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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Read this on an east coast/west coast trip. Recommended by my sister-in-law, Heather. It was enthralling to listen to the desperation and despair and ingenuity the family experiences as they pay for the sins of the father.
I struggled a lot with this book. I wanted to love it, but there was something holding me back.
For starters, there's a lack of context of most of the events happening in the story. That's my fault, for my ignorance of Morocco and the politics there, but it did make it harder for me to follow when there was limited information on the politics surrounding their imprisonment and the coup. She talks briefly of things like "the Ben Barka affair" (it's believed her father murdered the leader of a political movement opposing the king) and her friends' fear/dislike of her father, but there wasn't enough information for me to actually understand what was happening.
She talked about several attempted coups as well. I looked up one of them for more information, just because I really couldn't follow the politics or intent behind the coup and wanted to understand more (both for the book itself and just generally trying to broaden my knowledge- interesting subject). But some of the basic information contradicted what was in the book. The book stated that hundreds of guests were massacred at the attempted coup of 1971, but online sources state the number at 92. The discrepancy made it difficult for me to trust some of what Oufkir was saying. If that was an exaggeration, what else was she exaggerating?
Something else I had difficulty with was her mocking her sister's weight. At one point during their imprisonment, her younger sister gains some weight and Oufkir talks about rationing her food and forcing her to do an exercise plan (in Oufkir's words, to stop her letting herself go). At the same time, she discusses how limited food they had and how they're all starving. Even if I ignore the horror of her limiting her little sister's food, how is she gaining weight if they're never given enough food to eat? Why the need to ration her if their food supplies are already next to nothing? Oufkir talked about eating weeds and chewing a single dried chickpea.
There were also a few beliefs Oufkir held that were difficult to get past. She lived in the palace for much of her youth and frequently commented on the slaves held there, but didn't seem to have any problem with the practice, even in hindsight. She said that the slaves had the choice to leave, but few ever did. Later in the book she discusses how her family is freed in Morocco, but still can't work or leave the country and their friends are investigated so even though technically they're free, their lives are still very controlled by the state. She draws no parallels.
I did think it was very interesting to see how the family grew and changed overtime. I wish there was more of that, but it seems to stop very suddenly once they're free. She references various things (my younger brother Abdellatif was unable to cope on his own because of how we always did everything for him, my sister Maria was able to escape to France and set us all free), but the book stops before we get to these events. In the end, a couple of things are summarized in list form, but that's about it. It felt like so much was left out.
But I didn't hate this. It was interesting story of a very privileged and spoiled young girl with such a limited upbringing who went through a very traumatic experience. It was worth reading, but I didn't come away from it feeling like I fully trusted her narrative.
For starters, there's a lack of context of most of the events happening in the story. That's my fault, for my ignorance of Morocco and the politics there, but it did make it harder for me to follow when there was limited information on the politics surrounding their imprisonment and the coup. She talks briefly of things like "the Ben Barka affair" (it's believed her father murdered the leader of a political movement opposing the king) and her friends' fear/dislike of her father, but there wasn't enough information for me to actually understand what was happening.
She talked about several attempted coups as well. I looked up one of them for more information, just because I really couldn't follow the politics or intent behind the coup and wanted to understand more (both for the book itself and just generally trying to broaden my knowledge- interesting subject). But some of the basic information contradicted what was in the book. The book stated that hundreds of guests were massacred at the attempted coup of 1971, but online sources state the number at 92. The discrepancy made it difficult for me to trust some of what Oufkir was saying. If that was an exaggeration, what else was she exaggerating?
Something else I had difficulty with was her mocking her sister's weight. At one point during their imprisonment, her younger sister gains some weight and Oufkir talks about rationing her food and forcing her to do an exercise plan (in Oufkir's words, to stop her letting herself go). At the same time, she discusses how limited food they had and how they're all starving. Even if I ignore the horror of her limiting her little sister's food, how is she gaining weight if they're never given enough food to eat? Why the need to ration her if their food supplies are already next to nothing? Oufkir talked about eating weeds and chewing a single dried chickpea.
There were also a few beliefs Oufkir held that were difficult to get past. She lived in the palace for much of her youth and frequently commented on the slaves held there, but didn't seem to have any problem with the practice, even in hindsight. She said that the slaves had the choice to leave, but few ever did. Later in the book she discusses how her family is freed in Morocco, but still can't work or leave the country and their friends are investigated so even though technically they're free, their lives are still very controlled by the state. She draws no parallels.
I did think it was very interesting to see how the family grew and changed overtime. I wish there was more of that, but it seems to stop very suddenly once they're free. She references various things (my younger brother Abdellatif was unable to cope on his own because of how we always did everything for him, my sister Maria was able to escape to France and set us all free), but the book stops before we get to these events. In the end, a couple of things are summarized in list form, but that's about it. It felt like so much was left out.
But I didn't hate this. It was interesting story of a very privileged and spoiled young girl with such a limited upbringing who went through a very traumatic experience. It was worth reading, but I didn't come away from it feeling like I fully trusted her narrative.
It is amazing that Malika and her entire family were able to survive the horrors of this imprisonment, and even more shameful that the international community did not do more to aid her and the other "disappeared". Despite all this, she emphasizes the power of humour, family, and positive thinking as the sources of their shares strength and ability to overcome.
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced