Book Reviews
Girls of Riyadh, By Rajaa Alsanea
February, 2009
Girls of Riyadh, by Rajaa Alsanea is an expose in disguise. Although the book, beginning with, “Ladies and Gentlemen: You are invited to join me in one of the most explosive scandals, and noisiest, wildest all-night parties around,” is meant to be scandalous, it ends up being so for a completely different reason than is presented in that first chapter. Girls of Riyadh is the story of four young women in Saudi Arabia discovering their opinions about the society they live in. The stories are presented as scandalous because of the girls behavior which often goes against Saudi law. In addition, the narrator often poses suggestions of women’s equality or remarks on the rude behavior of Saudi men. The real scandal, however, is not the girls behavior, but rather the fact that their behavior is even considered scandalous. Written for Arab audiences, and recently translated into English, the book is a rare glimpse into the Saudi life of many women, which was initially not meant for Western eyes. Because of this, the writing is unconstrained and fluidly describes the customs and traditions inhibiting the young girls. At times, it is even confusing, because of the lack of explanation for Western readers. However, the author clears most of this up with footnotes defining words, and explaining customs and rules an American reader would not be familiar with.
The plot itself may be slightly lacking in that it is a bit repetitive, and many of the love stories themselves are not unique. However, the book is more than just a romance novel because of where it is placed. In fact, the familiarity of the stories makes the culture differences clearer, and the reader more able to accept the plot. In addition, the choices the young women are forced to make, or in some cases are made for them, are unique to the setting and leave the reader aghast and often outraged. By the end of the book, all four characters have emerged as strong young women with fully developed opinions, often differing from one another, about their society, religion, and roles as women.
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