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5 comments about Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia.

1. I read this book without regard to ethnicity or political belief. I read it as a woman -- as a human being who suffered at the thought of what other women are enduring in the name of "religion" or "culture."
   
   There is no explanation possible to make this palatable to anyone with a conscience. To let it pass without mention is an abomination, akin to denying the Holocaust. There is no justification possible in the eyes of God.
   
   To the perpetrators of this inhumanity to women, I can only promise you that God is watching. Any other comment on these perpetrators is superfluous.



2. I first read this book when I was 16, and I loved it. It is a work of non-fiction, and based on a true story of a Saudi Arabian princess and her family. She opens up about the injustices the women of Saudi suffer (sexism, FGM, favoritism, not having a say in one's marriage, how society turns a blind eye to abusive husbands, and how she supports a woman's right to freedom.) It is an empowering read, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
   
   It also has 2 sequels, "Daughters of Arabia" and "Desert Royal" which are equally stirring and totally worth the buy if you like "Princess". The sequels are tough to find at a library, though.



3. The author relates the story of Sultana, a Princess of Saudi Arabia, from childhood to adulthood. We see Sultana's life of unimaginable luxury with palaces, servants, and jewels but, alas, being a female she is a prisoner in her home, subject to the iron will of her father and brother.
   
   This is a good story, but I took it as a fictional story. I never once believed that Sultana was real and that she told these stories. I know the cruelties described in the book exist, but I think "Sultana" is a combination of many nameless Saudi women. Had the author not tried to present this as a memoir but just factually reported the officially-sanctioned abominations that women endure there, I would have liked it better. She tried to manipulate me into feeling pity for the poor little rich girl with tedious and amateurish fiction. None of it rang true.
   
   The author lived in Saudi Arabia for ten years; I would have rather read an account of her experiences than this phony-sounding autobiography. It's right to expose these injustices but the truth is enough; there's no need to embellish it with trumped-up characters.
   
   For a moving and much better-written story of women behind the veil, I recommend A Thousand Splendid Suns.



4. Just read the book. One of my friends (non-muslim) sent it to me. She wanted to know if it's all true. Well, here is my answer, i cannot believe this story was told by a real person, it is more likely that the author during 10 year in Saudi Arabia was collecting her own diary of gossips and prejudices. The author seems to collect everything bad about the country to put it in one book and tells it was told by Saudi, so nobody would say anything bad about her. Sultana seemed to be rebellious only on words but when she had a chance actually to do something she didn't go further than telling her husband.
   The recitations of Quran are taken out of context or/and incomplete. Very often was used phrase like "most of muslims" implying that all muslims are like Saudi people. Just for the record everything happening in the book is condemned in Islam. For example, a man cannot take second wife without permission of first wife; Veil (burka, paranja) is not a compulsory; a bride has to approve a man she is marrying and only with here permission the marriage is possible; not mentioning rape, murder, beatings etc. Somebody might say that alright the book is about Saudi Arabia, which is true, but so many times you could read phrases like "most of muslims...", "we muslims...", "in islam...", and stuff like that, not "we Saudi...", "most of saudi...". This kind of parallel makes you think that all muslim men are like men in Saudi Arabia. Plus everything that was mentioned there (rape, for example) is happening all over the world, hypocrites are everywhere. So the whole book smells islamophobia.
   Overall it is not different from other romantic novels, where main heroine is beautiful, rebellious, and full of dreams.
   Thank you for reading.



5. 
   Sultana - literally meaning Princess in English. Princess, as per the author, is a true story by a Saudi princess named Sultana for secrecy purposes. There are incidents shared by Sultana that made me feel sad for the women born and brought up in Saudi Arabia.
   
   As per the narrations in the book, even the women from the royal family are living a life that is dependent on the male members of the family. Women can't move around independently, they need a male member to accompany them all the times. How the male children are given more preference over females. It's sad to know about such unfortunate incidents still prevalent in today's world.
   
