The Women of Deh Koh: Lives in an Iranian Village

Rating:
Summary: A glimpse of rural Iran
Review: Friedl is a wonderful writer, turning the most mundane details into narrative that you can't put down! I loved the book, found it extremely valuable during this time of intense interest in the Middle East. The book made me feel I was there, in a remote Iranian village, taking a peek into the lives of ordinary people.

Rating:
Summary: A vivid portrait of women's lives in an Iranian village
Review: In "Women of Deh Koh" Ericka Friedl presents us with the stories of twelve different Iranian village women, using situations, she says "in which many women find themselves, wish to find themselves, or hope never to find themselves at one stage or another in their lives." She lays out the stories from the woman's point of view, touching on subjects such as rape, arranged marriage, polygamy, but never once asking for sympathy or understanding. From Perijan with a late child to Sarah who's husband took another wife to Parvane with a mental illness, we become a part of these women's lives and get a glimpse of their intricate social structure and how they support each other. While the stories are about different women, many of the other women are present in the stories, so we quickly feel as if we know these women, as if they are our friends.

This book is a wonderful example of the "show, don't tell" concept one of my English teachers always tried to get across to us. Friedl never "tells" us anything, but rather lets us come to our own understandings from reading about the everyday lives of these women. This book completely changed my perspective of Islamic women. From reading other books (namely the "Princess" series) I thought that women under Islam were downtrodden, oppressed, and desperately needed to be liberated. Naive, I know, however that is largely the image presented to us. After reading this book however, I realized that my stereotypes of Islamic women were for the most part, wrong. The women in "Women of Deh Koh" don't feel sorry for themselves, and neither should we.

Ericka Friedl is a gifted writer, and ties all the women's stories together beautifully. I have read the book close to 20 times, and have walked away more fulfilled each time. This is, perhaps, the best book I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful.
Review: This book was the most profound and stunning look at the lives of Muslim women I have ever encountered. I highly recommend it to anthropology majors and womens studies majors both. By the end of the book I felt like I had gained far more than the average ethnography teaches: by giving intimate glimpses into these women's lives, Erika Friedl vividly shows us not only their hardships but their strengths as well. I was touched by the stories she related, and even more touched by the quiet way in which she lets the women speak for themselves, from the first page to the last.