Book Review - Page 4

A book which really made me cry - Not Without
My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody - later it was
made in to a movie but I did not want to watch
it - I have not, till date!!!

thank god you did not watch the movie...having read the book i found the movie wanting!!! one helluva lot.

Roja, if you liked the book by Betty Mahmoody, you should also read Mirage by Sohail Khashoggi. It is scary, describing the stoning process if a woman is considered to have violated the family honor. The writer is Adnan Khashoggi's sister and had to escape from a bad marriage herself, and the story is based partly on her own story.

Some of these things happen even in rural Indian society, if our movies and TV serials are to be believed.

Originally posted by: madumithas

There is this indian novel that i read, dont remember the name of it right now. Its about a english guy coming to india and loving a bengali girl. But the girl gets married to an indian.....and she eventually becomes a great author. She pens a abook about the love she had with the english guy. She wants to see the english guy while she is dying and he comes.
It was kind of a touching love story. Will get the name to u guys soon.

Madhu

I finally remembered the name of the book(s). Bengal nights and It Does not die.

Bengal Nights was the book written by Mircea Eliade....the woman he loves is Maitrayei devi. The fact that she got married and left him upset him quite a bit and he returned to Euirope to write this story.

Maitreyi devi who was in india learnt about this book many many years later. She wrote a book "It does not die" to talk about the same incidnet Mircea elaiade had told but with her point of view.

It was very intersting to see how two people understood the feelings in the same situation in a different way. The concept was very different.

Karthikka, you are right about the shallowness of Shoba De's writing. I read her in my adolescent years and outgrew her. Rather like an Indian Barbara Cartland. Nanny Diaries is a good read; an intellectualised version of Bridget Jones' Diary, which was a real scream. Great fun; BJD enabled me to adjust to being a "singleton". Book was far better than the movie. But sequel sucked. Can't remember the name of the author; I read her other book (can't remember the title); a washout.

Though I haven't read "Not without my daughter", I generally don't like the genre of feminist writings about Muslim and Arab women. I read one book some time back by a lady who claimed to have known someone who fell victim to an honour killing in Jordan. About a year later, her story was proven to be a hoax. Actually, it was quite a compelling read. Can't remember the title or the author; I passed on the book to a secondhand dealer after discovering it was a fake story.

It's Helen Fielding. I just loved BJD and I could really emphatise with some of the things that she experienced. I can't remember the second book, although I do have it somewhere. Shoba De *shudders* - Barbara Cartland was tame in comparison. Bad English, bad plots and a lot of titillating stuff which was equally bad.

If you could get your hands on it, try Dina Zaman's I am a Muslim. Dina is a liberal Malay and has a GOSH. I have not met her although we have mutual friends. Just got her book yesterday and am reading it avidly - I was very disappointed when I could not get "Does My Head Look Big in This?" I have read good reviews about it (besides yours) but left it a bit late - they had run out of stock.

Books are so expensive nowadays. :( Even with tax exemptions, you can only buy one or two books at one time.

No one added to this thread since yesterday? 😭

i have always found shoba de a lot of crap. these days she comes in on a talk show in ndtv...she is just a shallow socialite. and her books are just tittilating...one cant say much for her writing skills.

i am presently reading "Nine Parts of Desire" by geraldine Brooks. the book illustrates how islam's holiest text have been misused to justify repression of women and how male pride and power have warped the original meassage of a once liberating faith!! it alternately makes me angry and depressed but is becoming a compelling read.

what????????? nobody has even peeked in here??????