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thethirdcrouch's review
5.0
I appreciate the honesty of Shirin Ebadi in telling her story so we could have atleast a gauge how the Islamic Republic treated the Iranians during the decade after 2009's elections. I have not read any recent articles about Iran now so I'm not sure how's their status now. But with recent attention to Israel-Palestine conflict or war or struggle, people prefer other terms to properly call what is happening, I found an article ages ago telling Ebadi's opinions about Iran supporting Hamas; young Iranians volunteering to be suicide bombers against Israel. I wonder if Iran still wants to play a role in reinvigorating Islamists fundamentalist ideals in the region even if Hamas is Sunni-- who are disadvantaged minorities of Iran.
I find it hard to finishing this memoir because I just couldn't bear how much vulnerable Ebadi is in telling those stories. I'm wary that she might tell a very devastating injustice that it would just be so sad-- I have troubles with unclinically diagnosed depression.
But what saddens me the most is how the Iranian government, the Islamic Republic, the public officials... how they can convince themselves, every night when they go to sleep, that they are doing it for a better society. It strikes me how a regime could just strio away all of its people's rights and casually tell them they did not. How dictatorship just easily releases thrm of blame and accountability as if no one understands what is right or wrong.
My country lived a dictatorship as well that ended in the first successful peacful revolution. I've read the horrors of standing up to injustice to oppression but it still felt far out there. Somehow reading this one felt real and near and urgent. Maybe because it's still an ongoing struggle in the Middle East. Maybe I've associated the Middle East and Muslims to war and constant struggle.
Right now Myanmar is also under a military takeover and news of police/military senselessly shooting protesters and locking up dissidents were all over during the first few months. With no direct intervention from international organizations or even SEA countries, I wonder how the people endure it. News have died down and I only pray that justice prevail as soon as possible. Israel is bombing Palestine even if they can defend themselves by effectively targetting the missiles from Hamas. I wonder what the Israeli government and supporters tell themselves to convince themselves that what's happening is okay.
Deep down in our core, as humans, we know killing is evil violence is evil. Forcing people out of their homes is not right. Discrimination against race, religion, social status, gender, and so much more are not right. Deep down we know that everyone deserves to live a peaceful, happy, and free life. I don't understand why a lot of us don't embody that understanding.
I find it hard to finishing this memoir because I just couldn't bear how much vulnerable Ebadi is in telling those stories. I'm wary that she might tell a very devastating injustice that it would just be so sad-- I have troubles with unclinically diagnosed depression.
But what saddens me the most is how the Iranian government, the Islamic Republic, the public officials... how they can convince themselves, every night when they go to sleep, that they are doing it for a better society. It strikes me how a regime could just strio away all of its people's rights and casually tell them they did not. How dictatorship just easily releases thrm of blame and accountability as if no one understands what is right or wrong.
My country lived a dictatorship as well that ended in the first successful peacful revolution. I've read the horrors of standing up to injustice to oppression but it still felt far out there. Somehow reading this one felt real and near and urgent. Maybe because it's still an ongoing struggle in the Middle East. Maybe I've associated the Middle East and Muslims to war and constant struggle.
Right now Myanmar is also under a military takeover and news of police/military senselessly shooting protesters and locking up dissidents were all over during the first few months. With no direct intervention from international organizations or even SEA countries, I wonder how the people endure it. News have died down and I only pray that justice prevail as soon as possible. Israel is bombing Palestine even if they can defend themselves by effectively targetting the missiles from Hamas. I wonder what the Israeli government and supporters tell themselves to convince themselves that what's happening is okay.
Deep down in our core, as humans, we know killing is evil violence is evil. Forcing people out of their homes is not right. Discrimination against race, religion, social status, gender, and so much more are not right. Deep down we know that everyone deserves to live a peaceful, happy, and free life. I don't understand why a lot of us don't embody that understanding.
xtina4evahhh's review
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
I’ve read several memoirs lately by people from totalitarian and/or war-torn countries. I’ve noticed there are a few “types” - those for whom family is everything, and those for whom ideological values are everything. Shirin Ebadi, author of this book, belongs to the second camp. An Iranian human rights lawyer and activist who won the Nobel peace prize in 2003, she risked everything many times to stand up for freedom and human rights of Iranians. Because of her actions, her children and spouse faced death threats and imprisonment from the regime multiple times, but she never wavered in her activism. Her courage and steely determination not to give an inch to the totalitarian regime were formidable.
Yet as a mother, I have to admit there was a part of me that felt a bit squeamish reading some of this. No doubt the world needs people like Ebadi who are bravely willing to sacrifice everything in the fight for freedom and human rights. But when your activism puts your own family at grave risk? I suppose this is how totalitarian regimes manage to stay in power - they know most citizens will not make the same daring choices Ebadi made. I know I wouldn’t.
