Rating: 
Summary: Insensitive and Unaccurate!
Review: I have just finished reading this book, which I thought would provide me, the Muslim woman,with an insight of literature that was deplicting my role.What I found, infuriated me! As I turned the pages, hoping to find relief with positive portrayals of most Muslim women-I only found more negatively drawn, inclusive interviews that seemed to be the focus of her reporting tactics. What was so 'hidden' about her book was the successful, Muslim women, who were happy and not oppressed! I strongly DON'T RECOMMEND IT!
Rating: 
Summary: Mind expanding
Review: Geraldine Brooks's book, Nine Parts of Desire, gave me the background on the Islamic world that I needed in order to understand the views and behaviors of my coworkers and community members who follow Islam. I greatly appreciated the analysis of the Koran and the explanation for how its teachings, combined with tribal custom, combine to form community norms. While I have my own sympathies for various people represented in the book, and while I sometimes found the book very painful to read due to the subject discussed, I am enormously happy to have read this book and recommend it to everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Unique and suprisingly unjudgemental
Review: The book is written very well. It gives a very readable, comprehensible guide to Islam for an average Westerner through interviews with a variety of Islamic women throughout the middle east. The book is not as objective as the author seems to think it is very much from a western point of view but a good read none-the-less
Rating:
Summary: Eyes and Minds Need to Be Opened
Review: This book was an eye-opener for me, as I was woefully ill-informed on the topics Brooks covered in her book. I found her approach to be balanced in her attempt to show the varying ways women are treated in different Islamic countries. She NEVER presents herself as an Islamic scholar but merely as an observer of the various countries which she covered during her years in the Middle East. One thing that really shocked me was how the Koran seems to be interpreted by different groups for different reasons. It seems that anyone can rationalize behaviors by finding an interpretation of the Koran to support such actions. And each one believes that he is correct! To have a religion based on these varying interpretations is one thing, but to have entire cultures and political movements based on them is very frightening. Cultural practices seem to be intricately tied up with religious interpretation and vice versa. I find ANY religious extremism to be anathema, whether it is Islam or some other religion. When one refuses to believe that there are alternate ways to live a good life or to attain eternal happiness, this is very dangerous and leads to violence and wars, as can be seen in the history of civilization. I also am of the opinion that wherever (in the West or the Middle East or anywhere) any kind of religious fundamentalism exists, women suffer. I also realize that this is a Western look at women in Islamic countries and that there are many women living happy and contented lives in Muslim societies. The author never says otherwise despite what is written in some reviews. I could not understand those who said that Brooks was totally wrong in her reporting and that Muslim women are protected and treasured (and educated) -- when fully documented atrocities toward women are committed in Muslim countries and when women in Afghanistan are not permitted to go to school past the age of 12. While I do not think this book should be the only source that one should use to try to understand the Islamic countries and their cultures, it certainly provides a thorough background and basic explanations based on Brook's experience while living in these countries. I read this just after seeing the incredible documentary, "Beneath the Veil" and thus concluded that Brook's reporting was accurate. It certainly opened my eyes and made me want to learn more.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening, thought provoking...a book you can't put down!
Review: I could not put this book down!! I'm embarrassed to admit how little I truly knew about the Islamic religion or where and how women fit into it. I was mortified at alot of what I read. We, especially now, need to try and understand this religion and it's many factions. Geraldine Brooks does an amazing job writing, presenting, and wrapping up her glimpse into this very secretive world. I feel it's a book everyone, especially women, should read! Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Eye-Opening, Honest, Shocking & Frightening
Review: I was in a used bookstore yesterday looking for "Latin American History" books on Che Guevara and THIS paperback fell into my hands. I read 5 pages of "Nine Parts of Desire" was hooked finishing it today. Journalist/Author Geraldine Brooks has written her personal experience of exploring many of the world's fundamentalist Islamic countries -- Pakistan, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Jordan among others. Upon finishing this book, I am floored at the power Islam has in our world. The Prophet Muhammed was as contradictory in his words as are the contradictions in the many factions of Muslims (Shiite, Sunii, Kurd). I feel that Ms. Brooks has given a clear picture of how women in Islam APPEAR to us in the Judeo/Christian/Buddist/Agnostic rest-of-the world. ...but I can't dispute what the Koran may or may not say. However, the "meat" of Geraldine Brooks's story is her personal experiences. We see the transformation of her assistant, the personalities of her guide, her talks with Ayatollah Khomeni's wife and daughters, lunch with the queen of Jordan and countless other experiences of women in Islam. Each having a varying interpretation of what the prophet Muhammed meant to say. Each wanting to change "their world" but having no real say-so as men make ALL decisions in the end. ...I highly recommend EVERY woman/man of ALL faiths consider reading this book. Its eye-opening and honest! This book is hardly hateful. ANYBODY who could defend horrific acts and treatment of women worldwide needs to look within their hearts and think twice....
