wlotus's reviews
124 reviews

I felt two emotions as I read Nujood's story: rage and pride. I am disgusted at a world where men are more concerned about how other men regard them than they are concerned about the health, safety, dreams, and desires of their wives and daughters. I am proud of Nujood for standing up to that world and doing what many adult women in her culture do not have the courage to do: demand a divorce from an abusive tyrant of a male. She was/is a child and should not have been married in the first place, let alone to a monster who raped and beat her...

Nujood intends to become a lawyer, so she can one day help others. As determined as she was to get a divorce in a culture that does not easily grant divorces to women, I have little doubt she will put that same determination to work to achieve her academic goals.

The royalties from this book allow Nujood and her younger sister to attend school, as well as providing for the family's basic needs. Those reasons are strong enough ones to buy this book. But the autobiography is gripping enough to deserve anyone's attention, even if that wasn't the case.

This book has inspired me to focus on documentary photography above all else. Many of those photos tell a story, show the artist at her or his most human moments. That's what I want my photographs to do.

I had one word for this book when I finished it: amazing. I've never read such a detailed, personal account of how a pedophile works, and how certain aspects of a family's dysfunction can make a child a prime target for pedophiles. My heart bled for Margaux as I read. I hope she has been able to heal as much as one can from such a childhood.

I gave the book only 3 stars, because I found it a bit too over-dramatic in parts. Otherwise, the characters were written well in character; their adult personalities were not much different from their childhood personalities, which I really appreciated. It felt both odd and refreshing to read about them all as adult, and I liked how support for women's suffrage (overt) and integrated education (subtle) were woven into the story lines.

Though I read this as a teen, it was refreshing and more enjoyable to read it now that I am in my 40s. The story was just as fresh and enjoyable as the prequel, "Little Women".

The book was cute, if somewhat unbelievable. (What parent would let their 17-year-old wander Europe alone on the instructions of a dead relative you know is flaky?) I enjoyed the adventure.)