BOOK: Girls of Riyadh

book author: Rajaa Alsanea

This is naother one of those strange choices. I don't know what's up but anyways, I enjoyed this book on several levels.
I chose this book for this line from the back of it:
"Now in English, Rajaa Alsanea's bold first novel exposes the hidden lives of young upper-class women and their personal conflicts with cultural tradition and offer Westerners an unprecedented glimpse into a society often veiled from view."
Let me break it down for you:
"Now in English,[ah a foreign book] Rajaa Alsanea's bold [sounds promising] first novel [hmm first book] exposes the hidden lives [cool, hidden]of young [should be fun]upper-class[hopefully not elite] women [right, 'Girls of Riyahd'] and their personal conflicts with cultural tradition [interesting, this would be insightful] and offer Westerners an unprecedented glimpse into a society [exactly what i was hoping] often veiled [image of Arabian Nights type veil on a women] from view." [Hey, I have a feeling I will actually like this and if anything it might give me insight into their culture or personal lives the way Girl in Translation did.]

The story follows, through a format of weekly mass emails sent by the narrator to people in Saudi Arabia, a group of 5 girlfriends of a upper middle class through their lives and the turmoils of love and life. It is the unfamiliar setting and culture that is so interesting, while each
First it fives some interesting insight into the Islamic culture and daily lives. I never knew how things really were or I had never spent time to imagine it. For example going to the mall. Something simple, but it is very different than going to mall in the west.
It was very insightful and it was a lot of fun to read as well.