   The only concern that I see is that if there are such extremes in one society, it would surely lead to a major uproar sooner or later. In a society where a male member is given so much of freedaom that he does not know how to handle it & misues it; on the other hand, where a female has no freedom at all, even in her own home, such that one day either she suffers silently, or dies, or worse still - does things that totally defies all rules of a society! What kind of a society would it be!
   
   I seriously feel the rules must be relaxed a bit, such that the society as a whole functions smoothly.

4 comments about Beyond the Chindwin.

1. Indo-Burma Front 1942: After being tossed out of Burma the same year, riven internally by arguments with their allies the US and the Chinese on the best strategy to persue, the British opt for a strategy of supporting the American push in North Burma. But with resources lacking they opt for a strategy of Long Range Penetration. The British will carry the war to the enemy by supporting columns of up to 200 men in 6 seperate columns. They will march through plain and jungle (most of it at night) and launch a series of hit and run attacks hundreds of miles behind Japanese lines --- they will be called Chindits after a mythical beast of Burma.

   In theory this strategy seemed both efficient and strategically sound; small amounts of men getting a lot of bang for your buck. In reality the results were disasterous; columns first start to loose one or two people to the elements, then things get worse very quickly indeed; food drops from airplanes do not go as planned; encounters with the "Japs" lead to long marches to lose them; crossing rivers miles across leads to more loses for men who cannot swim. Columns split into ever smaller units until there are just 6-man units left. These then break into a free-for-all with all units told to do everything possible to survive.

   In Fergusson's column alone almost half died or ended up as POWs (almost as bad as dying). Those that survived came into allied lines over the course of months. Some even found it easier to hike to China than to cross back into India --- and all for the result of blowing a single small steel span railway bridge that the Japanese no doubt repaired so the next train could cross safely on time.

   All of this said the men who endured this trauma of marches in jungle, hidden ambushes, the possibility of a lonely deaths on a deserted trail next to the bones of others who went before them (many of their graves still unknown) is one of the more harrowing tales of bravery by men and a testimony to what men and women will endure when forced to endure. There was no evacuation for the wounded, one either coped or one was left behind on the trail for either unfreindly natives, the Japanese or both. The mere prospect makes one shiver.

   It is also a good testiment to the mettle of British and Commonwealth Forces and their ability to stick together under one command. The Chindits were made up of men from the English country regiments, the Ghurkas, African Regiments but most all the members of the latter stages of the English Empire were represented in some form or other on this front from Canadians to Pathans from present day Pakistan.

   The one bright thing that emerges is the mutual respect and admiration of the Chindits for the, mostly American pilots who braved every kind of weather to support the men on the ground. This feeling was reciprocal and as such represents one of the few examples of cooperation in a theatre that become notorious for irrascable incidents between the Americans and the British while fighting a common enemy.

   There are many of my veteran friends that would disagree with me (especially those who served with the Chindits) but the fact remains that the strategic lessons of the Chindits remains limited in the extreme. What they teach us in courage however is rich and as such one will find it hard to put this book down.




2. Indo-Burma Front 1942: After being tossed out of Burma the same year, riven internally by arguments with their allies the US and the Chinese on the best strategy to persue, the British opt for a strategy of supporting the American push in North Burma. But with resources lacking they opt for a strategy of Long Range Penetration. The British will carry the war to the enemy by supporting columns of up to 200 men in 6 seperate columns. They will march through plain and jungle (most of it at night) and launch a series of hit and run attacks hundreds of miles behind Japanese lines --- they will be called Chindits after a mythical beast of Burma.

   In theory this strategy seemed both efficient and strategically sound; small amounts of men getting a lot of bang for your buck. In reality the results were disasterous; columns first start to loose one or two people to the elements, then things get worse very quickly indeed; food drops from airplanes do not go as planned; encounters with the "Japs" lead to long marches to lose them; crossing rivers miles across leads to more loses for men who cannot swim. Columns split into ever smaller units until there are just 6-man units left. These then break into a free-for-all with all units told to do everything possible to survive.

   In Fergusson's column alone almost half died or ended up as POWs (almost as bad as dying). Those that survived came into allied lines over the course of months. Some even found it easier to hike to China than to cross back into India --- and all for the result of blowing a single small steel span railway bridge that the Japanese no doubt repaired so the next train could cross safely on time.

