I Killed Scheherazade: Confessions of an Angry Arab Woman

Joumana repeatedly tells us that she is an unusual Arab woman, a maverick within the restrictive Arab world that she herself decries, but the majority of her anger is on the West for hemming her into a stereotype. At only one point in the book did I feel a sense of enlightenment - page 135, when she writes of a defensive posture that Arab feminists take under Western criticism.This felt like a self-indulgent rant.

Joumana is blatantly honest and so right about so many things; it's amazing just to think how we need more people like her in the world everywhere, but especially in the Middle East.Unfortunately, the place where this book needs to be published it is not published yet, so at the moment, it is preaching to the converted. The book should be published in Arabic, and allow Arabic nations to self-introspect the cultural future of their societies in general, and the role of women and sexual politics in particular. Social liberation and progress comes through and with the liberation of women's social status.

Reading this book for me was probably as boring as it was cathartic for Joumana Haddad to write it. It probably did her a world of good to let off her frustration and anger, but as far as I'm concerned, I found little which was interesting or new.The "post-partum" bit about how she killed Scheherazade was the only part which touched me.. and limiting herself to that would have got her point across without all the rest of her ranting.

This book is very eye-opening and it makes you doubt your own thoughts and prejudices. It questions the stereotypes and really makes you think. The humour and irony between the lines is amazing and you'll find you cannot but read this at one go.

The book was entertaining, but it didn't feel like the author did a whole lot of research prior to writing it. It felt like most of the material was based on the author's personal experience and thoughts. It read similarly to a blog. Nevertheless, it was entertaining.