Rating:
Summary: Islamic Traditions and WOmen: Beyond the veil
Review: If you want a good and wide perspective of why women wear the veil and "submit" to the clerics and family demands of the Hajib and chador, read this book. If you want to try to gain an insight on Islamic countries, and their ideas of America, read this book. It is not all-emcompassing and will not explain the histories and policitical formations of islmanic countries. But it is not designed to do so. It is about women and islam, in some of the most strict "islamic" countries. What it will do is give you an appreciation and insight about the differences found in the countries that make up the "Middle East". It will give you some degree of insight about why some choose to follow the more fundamental interpretations of Islam. And it will definately inform you of the differences of each country's cultural interpretation (through the eyes of women and the journalist) of fundamental Islam. I purchased this book in 1996 during a business trip. I found that I could not put it down and finished it in two days. It filled in the gaps of the texts I read on Islam and the Middle East in College. I was very impressed by the accessibility of the writing and the information Ms. Brooks offers her readers. I found this book was a refreshing change from the more weighty texts to be found on the Middle East. I have recommended it to my friends and family ever since.
Rating:
Summary: Unusual insight
Review: I read this book before the 9/11 murders. The book gives chilling insight into the attitudes of fundamentalist Muslims, as well as enlightening contrasts on the treatment of women in various Muslim countries. The author looks beneath the surface in various situations and tries to give a balanced account on the lot of women in the middle east. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a greater understanding of Islamic culture in all its variations.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction to an otherwise unknown world
Review: It is true that many a journalists' effort to write an articulate and informative books on the Middle East (particularly Judith Miller and Thomas Friedman) have been bogged down by their tendency to focus on the extreme situations and exclude the nuances fostered within a religious and cultural system that when applied correctly, is just. In avoiding this tendency, Brooks has written an excellent book. Ms. Brooks spends much of her efforts on understanding what the prophet Mohammed expected of women during his time and how that should be applied today.
Brooks is correct to analyze Saudi Arabia's interpretation as the horrible extreme that is being promoted through much of the Sunni Muslim world. This system has been accepted within a framework of a predominately Whabbi Muslim society and the keepers of the two greatest Islamic holy sites. What sets Brooks apart is that she goes into the homes and speaks with women, underlies the clear contradictions in women's lives and leaves the reader to make their own judgment.
I think that Brooks ends the book with a clear message. When we see the often bloody struggles in which Imams, political leaders and fundamentalists go through to interpret the correct use of the Koran and the Hadiths, we see that religion is in fact and matter of interpretation. Each individual that Brooks spoke with believed that their interpretation was correct. By the end, it is clear that there is no single interpretation that is correct! For this reason, to cement women's social standing through unchangeable laws is ludicrous: there is no one that has the indisputable ability to interpret God's word correctly that will alter half of the populations lives. Islam is clearly a matter of personal interpretation and when put in political hands, it is mangled and dis-formed for political purposes.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read
Review: I enjoyed the book quite a bit and i found it to be fairly educational. I think those that bash the book are ignorning the parts where she points out that it isn't Islam that is the cause for the opression of women, but the interpretation and/or ignorance of some Muslims (or at least who call themselves Muslims :-) ). The book even put the Ayatollah Khomeini in a somewhat positive light. I'm not saying it made him out to be one outstanding guy, but certainly not the hate monger that the West made him out to be. The book also pointed out how the Revolution in Iran actually helped out many women in that country. The point is Brooks does is not completely negative towards the treatment of women in the M.East nor towards islam. On the other hand, the book is not totally faultless. She does not make it clear where she gets some of her information, as some other reviewers have pointed out. In addition, it seems as though she is a bit ignorant on the culture of the Middle East and a bit too stuck in the Western mind set for someone writing on a different part of the world. Nevertheless it is a good book that does provide at least some insight into the lives of women in the Middle East.
| 
