Book: Infidel

I actually finished this last week, but I've been trying to figure out what to say about it. It was an interesting read, as, I think, everyone's life story is. On the other hand, I find myself not really liking this woman.

I found the anger and bitterness in this book that I expected in Caged Virgin, and honestly, she's got plenty to be angry about. Start with her abusive mother and completely absent father, move on to her grandmother who had her and her sister and brother circumcised against their parents wishes, and then the civil war, the dictatorship, the murder of a friend of hers, her sisters (probably) avoidable death, etc. She's got plenty to be pissed off about.

I think my main problem is this - she was privileged, in her world. She had a lot that other people didn't, and as craptastic as her life was, there were people a lot worse off. You want to know why she became a refugee in Holland? Her father arranged a marriage, and she didn't want to marry him. All well and good, and fine, run away, you're an adult. But then she *lied* in her application to become a refugee. She stole other peoples stories and made them her own. She says she kept telling people, after she'd been granted citizenship, and that everyone lies about it, to get it. That may all be true, and I still agree with her earlier points about change being necessary in many aspects of Islam, but this doesn't sit well with me.