In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor’s Journey in the Saudi Kingdom
In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor’s Journey in the Saudi Kingdom Books
- ISBN13: 9781402210877
- Shape up: USED – VERY GOOD
- Notes:
Product Description
“In this stunningly written book, a Western trained Muslim doctor brings alive what it means for a woman to live in the Saudi Kingdom. I’ve seldom experienced so acutely the shunning and shaming, racism and anti-Semitism, but the surprise is how Dr. Ahmed also finds tenderness at the tattered edges of extremism, and a life-changing pilgrimage back to her Muslim faith.” – Gail Sheehy
The decisions that exchange your life are often the most impulsive ones.
Unexpectedly denied a visa to remain in the United States, Qanta Ahmed, a young British Muslim doctor, becomes an outcast in motion. On a whim, she accepts an exciting position in Saudi Arabia. This is not just a new job; this is a opportunity at adventure in an exotic land she thinks she understands, a place she hopes she will belong.
What she discovers is vastly different. The Kingdom is a world apart, a land of unparralled contrast. She finds rejection and scorn in the places she believed would most embrace her, but also humor, honesty, constancy and like.
And for Qanta, more than anything, it is a land of opportunity. A place where she discovers what it takes for one woman to recreate herself in the land of invisible women. (20080801)
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When Qanta A. Ahmed, MD. was a small girl, her and her family went to England. Her family is Muslim. Even as growing up Qanta was free to live and dress how she sought after, although her mother did wear the habitual abbayah. Qanta attended the University of Nottingham Medical School where she earned her medical degree. To Qanta’s surprise the government will not extend Qanta’s visa to stay any longer. So she heads back to her homeland, where she experiences a culture shock.
First there are the women covered from head to toe, women should not go anywhere lonely as this is just asking for distress, and the men are in payment of everything. For Qanta she was not used to this, so everything was a new experience for her, even though she was Muslim. Qanta kind of expected that when she returned to her homeland that she would be accepted aptly away and that was not the case.
Qanta shares her journey as well as the lessons she learned in her memoir titled In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor’s Journey in the Saudi Kingdom. I found this in depth look into a people I knew small about to be intriguing. I got to read how the people there lived and how it was if you were a woman. Qanta is very courageous for standing up for what she believed in, as it was not an simple task. Qanta found herself in a people she herself has barley known. As far as memoirs go In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor’s Journey in the Saudi Kingdom is a very excellent one.
Rating: 4 / 5
This is a fascinating book. I couldn’t place it down. It comprises 450 pages of unremitting subjugation and humiliation of Moslem women by their male Moslem masters. The obliteration of unattached, striking women from the daily social scene is utter and complete leaving nothing to compete with the homosexual desires of Saudi men for each other. It is not hard to know why Tommy Lawrence loved Arabia so much. He may possibly dress up in a long white ‘nightie’ just like the other men knowing that his unnatural desires would be fully satisfied. The author describes the universal dread of the Mutawaeen sex police who terrify even men holding vital positions. She describes a dinner given by the chairman of her sickbay department for his staff, some of whom were unmarried professional, highly qualified, women. The sound of a raid by the Mutawaeen was heard. The chairman, in a panic, ran to call an influential member of the Saudi royal family for help. Just in time, the Mutawaeen received word to ‘back off’ saving the entire dinner party from arrest and interrogation and possibly a beating.
She describes well the experience of driving in Saudi. She says that the sight of a twelve year ancient driving an SUV was unremarkable. The use of seat belts and car seats to protect their children was way beyond the comprehension of these wealthy beige jockeys. The author mentions an tax exile joke: “What do you call a Saudi airbag?”. Resolution: “A five-year ancient”.
One would reckon, having witnessed this cruel treatment of women by Moslem extremists, that the author would reject her Moslem faith. On the contrary, she goes to Mecca for a Hajj and her faith is renewed and strengthened. It would seem that the Moslem religion, once bought, is impossible to shed. In many ways, Islam is more like a mental illness than a religion.
When the author lands in New York upon leaving Saudi for excellent, she is so glad to have escaped the suffocating atmosphere of that terrible place that she stuffs the abbayah in the aircraft overhead luggage space, glad to be rid of it. She happily ignores the loudspeaker announcing that the person in seat 32A has forgotten her abbayah and would she please pick it up.
Dr Ahmed is a skillful novelist. Every page comes alive. Even as her choice of adjectives is sometimes extreme my only criticism of the book is her constant reference to the brand, manufacturer and sometimes the price of items she mentions. No one drives a car – they drive a Benz. To check the time, she didn’t just look at the clock – she looked at the Raymond Weil clock. Describing the father of a child patient she says “traces of $185 Creed wafted from his Dunhill thobe”. This constant advertisement-style branding degrades the book.
For anyone considering accepting a highly-paid job in Saudi, I suggest they read this book before boarding the aircraft.
Rating: 5 / 5
See how man uses religion to continue his power over women & also men.
Riyadh is more extreme than most but George Bush & the religious aptly?
The book is an emotional journey but from a woman’s perspective & the “Hajj” is a fantastic way to spread the Muslim religion.
Long winded book? Perhaps.
Neil C
Rating: 4 / 5
The author’s writing is sometimes a bit much – her descriptions of people and their clothing exaggerated, BUT, having said this, her tale is fascinating and discerning. The reader will come away with a much better thought of Islam as the Quran and Muhammad meant it. You will learn so much about the complexities of Saudi Arabian people’s lives and the differences in the do of Islam. I urge it very highly and thank Dr. Ahmed for sharing her private experiences with Islam with the reader.
Rating: 4 / 5
I read “In the Land of Invisible Women” a few months ago and was touched by the book. It was gorgeous. I am Catholic but I now have a fantastic respect for the Muslim faith. So many questions I had were answered as well as questions I didn’t even reckon of.
It is one of the very best books I have ever read.
Rating: 5 / 5