you immediately want to share with everyone..a moving story of a woman's struggle, yet of every arab woman living behind the veil, it's rich in emotion, a story I wished would never end, it's quite a splendid read.

Rating:
Summary: A good book
Review: I am sorry that she doesn't write more books. This is an excellent fictional tale about a muslim woman and her life. It speaks of struggles and the things we women do for our men. The compromises we make. It speaks of suffering and pain that this woman bore and yet she still made something of herself and her family. It is about losing people that you love for the greater good. And most of it-it is about love. Excellent writer who was in the beginning stages of becoming fabulous. I hope she writes again.

Rating:
Summary: No words can explain
Review: I just completed this book. It is THE best book i have read yet. I am actually in tears now. It was so moving, so real. i felt every laugh and every tear. By simply turning the pages i was there in Al-Remal, under a veil, being sold into marriage and leaving the country of my origin behind. I am almost afriad to pick up another book out of fear that it will not be as good as this one or maybe out of fear that it will be as good as this one, so good that i am once again dragged along an amazing yet dreadful emotional rollercoaster. I am only 16 yet i appreciate the extraordinary work that mrs. khashoggi has created and i would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart. please continue your soul touching work.

Rating:
Summary: an excellent book .. but ...
Review: I read the book and loved it, the writing is great and I couldnt leave the book aside at all.
However, I wish if the writer didnt exagerate in her writings about the life behind the viel. I am an arab, muslim woman and I insist that life overhere is not as bad as what was weitten. If people are looking to see how arab women are living, please come and check it out. Not all arab countries are like "AL-RIMAL"!!
I know that when people write books, the need to make it intresting so people would read them, but the real life is not like that at all :)

Rating:
Summary: a dark shade of black
Review: Sohair, kept me on the edge of my seat, it was a real thriller. Being a "Remali" mayself I share her view about how women live in this society. although she does paint an image in a shade of black darker than the way I view the society that I have lived in all my life. I liked how she related the unfairness twards women in the west to the conditions in the east. How violence againest women could be viewed as a worldwide phenomina. this book is deffinetly worth reading for anyone who is remotly interested in the middle east, it paints an image of the upper strata of society inaccessable to most, I can only imagine that it is an accurate one.

Rating:
Summary: Great story... Not a reference book
Review: The story is amazing, captivating, well-written and touching. You really get involved with the characters, feel their pains, their joy, their fear and excitement, and all their emotions.
You can enjoy the book but do not believe that all the practices carried out in Al-Remal (according to the book) are true. I, myself, know nothing about Al-Remal. But I know Islam. No father, mother, or any person is allowed to force a girl/woman to marry a man against her will and no man has the right to beat or abuse his wife. Muslim women in most Islamic countries go to school, learn, get jobs, and can accomplish themselves in the fields they choose. I'm not saying that the opposite doesn't happen. All I am saying is that it is generally culture and ignorance that cause it.
A story is a story. Nothing more, nothing less. This story happens to be an excellent one. But it is a story after all. It is not reality.
The book is worth what you pay for. I couldn't put it down before I finished it and I promise that the same will happen to you. But if you are interested in the religion itself, do more research. You'll find out that it is VERY different from the picture you get from the book!

Rating:
Summary: Good glimpse into the culture but not the religion
Review: The story is one you cannot put down, but if you are reading it to learn about Muslim women and men following Islamic law this is not the book. Althougth abuse of women does happen in the Muslim world, it is a product of patriarchal culture not Islam. For one Islam forbids a father to force his daughter to marry someone she does not want to and Islam lays out strict punishment for those who beat their wives. Khashoggi tells a story you can't stop reading until you reach the end, that is a thoroughly entertaining portrait of the way some Arab men deny Arab women the rights given to them by the Islamic religion.

Rating:
Summary: FABULOUS PAGE-TURNER!!!! REFRESHING NEW AUTHOR!!!
Review: This was an amazing book! What characters...completely "fleshed" out...you really cared about each one of these women...i have no idea what book the previous reviewer read, but it simply was not this one! there are many books that are "just for women" and i never read those....this is one of those books and i devoured it...it is not one of your love-sick romances but a very well researched, well written, beautiful story in a distant land at another time.....please, Soheir, please write more...more...more and sooooooon!!!!! I've bought several copies of this book to give to friends of alllll ages and they have allll loved it!!!