Helpful Score: 5
Fascinating reading..I could hardly put this series down. I lived in the Middle East and I feel so helpless for these women. If they are allowed to survive infancy, most of them have a frightening future with little control over their destiny. Very sad situation...everyone should read these books.
Helpful Score: 4
This is a a really riveting book. This is a follow up to her first book. This book is about the way women are treated in the middle east. The author says that it is a true story based on the life of a wealthy female relative of Sadaam Hussein. The stories she tells will make you sad and angry at the same time. It's hard to put down.
Helpful Score: 3
Difficult to read because the circumstances described are brutal, this is an important book for all who care about human rights.
Helpful Score: 3
The underlying theme to this book is great wealth does not bring great happiness and teenagers are the same the world over even though they are raised in totally different environments. Saudi Arabia might be in the 21st century when it comes to wealth but they are still living centuries behind when it comes to mans humanity toward man. There is a lot of interesting insight to the Muslim religion in this second book.
Helpful Score: 1
All three of the books in this group (this one, "Princess" and "Princess Sultana's Circle") were extremely interesting, although "Princess" was the best. Arab women have a bad deal, even if they are rich. The book was a glimpse into a completely different way of life.
Helpful Score: 1
I highly recommend all of the books Jean P. Sasson has written in her Princess trilogy! It gives a fairly authentic perspective of what life is like for women in Saudi Arabia.
Helpful Score: 1
A True Story of Life Behind the Veil is another page-turner related by "Princess Sultana." A member of the royal family of Saudi Arabia, Sultana now is married to a progressive prince, but this privileged status does not protect her or her two daughters from the country's repressive laws against women. Though a devout Muslim, Sultana believes the entrenched male power structure has perverted religious doctrine to justify veiling women and depriving them of basic civil liberties. The lack of opportunity to forge equal relationships with men before and after marriage, Sultana argues, is why one of her daughters became fanatically religious and the other suffered a mental breakdown. This eye-opening account is limited to life among the royals rather than a critique of Saudi Arabian society, although Sultana describes the brutal custom of female circumcision practiced by the poor.
This book is the sequel to Princess. I enjoyed the first book more that I did this one, but it was interesting.
Excellent book. Interesting that I did not see a single male review of this or the other Princess books.
Amazing women!
This is the 2nd book in a series of 3 regarding a royal princess from Saudi Arabia. The book is a true story told through the words of a princess who is revolutionary in her thinking, and actions. The book is well written and explores the lives of not only the princess, her daughters, but also through other women the princess has encountered in her life. It is hard to believe there are women in this century who still do not have freedom or the same rights as a male.
True story of life behind the veil in Saudi Arabia.
Fabulous book. Well written. Gives you an insight to the culture. I highly recommend it. This author took her life in her hands to write & publish it. Reeeeealy worth a listen.
This is an outstanding sequel to The true story Princess. It offers a glimps into the life of a Saudi Arabian woman and her children.
I liked the book HOWEVER I got it when it was published under the title: Princess Sultana Daughters.... So do not end up with a copy of the same book, just different title and cover, like me.
I wasn't as captivated in this book which deals more with her children than in her first book which deals mostly with her life, but it still told a great deal of the life and culture in Saudi Arabia. She seems to be a very strong woman and I applaud her for wanting to tell her story. Even though I skimmed through a few chapters of this book, it is well worth it to read along with the first book, and I look forward to reading the third and final book in the trilogy.
The sequel to Princess- Another amazing realization of life in a foreign land unknown to any "free" living woman. A must read!!
This book was very interesting to see the lives of women in the middle east. Especially in this time of war....
Excellent continuation of the series. I cannot recommend all three books highly enough. If you are at all interested in what happens in other countries. Read these books. If your curious about how Islam is in practice, READ THESE BOOKS. Be prepared to be heartbroken.
Terrific book. Couldn't put it down. I am now reading the second of the three and will also read the third one.
Who knew, that an insight into the lives of these women.
The second in a series of books by Princess Sultana. The first book was Princess. Very interesting to hear about how her daughters do growing up in Saudi Arabia.
This is the second book in Jean Sasson's Princess Trilogy. While I found the first one much more intriguing and hard to put down, this one was a little less powerful in my mind, though it is still a very worthwhile read. This book concentrates on how Princess Sultana's children (two daughters and a son) have been impacted by living in Saudi Arabia. We witness how one daughter takes her oppression and turns it into a hatred for men including trying to harm her own brother without just cause, another daughter embraces an extreme form of Islam to Sultana's horror because Sultana has fought to create a space in their world where her daughters could have some freedom, and her son has been molded into the type of man that Sultana believes will change Saudi Arabia for the better. We also witness stories of people outside Sultana's family- the story of the female circumcision (genital mutilation) of her Egyptian servant's granddaughter is especially horrifying. Again, there are some that believe Princess Sultana is completely fictional, but even if that is the case, we know from various news accounts that stories like the ones presented here are common in this region of the world, so this makes the Princess "real" in that these things are happening to someone somewhere. There is one more book in this trilogy, and I can only hope that things have gotten a bit better for Sultana and the other women she discusses, but somehow I doubt it.
Interesting book
Great book. I couldn't put it down.
A fascinating look into the life of women in Saudi Arabia. I highly recommend it. I could scarcely lay it down until I finished reading it.