   All of this said the men who endured this trauma of marches in jungle, hidden ambushes, the possibility of a lonely deaths on a deserted trail next to the bones of others who went before them (many of their graves still unknown) is one of the more harrowing tales of bravery by men and a testimony to what men and women will endure when forced to endure. There was no evacuation for the wounded, one either coped or one was left behind on the trail for either unfreindly natives, the Japanese or both. The mere prospect makes one shiver.

   It is also a good testiment to the mettle of British and Commonwealth Forces and their ability to stick together under one command. The Chindits were made up of men from the English country regiments, the Ghurkas, African Regiments but most all the members of the latter stages of the English Empire were represented in some form or other on this front from Canadians to Pathans from present day Pakistan.

   The one bright thing that emerges is the mutual respect and admiration of the Chindits for the, mostly American pilots who braved every kind of weather to support the men on the ground. This feeling was reciprocal and as such represents one of the few examples of cooperation in a theatre that become notorious for irrascable incidents between the Americans and the British while fighting a common enemy.

   There are many of my veteran friends that would disagree with me (especially those who served with the Chindits) but the fact remains that the strategic lessons of the Chindits remains limited in the extreme. What they teach us in courage however is rich and as such one will find it hard to put this book down.




3. This book was first published in 1945 as `Beyond the Chindwin: Being An Account of the Adventures of Number Five Column of the Wingate Expedition into Burma, 1943' (Collins: London). The sub-title has been changed for later editions, but the term 'adventures' in the original has deep meaning and should not be forgotten.
   
   `Beyond the Chindwin' is a class-conscious, born-to-rule account of a military farce. Bernard Fergusson reminds me of those who `led' the disastrous Allied campaigns of the First World War. At least he does not say he did much damage to the Japanese in Burma; but he could not make such a claim, as it was no secret that the Japanese harassed the British, not vice versa. The occasional self-deprecation seems shallow, in particular his pangs of conscience about leaving half his force on a river sandbar, to be shot or captured because they couldn't swim and were too short to wade, while he made his own escape. A decent leader would have stayed on the sandbar or riverbank for at least a few more hours to encourage his men to cross. Some of his officers wanted to stay but were overruled. Why? Perhaps they were of good British stock and might be needed for another glorious campaign. Perhaps Fergusson knew he would look bad if other officers could induce the men to cross the river or were captured with them. In his Boys Own (see the book's subtitle) account of the mayhem he depicts himself as an aristocrat showing pluck under duress while the rabble succumbs. It would be interesting to read accounts of Fergusson's role by his officers and lower ranks. (Are there such records?)
   
   In what must be some of the most shameful writing in military history, Fergusson says:
   
   "Before pushing on, we counted heads. Our strength was reduced to nine officers and sixty-five men; in other words, forty-six men had either been drowned or left on the sandbank. Of these the latter were certainly the vast majority. It is a matter of fact that those who had crossed and were with the column included all the best men, and the men whose behaviour throughout the expedition had been the most praiseworthy. It does not absolve me from my responsibility for the others to say so, but it was and is a comfort to me that among those whom I thus abandoned were few to whom our debt, and the debt of their nation, was outstanding. There were two or three whom I particularly regretted... There were two more who, had they got out, would have had to face charges at a court-martial" (174-5).
   
   The last sentence in Note P at the end of the book says more about Fergusson than he intended: "Over 65 per cent of the force got out safely." Tally-ho! How about "35 per cent of the force did NOT get out safely"? Moreover, he is referring to the 1943 Wingate Expedition overall, but for his group (Number Five Column) the figures were more like 50-50.
   
