Book Club Blog Post #4

One of the aspects of this book that is so powerful is the use of other Saudi Arabian women and their stories. When I read Chapter 15 I felt something deep inside me for Amal, the young girl who was stoned to death after she was raped. For any young woman to have to go through the horror of sexual abuse is one thing, but this poor girl was raped, humiliated, became pregnant, then murdered after the birth of her daughter )whose situation after birth remains unknown in the novel). It is hard to say, but I think if I were Amal, I wouldn't have much will to live. Stripped of all her character, rights and life, Amal is murdered in the most brutal of ways. The archaic condemnation of being publicly stoned is not something I would wish upon my worst enemy. What's even worse, these gang-raper group of teenage boys receive no punishment for their indecencies. It's even more startling that the rapists were friends of Amal's brother and he did nothing to stop her cruel punishment. The book states, "In the world of Arabs, blame for unsanctioned sex is placed wholly on the shoulders of the female." So not only does that statement basically give men the right to rape women, but it makes it virtually impossible for anything to be done after this heinous crime against humanity. The further I read into this book, I find myself more disgusted in the men of Saudi Arabia and more grateful of the freedom I have.