Rating: 
Summary: Nine Parts of Desire
Review: Books by journalists tend to contain errors of fact, roughshod generalizations, and questionable judgments. They usually provide masses of routine and well-known information. How refreshing, then, this study of Muslim women by The Wall Street Journal's former Middle East correspondent. It boasts not just a well-researched base but much new information and a strikingly new thesis. Brooks manages that rare mix, the immediacy of a reporter's experience and the solidity of a research paper. Each chapter in "Nine Parts" deals with an aspect of the female Muslim life, both the usual subjects (virginity, weddings, education) and the less so (commerce, politics, warfare). Perhaps the most colorful chapter deals with the Islamic Women's Games in Iran, where men could attend the opening ceremony but not the actual competitions-so that women could get on the track and strip down to their Lycra shorts. The most valuable aspect of Brooks's reportage is to show the diversity of fundamentalist Islamic approaches to women. Most striking is the contrast between Saudi Arabia, where women have effectively no public role, and Iran, where they serve in parliament and are steadily pushing back the limits. This leads the author to an unexpected but persuasive conclusion: "I found the brightest hope for positive change camouflaged among the black chadors of devout Iranian women." Middle East Quarterly, September 1995
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: My first instinct upon reading this book was to write a classic western feminist review about just how horrific life is for Muslim women. But all the reviews by other readers made me step back and think again. I'm still extremely glad that I read this book but it is a book to take with the proverbial grain of salt. The following are some of the thoughts this book provoked for me.... First, it is interesting to me that the book turns conventional political wisdom on it's head in terms of "friendly" and "enemy" states. From Brooks point of view, Iran and Iraq are actually pretty good places to be a woman if access to some political power and fitness are the standards. Alternatively, our Desert Storm ally, Saudi Arabia, is a place that is far less in tune with American values, if measured in terms of the western standard of women's rights. I also felt that Brooks didn't spend enough time on two geographic categories - women in the small Gulf States and Muslim women in European and American societies. On a separate note, maybe I'm naive but it seemed pretty absurd to me that all this separation of the sexes is simply because the sight of a woman's flesh or the sound of a woman's voice could cause unpure/sexual thoughts. Well, I mentioned this to my husband who basically said "well, yeah, those those things do cause those sorts of thoughts." So now I'm left to ponder whether Islam is trying to fight the inevitable tide of lustful thoughts or if maybe it has the right idea. Maybe Dave Barry is right when in his book "Complete Guide to Guys" he says "I'm not saying that womend don't think about sex. I'm saying that women are capable, for at least brief periods of time, of not thinking about sex, and the most guys are not." Likewise, as a Unitarian Universalist, I'd like to think that there are positives and negatives in all religions and cultures. Yes, I find the idea of clitorectomies pretty horrific. Still, it seems like most of the western women I know are experiencing the functional equivalent of sexual drive neutralizing in the form of exhaustion as they persue the western ideal lifestyle. And it's not like we don't have our fair share of fundamentalists who would like to see women back in the home and dressing "properly". Bottom-line: Not a book to swallow as the absolute truth but a book that can be a valuable place to start in thinking about different ways of dealing with the differences between men and women. (And while I missed the discussion, my book group reports that this was a dandy book for a lively debate.)
Rating: 
Summary: Garbage at Best
Review: ... I had to stop reading it several times to reread and make sure I was reading correctly. There are several supposed quotes in this books that different women such as Aisha and Umm Salamah made to prophet Muhammed, but there is no hadith or text that the author cites where she got the quotes from. It could just be ramblings from the top of her head for all I know. I agree that there is no basis in the Quran for the harsh treatment that so many women have received in Islamic countries but I also feel that the quote from Imam Ali that Allah gave women nine parts of desire and men one is [not right]. Anyone can make up hadith. The author does not state where she got that or any of her other information. There is only a general bibliography at the end. I feel that the author's view has been jaded by the fundamentalist view of Islam that she was originally exposed to. This book left me with an overall bad taste in my mouth!