   Would Fergusson himself have been court-martialled had it not been for his breeding and connections? For instance, he was protege of Field-Marshall (Viscount) Wavell, Viceroy of India, who wrote the foreword to `Beyond the Chindwin'. Fergusson was promoted, then knighted a few years later. Like Papa and Grandpapa, he became Governor-General of New Zealand; as a peer he called himself Lord Ballantrae of Auchairne and the Bay of Islands. Then there was the monocle: "His father, a First World War General, had refused to allow Bernard to go to Sandhurst [after Eton] wearing spectacles ... and insisted that he joined [sic] that august Academy wearing a monocle. That monocle probably ranks as the most famous of its kind and, when he was serving with the Chindits in Burma, it was necessary to have an air drop of monocles to make good his supply" (Geographical Journal, Vol. 47, Part 2, July 1981, p. 274). Spare me faux-eccentrics like Fergusson (and Wingate) who strive to create legends of themselves. If you want to see photographs of a monocled turkey, do an internet search for 'Photographs of Sir Bernard Edward Fergusson'. When you see the feathers in one shot, `pluck' will come to mind, Old Boy.



4. "Beyond the Chindwin" is the account of the adventures of Number Five Column of the Wingate Expedition (otherwise known as the "Chindits") into Burma, 1943. For those that don't know a great deal about the Chindits, they were the largest of the allied Special Forces Units of WW2, formed and lead by Major-General Orde Wingate. In 1942, following the successful Japanese attack on Burma, the British War Office offered Wingate's services to General Wavell, Commander-in-Chief India. It was thought that there would be a role for Wingate in Burma with his proven guerrilla expertise having previously carried out guerrilla operations in Palestine and Abyssinia with great success. Wingate put forward his theory that formations of troops supplied from the air could operate for long periods in the jungle. The troops would be organised into columns, each large enough to inflict a heavy blow to the enemy but small enough to evade action if outnumbered. The columns would march into enemy territory to disrupt the Japanese army's communications and supply lines and to create havoc behind its lines.
   
   A brigade was formed from a number of different units who then trained themselves for two enemies, the jungle and the Japanese. Keep in mind that up until this time, the British had been singularly unsuccessful in jungle warfare against the Japanese - the jungle was a completely unfamiliar environment to the British soldier, one that was scary, completely foreign and in which they weren't trained to fight. One of the reasons why both Malaya and Burma had fallen to the Japanese so rapidly. Wingate set out to familiarize his soldiers with the jungle as well as using the jungle to advantage in fighting.
   
   The original plan was that the Chindits would be part of an offensive into north Burma but this offensive was cancelled. Wingate then proposed that the operation should still proceed, but now alone, to test the theory and gain vital experience of such jungle operations, and to test the Japanese and disrupt their planned offensives. General Wavell agreed to this and the Chindits were ordered into Burma from Imphal in early 1943. The campaign was given the code name Operation Longcloth and a force of 3,000 men operated deep behind enemy lines in North Burma, for two months living in and fighting the japanese in the jungles of occupied Burma, totally relying on airdrops for their supplies. In late March, Wingate was ordered to withdraw.
   
   By then the Chindits had penetrated to the extreme range of their air supply and the Japanese were moving larger numbers of troops to pin them down and cut them off. Despite the obstacles of both Japanese Army units and the terrain and climate, all Chindit units returned by one means or another. Of the 3,000 officers and men that went into Burma, 2,182 came back four months later. Wingate had proved that his theory worked, that allied troops could raid effectively behind enemy lines and that air supply could maintain such operations in the jungle. Additionally, the Chindits were the first troops to fight back after the defeat in Burma and the operation showed that British troops could take on the Japanese and win. The Japanese had been thought to be invincible jungle fighters, the Chindits proved that this was not so. The legend of the Japanese superman was dealt a savage blow. This had a tremendous effect on the morale of troops in India.
   
   Subsequently, a second and much larger expedition was launched in March 1944, with a a force of 20,000 soldiers with air support provided by the 1st Air Commando USAAF. The mission was successful and started the rot, which led to the Japanese surrender. That's the history lesson and what the military histories tell you. This book is the story of one Chindit column in the first expedition, Number Five, which was led by the author. It's an antidote to the military histories and tells you what it was really like. Ferguson's column lost half its men in casualties in the course of the expedition. Supply drops were missed, little in the way of military objectives were achieved, the column broke down into smaller and smaller groups. Despite this, the morale of the survivors was high, the boost to the British was far in excess of the military accomplishments at the time and the Japanese plans for the next offensive were disrupted. Casualties were high, but no higher than other units experienced on this front experienced in fighting the Japanese on this front.
   
