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I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced Manufacturer: Crown List price: $12.00 |
| “I’m a simple village girl who has always obeyed the orders of my father and brothers. Since forever, I have learned to say yes to everything. Today I have decided to say no.” Forced by her father to marry a man three times her age, young Nujood Ali was sent away from her parents and beloved sisters and made to live with her husband and his family in an isolated village in rural Yemen. There she suffered daily from physical and emotional abuse by her mother-in-law and nightly at the rough hands of her spouse. Flouting his oath to wait to have sexual relations with Nujood until she was no longer a child, he took her virginity on their wedding night. She was only ten years old. Unable to endure the pain and distress any longer, Nujood fled—not for home, but to the courthouse of the capital, paying for a taxi ride with a few precious coins of bread money. When a renowned Yemeni lawyer heard about the young victim, she took on Nujood’s case and fought the archaic system in a country where almost half the girls are married while still under the legal age. Since their unprecedented victory in April 2008, Nujood’s courageous defiance of both Yemeni customs and her own family has attracted a storm of international attention. Her story even incited change in Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries, where underage marriage laws are being increasingly enforced and other child brides have been granted divorces. Recently honored alongside Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice as one of Glamour magazine’s women of the year, Nujood now tells her full story for the first time. As she guides us from the magical, fragrant streets of the Old City of Sana’a to the cement-block slums and rural villages of this ancient land, her unflinching look at an injustice suffered by all too many girls around the world is at once shocking, inspiring, and utterly unforgettable. From the Trade Paperback edition. |
I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced
Customer Reviews / I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced
| What an inspiring story. Heartbreaking and I am sure it happens all too much in the Middle East. More than we know about. Much younger than Nujood too.
I gave it only 4 because it seemed a bit too choppy for me. At times it had me kind of bored. However what really had my attention is how they traveled, lived and worshiped. I couldn't believe how her family let her go. I was glad she was able to go back to them. How often it happens is amazing. However, what is ever more shameful, is abuse happens in our OWN country and we put blinders on much like in this story is very sad. I passed this book on in hopes that more people will enjoy Nujood's story and her triumph. I do hope she will become what she wants one day! |
| There are some interesting facts in this book. It's hard for me to believe that the words could have come from someone as young as Nujood. You learn a lot about the people and customs of Yemen but I have to give it only 3 stars. |
| This compelling story was well written. The co-author did a good job of writing as if Nujood herself was telling the story.
That a child could have her courage--not just to get a divorce, but to live back with her family--is remarkable. Here is one small person that has made a huge difference to the lives of so many girls already. I would have liked a few more details - the family seemed so poor, and moved several times, yet they were able to receive phone calls? What was in the little parcel she took with her back to the village? How had her mother gone to the hospital on her own when it was so far away and over such a bad road? |
| This is the story of a brave little ten year old girl. She was living in the deepest of poverty, one of the 12 out of 16 who survived childbirth. Her father, disabled and addicted khat, agreed to have her married to a man much older to her. That man smelled of cigarettes and khat and even though he promised not to touch her until she was older, he raped her on the first night of the marriage day. He beat her and abused her in many ways. It was the little girl, Nujood, who had to decide whether to endure her new life or to seek some way out. She didn't really have any choice if she ever wanted to go back to school, learn more than how to print her first name, to be a child again, to play outside like the little girl she was. But it took tremendous courage for her to come up a plan to escape her husband. This book tells of the time before her marriage, her extraordinary escape. If she had been caught it would have been the worst thing possible that could happen in her life.
The writing is straight forward and honest, through the little girl's eyes and words. To explain how her situation could happen, she told of the customs, especially among the poor and those who live in the country in Yemen. It is of course written with co-author of whom we know nothing. It would have been good to include a page biographical information about her. I was reading this book while waiting for an appointment at my doctor's office. One of the nurses noticed what I was reading and asked me about it. I didn't ask which country he came from but I knew he was from the Middle East by his name. He told me that awful situation is much better today. He said that there has been a lot of information on TV about what to do. Now, if married at a very young age, the girl knows to go to the television station. She should not go to the police because they will send her back to her husband. He said that if you go to the television station, you can see all the girls sitting on benches waiting for help. The news of Nujood's courage and success in escaping has spread around the world and mostly to other Middle Eastern countries. But from what the man at my doctor's office said, there is so much more room for improvement. There need to be enforced laws that would forbid such marriages and provide protection for little girls, snatched out of their childhoods and forced to endure all kinds of abuse. In the back of the book, there is a very useful glossary, reading guide and a plea for donations for The Girls World Communication Center which helps girls get training, scholarships and leadership skills. I recommend this book to all women and men who willing to recognize that the lives of girls and women in Middle Eastern Cultures and other restrictive culture need to have simple human rights and respect. |
| My heart broke for Nujood Ali - Her story is sad and very hard to read at times. I hope that every one of her dreams come true and she is able to follow her heart.
There is one problem I had with the book, and that at times it didn't feel like a 10, 11 or 12 year old's voice. It was like it was from the perspective of a grown up Delphine Minoui, not Nujood Ali -- I think it would have worked better for me if Delphine Minoui wrote the book in the third person. But over all it was very much an eye opener. |
I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced
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