Rating: 
Summary: nine parts of desire
Review: one has to be fair while evaulating this book...the kind of treatment towards women that the author depicts is something very real. saddening, yes...but one cannot deny that so called 'muslim' countries today oppress women and infringe on their rights and dignity that are upheld by the Qur'an, the word of Allah. what God has granted us believers, mortals take away from us in the name of religion. that said...the book also has quite a few instances of gross generalization. I didn't see the author make an effort to understand the difference between cultural practices and that which religion truly mandates. to get a better understanding of the status of muslim woman, as the Qur'an present to us, Amina Wadud's 'Qur'an and Woman' is amore suitable book. in closing, I'd like to quote - 'Let there be no compulsion in religion...' (Surat Al-Baqarah-Ayat 256)
Rating:
Summary: Ethnocentricism and Racism at its best
Review: This is one of the most biased and hate-filled books I have ever read. Brooks does her best to pass rumour as fact and distortions as the truth. Her rendition of life for Muslim women encompasses every single racist stereotype of Muslims. From Islam as a women-hating religion to Muslim men as sex-crazed, uncontrolled individuals to the myth that the "Green Menace" is making its way to the shores of Europe and Austraila. She even makes a false correlation between the weight gain of her assistant with modest dress. She decontextualizes verses from the Qur'an isolating single lines to support her distorted notion of Islam. Her book is of value in two ways: it represents the worst in scholarship (actually, she is neither scholar nor expert of the Middle East or Islam) and it illustrates how cultural mores are assumed to be of Islamic in origin by her interviewees. Only someone who has familiarity of Islam would be able to make this connection because Brooks fails to make this simplistic mental leap. Instead, she portrays Islam as a monolithic religion of oppression. Her tone is outright condescending. If you want a fairer representation of Islam and its treatment of women or of Islam in general, I recommend three titles "Qur'an and Woman" by Amina Waddud and "Windows of Faith, Muslim Women Activist Scholars in North America" ed. Gisiela Webb and "The Islamic Threat, Myth or Reality" by John Esposito. Don't waste your money on Brooks' book.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing book!
Review: I don't know why most people say that this book is very controversial. I found it almost defending Islam and skilfully explaining the logic of the Moslim people. I was deeply impressed by the style of writing and I foudn extremely valuable information regarding the Middle Eastern countries and their religion. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in that part of the world.
Rating:
Summary: original but biased
Review: my english teacher recommended that i read this book. she was interested to hear my opinion. i tried to reserve judgement until i had finished the book (which was not easy). i have to say that i admire the author for writing a book on the topic that is usually ignored; however, i disagree with many of her comments. i took personal offence at the way she berated muslim women who wear a scarf. she looks upon those (including myself) who sacrifice a few hot summer days for eternal bliss. i was appalled by the way, she talked of prophet mohammed. she described him a sex-crazy man who was after women. i had never heard that he married the wife of his adoptive son (and could not find one muslim who had heard such a thing). also his wife, aisha, was not nine years old when they married. she was no doubt may years his senior but gaps in age were common in that time (and even common today: Michael Douglas and Katherine Zeta-Jones, Celine Dion and Rene). you have to understand that after his wife Khadijih, he wed the other women simply to keep peace. i'm also sad that the author has based her opinion on islam by interviewing a few extremitists. on the whole i feel the author had issues with her catholic upbringing and attributed that to islam.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I found this book very interesting. My sister first got a hold of this book, and she liked it so much that she bought copies and gave it to me and some of her friends as a gift. Now I recommend this book to whenever the topic of middle east comes up, and I am buying copies and handing it to friends. It is a real eye opener, in terms of exposing the plight of women in some of the arabic countries. Another comment I would like to make is that has been a recent innundation of one-star reviews from people who didn't like the portrayal of some countries brought down the overall rating. I think this book makes an excellent read, and is a pretty fair first-hand account, and deserves at least 4 stars, even if you don't agree with her.
Rating:
Summary: Truth Hurts
Review: You may not care to hear my oppinion because I am a non-Muslim Western white man but here goes. I'll excuse you if you flip to the next review. What I like so much about Geraldine Brooks book is the same thing I loved so much when I read "1984" by George Orwell. It is a portrait of complete domination of individual lives by a social order pretending to be their defender, thier protector. It reveals a society which completely extinquishes person freedoms but claims to be doing exactly the opposite. Double-speak, remember that. I'm amazed at Geraldine Brooks' retstraint at not venting rage at this sytem where people own the lives of other people. Where some people are treated no better then domestic pets.(however kindly) We did have slavery in America. We too were bind to it because we were in the middle of it. There were many passionate defenders. I'm certain many slaves resented Harriet Beacher Stowe for her book as I see people are critical of Brooks for hers. If a person has a free choice to subject themselves to a set a rules that is one thing. But if women NEVER experience free choice. If they are indoctrinated when they are born. If they are threatened for thinking for themselves and if they are comdemned for questioning the legitimacy of the social order (which is so much against them) then such a life is should be revealed for what it is. Truth hurts. I congratulate Geraldine Brooks for her courage.
Rating:
Summary: I've passed my copy around to friends and family
Review: After stumbling into the Women's Studies section of my favorite independent bookstore, one of the titles that grabbed my eye was this one. It not only gave me an amazing insight into the lives of Muslim women (something no man would ever get first-hand), but I also received a broad grounding in the basics of Islam and it's history. Although many reviewers have not spoken well of her depiction of Muslim women, I find her descriptions dovetail well with the other books I have read that are also first-person accounts by female journalists. Like any writer, she most certainly reflects her own cultural biases, but the bigger picture rings true. My copy is stained and dog-eared from all of the friends and family I have loaned my copy to, calling it a "must read" for anyone who wants to understand the Middle East better.
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