   The book is a classic account of it's kind, well-written, readable and with many lessons which can still be learnt from. Not least of which is that the book was a best seller at the time it was published - a time when the survivors of the various Chindit operations were in a position to criticize the leadership of the author had they seen cause to. They didn't, which speaks volumes in itself for his leadership and personality. Ferguson led under fire and from the front, with his soldiers, taking the same risks that they did. He was from all accounts an inspiring leader and one with a certain amount of flamboyance whom his men respected and followed.
   
   I was a boy in New Zealand when Ferguson was Governer-General there and had the honor of meeting him - I still have the copy of this book that he autographed for me. He was well-respected in NZ at the time - a time when a high proportion of NZ men had served in the NZ Army overseas. NZ being a country with no respect for posers, Ferguson wouldn't have cut the grade if he'd been an upper-class British twit. His leadership and the strength of his personality were apparent to me as a youngster and come through strongly in both this book and in "The Wild Green Earth." Read, enjoy, and respect the efforts of those who did their best to fight for the freedoms that we enjoy today.

No comments about East to West (Isis Nonfiction).

5 comments about The Fixer (Transaction Large Print Books).

1. Sounds alot like a newer version of the book of Job. How lucky we are to live in the USA, but make no mistake our justice system is FAR from perfect. Like alot of Russian literature it is depressing but worth the read.



2. Humor, adventure, philosophy, and torture, all in a compact little novel. Christian and want to remember the most recent dark side of the Church? Jump right in! Jewish and want to see why "the elder brother" has seemed so annoying to the rest of the world? Take a walk with Yacov Bok. Secular? This story is still for you -- you can't escape. Not for the faint of heart, but then, life in the 20th (now 21st) century never was.



3. As a child I saw the film adaptation of 'The Fixer', starring Alan Bates. It must have left an impression on me since I reflexively snatched up a secondhand copy of the novel when I saw it. As with other material by Malamud, it is extremely well written. And its depiction of life in a Russian prison circa 1910 is very detailed and, unsurprisingly, horrific. But what really sets the novel apart is how it shows the triumph of the human spirit beyond even the most impossible obstacles. Thankfully the author does not do this at the expense of demonizing all Russians, although clearly at the time anti-semitism was rampant. In the end the reader is left exhausted yet uplifted.
   
   
   Bottom line: although at times a painful and depressing read, The Fixer shines in its championing of the human spirit. Strongly recommended.



4. malamud is an excellent writer. he stoicly captures something that is undefined, but really reflects for me suburban life in jersey and nyc in the sixties (even though this is a book about russia). i liked this book for the humanity it places on the face of suffering at the hands of injustice; how despite all the beatings and deprivations, the character holds on to his essential jewishness. but the book is more than being jewish (which in many ways i am [don't tell this to my orthodox friends)), it is about standing by principles of honesty, integrity, patience, tolerance, and all the other virtues that make life living worthwhile despite whatever else society may say or act.



5. What a difficult book to read, and, I can only imagine, to write. We start with the injustice of poverty and lack of opportunity in the shtetl and move almost directly into a variety of unjust accusations leveled against Yakov Bok, who has become a scapegoat for all the imagined evil deeds of all the Jews in Russia.
   
   Bok leaves the shtetl with hopes of a better life in Kiev. At first, things look up for him. Serendipity finds him a good job, and he is able to afford some books, and even put away some money. The catch is that he has to live in a district from which Jews are forbidden from living. All goes well, although Bok is not a popular figure, until a young boy is found murdered in a cave nearby.
   
   The police show up at his door, arrest him, and summarily throw him in prison. Things go from bad to worse as he is forced to submit to increasingly cruel and dehumanizing treatment, not least of which is having to repeatedly listen to the many crimes he is supposed to have committed. But he steadfastly declares his innocence, and it is this that is supposed to make him one literature's greatest heroes. I'm not so sure about this, but certainly he is a strong character.
   
