post2sem2

I just finished I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced. It was a very depressing yet uplifting book. It was sort of spastically written in a way that is not terrible or anything. As I mentioned in my previous blog, the big ideas were revealed very early in the book, but that did not ruin my reading experience as I had feared earlier.
     This poor girl grew up not even knowing when she was born. Her family was extremely poor, and to make money, Nujood and her siblings had to beg in the streets. Her father quickly lost his job as a sweeper and just sat around chewing khat all day. Nujood's older siblings came and went for often years or months at a time. Marrying Nujood off would mean one less mouth to feed.
     On the night of her wedding, Nujood cried and fell asleep in her wedding dress that was too large. Everyone knew that she was too young, but no woman could ever have a say over a man's. Nujood's father justified it by saying that her husband promised not to touch her until she reaches puberty.
     The very next morning, her husband came to pick her up, and that was the first time that they had ever met! He was decades older and ugly. They drove hours to Nujood's native village where her husband lives with his family. On her first night, Nujood falls asleep in an instant before her husband crashes in and demands to have sex with her. She is chased all throughout the house until he finally traps her and rapes her. Nujood fights back and her husband beats her. Her mother-in-law encourages her son to beat her since she is failing to be a proper wife. This horrid pattern of rape and abuse continues for about a month until Nujood is allowed to visit her parents.
     At home, Nujood tells her parents about her terrible marriage, and what do they do? Nothing. They say that Nujood must stay and be a good wife in order to maintain honor and a good reputation. This shocks and scars Nujood. She goes to her father's second wife for advice who tells her to go to the courthouse. As soon as Nujood tells her story at the courthouse, she immediately is taken care of. They have a trial with both her father and her husband present. Her father lies about her age, saying that she is 13, and her husband denies all allegations. Then the two of them begin to argue with each other while court is in session which divulges the truth. Nujood wins the divorce.
     Nujood's story reaches the news everywhere. Journalists come form all around the world to take down her story. At one point after the divorce is finalized, Nujood is showered with gifts from all sorts of people. It made me remember that this little girl won a divorce. She clings to a teddy bear and is overjoyed at the sight of chocolate cake, yet she has gone through more than I could ever imagine. She's been to hell.
     I am not really a fan of the end of the book. After the gift seen, which is really good closure, there's like 40-50 pages left. These consist of piecing together the drama from her older siblings' disappearance/reappearance. I sort of find this section out of place, for after the divorce is final and she is living safely with her family, I don't really care to know what the details of her siblings are. That could have been useful earlier. The last part of the book is her at school. This is okay at the end because she is so so so happy to be at school with girls her age.
      Nujood's story really scares me, because I know that there is no way that she is alone. I know that plenty of other girls and boys have gone through similar incidences are ones that are even far worse. The issue of male domination by law and by culture is so upsetting. It is stories like these that make me want to skip college to go and burn down every brothel, every rapists home ever. Nujood's older sister was raped when she was somewhere around 12 and in order to protect the family's honor, she was married off to that very rapist..... How messed up is that? It makes me so angry how little rights or happiness women are entitled to in certain places. It makes me hate myself for complaining about not having a snow-day last week. At least I have rights, a home, and a family who do anything to protect me.

1semester2

I am currently reading I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui. The title is what really got me... probably goes without saying. For the last few years, I have been fairly interested in Middle Eastern culture, specifically where to draw the line between culture and Islam. Nujood is from Yemen, and the rules and traditions between Yemeni culture and Islamic culture are very intertwined. Throughout the book, some traditions are specified as to which aspect (Islam or culture) they originate from. But other small things are not.

The story switches between two time periods, but each are from the perspective of Nujood herself. First, she describes her journey alone to the courthouse where she declares her desire to get a divorce, and then in the next chapter she backtracks and tells her story from her birth in Khardji, Yemen. I am a fan of this strategy, it keeps things interesting, and it actually makes sense for an autobiography. Within the first sixty pages, Nujood went to the courthouse and told her story. The judge's colleague takes her in until they can figure out how to deal with her request for a divorce. And during her chapter of backtracking throughout her life, Nujood has already established the timeline up until her dad told her the news of her engagement. So I am curious as to why so much was divulged at the very beginning of the book, but I have nothing against it really. I suppose the rest of the book will describe her marriage specifically...

I can sort of tell that this book was written by a child. Nujood was married in 2008 which means that she is around fifteen right now... I can picture this little girl sitting down with an author just telling her what ton write, not that I know how this book was written for sure, but I could picture it.