So the book left me feeling a mix of emotions: awe at the bravery of Ebadi, sorrow for the losses she and her family endured because of her work, anger at the regime, frustration and despair that the regime has managed to cling to power all these years despite the bravery of Ebadi and so many others. Perhaps most stark, it made me feel gratitude to live in the West, which I know is probably not a PC thing to say but whatever. I will take my first world problems any day over living with the type of existential threat and impossible ethical dilemmas Iranians and others living in totalitarian regimes face on a daily basis.
carabee's review
4.0
Reading this book was a surreal experience; it's one of those moments when it's hard to believe Iran and the US occupy the same planet. Shirin Ebadi's courage is astounding, but I'm equally if not more amazed by her patience and persistence. So often I found myself getting frustrated, despairing, with each set-back she describes, and yet Ms. Ebadi continued on, doing what she could where she could. Her work fighting for human rights in Iran reminds readers that achieving any good, no matter how seemingly small or fleeting, is worth the effort and that it's the accumulation of these little kindnesses that improve the world. I hope this book makes it way onto future high school reading lists, especially for global history courses.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.
raerae1919's review
4.0
I heard Shirin Ebadi speak at Edinburgh International Book Festival and was so impressed with her courage and dedication to human rights that I had to read the book. It's an insight into life in Iran for an intelligent, independent Muslim woman who refuses to back down. If you are interested in human rights, the Middle East or women's rights then you should read this book.
lizaroo71's review
3.0
Ebadi has devoted her life to fighting for civil rights and women's rights in her homeland Iran. She has lived in exile since 2006.
Ebadi lived for years under surveillance by the government. Her family, her colleagues, everyone associated with her was under the same scrutiny. She was forced into a lot of decisions that made her lose all of her assets and even her husband.
I admire her devotion as I don't know I could muster the same energy towards something that seems so ephemeral.
The book is just interconnected essays about her work. I did learn a lot about Iran and its politics.
Ebadi lived for years under surveillance by the government. Her family, her colleagues, everyone associated with her was under the same scrutiny. She was forced into a lot of decisions that made her lose all of her assets and even her husband.
I admire her devotion as I don't know I could muster the same energy towards something that seems so ephemeral.
The book is just interconnected essays about her work. I did learn a lot about Iran and its politics.
terrimarshall's review
5.0
I learned a lot about the political climate in Iran from this book written by a woman who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her work in human rights. She has been living in exile since 2009. Her story of how dealing with the Iranian government tore her family apart is an eye-opening story of the realities of people living in a place like Iran.
annelisa614's review
4.0
This book has a very powerful and necessary message. I'd recommend it to anyone who pays attention to the news and wants to see a side of Iran not necessarily always portrayed. I have infinite respect for the author and her colleagues, who have gone through things that seem straight out of a spy tv show and not real life. Very inspiring for anyone with an interest in feminism, political science, and human rights.
_askthebookbug's review
5.0
// Until We Are Free by Shirin Ebadi
While I was reading Until We Are Free a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't help but realise how women always have it worse in the face of war or anything else that involves violence. From becoming the first female judge in Tehran in 1975 to setting up her Human Rights Center, Ebadi has had a long and tiring fight. It's incredible how she trudged on even in the face of death threats, a failing marriage and state appointed spies who traced her every move. While the Iranian revolution persecuted thousands of innocent people, Ebadi made it her mission to help such families. And this came at a price.
It is worth noting how Ebadi uses dark humour to show the ridiculous ideas harboured by the authorities when Ahmadinejad was in power. She was hounded constantly by his men to the extent of even forcing her to live in exile. Her office was vandalized and an unvarying danger loomed over her family for decades.
Even her Nobel Peace Prize was ridiculed by the government time and again. While Ebadi founded several missions with other Peace Prize winners, it only angered the authorities more. Her refusal to succumb to the religious bigots, the ones in power and to the men who wanted to see women like Ebadi in submission, infuriated them further.
Until We Are Free champions humanity like no other book. Ebadi's sheer determination and unflinching loyalty to help those in need even at the cost of living with collateral damage instills fire in one's heart. It takes immense courage to live amidst such danger, one that reminds you every single day that you may not live to see the next one and when you're a woman it becomes ten times harder. Perhaps this was why I found the book so powerful.
I highly recommend this.
While I was reading Until We Are Free a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't help but realise how women always have it worse in the face of war or anything else that involves violence. From becoming the first female judge in Tehran in 1975 to setting up her Human Rights Center, Ebadi has had a long and tiring fight. It's incredible how she trudged on even in the face of death threats, a failing marriage and state appointed spies who traced her every move. While the Iranian revolution persecuted thousands of innocent people, Ebadi made it her mission to help such families. And this came at a price.
It is worth noting how Ebadi uses dark humour to show the ridiculous ideas harboured by the authorities when Ahmadinejad was in power. She was hounded constantly by his men to the extent of even forcing her to live in exile. Her office was vandalized and an unvarying danger loomed over her family for decades.
Even her Nobel Peace Prize was ridiculed by the government time and again. While Ebadi founded several missions with other Peace Prize winners, it only angered the authorities more. Her refusal to succumb to the religious bigots, the ones in power and to the men who wanted to see women like Ebadi in submission, infuriated them further.
Until We Are Free champions humanity like no other book. Ebadi's sheer determination and unflinching loyalty to help those in need even at the cost of living with collateral damage instills fire in one's heart. It takes immense courage to live amidst such danger, one that reminds you every single day that you may not live to see the next one and when you're a woman it becomes ten times harder. Perhaps this was why I found the book so powerful.
I highly recommend this.