   His strength almost makes this book harder to read, though. I found myself almost wishing he would confess, even though I knew he was innocent, just so the horribleness would end. But he and I both knew that confessing to a crime that he didn't commit wouldn't help at all, either his own dignity, or the plight of the Jews in Russia. So we endured together until the trial, to which Bok is on his way at the end of the book. At first I was disappointed that we don't fight out what happens at the trial, but then I realized that the result of the trial isn't the point of the book. It's the persecution and the strength that it reveals that really matter.

5 comments about Naked.

1. This has become a very famous book and it deserves to be. It is certainly the type that has you lending it to all your friends and telling them about which pieces are your favorites. I love reading about his family and am a big fan of sister Amy so whenever there's a mention of her I get excited. So many of these stories are hilarious but there are also others that are incredibly sad. Ashes is an unforgettable read. The last selection, Naked, also has some very memorable moments, but the collection as a whole is extremely satisfying. Lots of reviewers make it seem as though reading the book is one marathon of comedy, but I find that a lot of his writing also has really interesting things to say about society and the way people treat others. A lot of the pieces seem to have pain in them but are presented in a generally light and humorous way. A wonderful book from a very talented writer.



2. Naked is a light-hearted collection of wit and satire, a collection of short lyrical stories from his life. Nearly every reader will enjoy the wit and humor. But thoughtful readers can also appreciate how Sedaris succeeds in easing us closer to difficult material, such as the death of his mother and living with OCD. Naked, however, is not completely naked. The title misleads. Sedaris, in fact, keeps readers at a distance that I ultimately found disappointing.



3. The seventeen short stories in this book are entertaining and make for a fun read, but they mostly revolve around the humiliation and embarassment of the author. On more than one occasion the author ends up hiding in a ditch while others are searching to beat him up. It pains me to think that these tales actually occurred.
   
   Most of these stories do not have plots nor any closure, since they're simply the retelling of past events, and as a result I was bored with many of them. My favourite, by far, was "Something For Everyone," which had well-developed characters, revealed the author's deepest impression of himself, and (unfortunately) ended in a humiliating tragedy.
   
   In summary, this book is recommended but requires a fair amount of wincing.



4. The short stories were nicely written, drawing on the presumed real life experiences of the author. As an author of humour, I found the style too self-consciously witty and trying to hard to be hilarious. In short, I found it tedious and barely raised a smile, let alone a chuckle and certainly not a belly laugh through the whole production. I put this down to the cultural differences between USA and Australia. It appears that readers in the USA have to be belted over the head and told when to laugh before they can appreciate humour. I prefer something more subtle. I am sure the author is a nice person, but there you go....



5. Anyone who has read David Sedaris' work or listened to him on NPR knows he has a style all his own. The book Naked brings the reader along on a journey through short essays that describe, in detail, aspects of his life that the common man may never experience. The final essay, which shares the title of the book, describes his experience at a nudist colony. He embraces the awkwardness of the situation and bravely details his insecurities. A tool he skillfully uses through his entire collection of essays is humor. If the humor aspect were stripped away from his writing, his work most certainly would take a darker and more depressing tone. I believe this is what makes his writing unique: his honesty, his bravery, and not to mention his phenomenal skill as a writer and a storyteller. The topics he deals with are very real which give the reader a strong sense of connection to him and his experiences. I can't help but admire him for his ability to rise above difficult situations, particularly in his childhood.
   
   Sedaris' work can almost be described as having layers like an onion. On one level he is funny, on another he is honest and open, on yet another he is sarcastic, and at the core is a message about life. He tells a story without dominating the reader's experience; to get the core message one must look a little deeper, one must think! Any level of reader can appreciate his essays because no matter how deep one chooses to explore, he or she will find something to connect with, even if it's just for a laugh. I read his books when I'm having a bad day and need a little pick-me-up. I read his books when I want to be challenged as a reader. I read his books when I need inspiration. I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to be entertained and learn something new through another's life stories.
   
   Just to add, Me Talk Pretty One Day is another excellent book by David!