Jenny Nordberg

I gave this four stars because the author took me into the lives of these women in a way I did not expect. When I finished it and closed the book, I experienced an immediate, undeniably fierce and physical awareness of my own freedom, the freedom of my body and the freedom of my life, as a woman and as a human being.

I was also surprised to find myself forced into an inner dialogue about the meaning of gender and its politics, as I read this book.

A full understanding of the complexity of these women's lives will not come from one book. But Jenny Nordberg is passionate and convincing in her attempt, and I feel privileged to have been allowed to be there with her. I appreciate her feminist perspective and her understanding of the origins and real-life implications of patriarchal systems. This is a requirement if an honest look is to be taken.

Although I thought I "knew" how the women in Afghanistan live, reading this book was shocking to me, in the way it pulled me into their lives, as if into the very clothes they wear. Imagining myself veiled from head to toe, looking through a small mesh "window" over my eyes (making my chaperoned excursions outside almost dangerous from my literal lack of perspective and peripheral vision), imagining that my skin is a purely sexual covering, imagining myself peeking through the curtains of my prison/home to catch a glimpse of life outdoors, and imagining a lifetime of dim lighting in perpetually darkened rooms, this book gave me chills.

This book will be unforgettable to me. Thank you, Ms. Nordberg.… (mer)