GIRLS OF RIYADH

I picked up this book on a whim. My fascination with Muslim culture began years ago when I assigned my twelfth grade honors students Azar Nafisi's text READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN. Nafisi assigns forbidden Western texts to her college students who meet in the basement of her home in Tehran to discuss literary style, themes in popular Western texts such as THE GREAT GATSBY, and the diparity between cultural norms in the West as opposed to customs during the Ayatollah's reign in Iran.

Girls of Riyadh is a delightful read.

A young female, Rajaa Alsanea, first time author, creates a narrator who sends emails to subscribers of her online list serve. The narrator links the lives of her four wealthy, elite young Muslim girlfriends as they struggle through love relationships, professional responsibilities, and the drama that ensues when they must deal with very strict Muslim customs in every aspect of their lives.

The internet provides a way for them to communicate and provide support to each other.

In Saudi Arabia men and women are forbidden to mix. Virginity is protected at all costs. Special police enforce strict codes: a woman caught with a man suffers public humiliation and a trip to jail.

Reviewers who compare this book with SEX AND THE CITY are off the mark. Intelligent, professional Saudi women living in this modern world chat online as they tell us funny, sad, and profound stories about their lives. I loved the book.