Woman At Point Zero in Reading 1001

Jul 14, 2018 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: asian, read-in-2020, biographical-fiction, nonfiction, reading-women-2020, 1001-books, education, feminism

Updated review, 2020 reread: It often surprises me how differently my reaction is to a book when I read it again. Two years ago I found this one too depressing and was glad to leave it behind. But this time I got so much more from it.

It is a short book. Biographical fiction or creative non-fiction? Not really sure how to classify it, but it is powerful either way. Published in 1975, the author had lost her jobs as Director of Health Education and as Editor-in-Chief of Health magazine after she p ...more

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Sep 17, 2018 George P. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: set-in-africa-or-asia, author-not-us-canada-or-uk, 1001-books-read, 50-african-women

This story, of a poor woman who becomes a successful prostitute and who comes to hate men, has very lyrical qualities and eloquently expressed the frustration and anger of women's oppression, particularly in the Middle East. ...more

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Jul 01, 2018 Kristel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-challenge, 1001-books, women, egypt

This is a short work, a creative non-fiction, and so powerful. The author's story is a story as well. The author published this book in 1975 but starting work on it after she lost her position as the Director of Health Education and the Editor-in-Chief of Health magazine after the publication of Women and Sex. The author was researching neurosis in Eygptian women and learned about Firdaus, a women accused of murder and sentenced to die. The setting is the Qanatir Prison where the author is inter ...more

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Aug 29, 2017 Chinook rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001, feminism, egypt

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I'm not sure what to make of this. Parts of it really moved me and other parts I felt like I was missing something, especially the bits with the eyes and her feelings at those moments. ...more

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Mar 18, 2016 Rosemary rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books

A brave and passionate book, based on a real woman, who was sentenced to death in Egypt for killing a pimp.

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Jul 11, 2018 Dree rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-reads, in-translation, women-in-translation, the-middle-east, 1001-read

El-Saadawi was a trained and professional psychologist before she became an author. This book is a novelization of an Egyptian prostitute's life ("Firdaus")—how and why she became a prostitute. When she was interviewed, she was in prison awaiting death for killing her pimp.

Firdaus's entire life was in serving men--first her father, then her uncle (who did send her away to school, mostly to get her out of their house). This poor girl just wanted to lead what the middle/upper classes in Egypt (lik ...more

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