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26th out of 234 books
—
188 voters
Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan: The Martyr Who Founded RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
The unforgettable story of how one woman dared to start a revolution. Meena founded RAWA in 1977 as a twenty-year-old Kabul University student. She was assassinated in 1987 at age thirty but lives on in the hearts of all progressive Muslim women. Her voice, speaking for freedom, has never been silenced. The compelling story of Meena's struggle for democracy and women's rig...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
October 1st 2004
by St. Martin's Griffin
(first published 2003)
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meena is a really interesting person and certainly an inspirational and heroic figure and RAWA deserve more attention, but its a shame this book was written by someone with a clear shortfall of understanding. additionally, the book has an awful, paternalistic tone as if the author was lecturing a particularly stupid 10 year old.
i hate that she perpetuates the lie that a madrassa is where islamic fundamentalists go to study (it's not - it's just the name for school/university) or that to learn t...more
i hate that she perpetuates the lie that a madrassa is where islamic fundamentalists go to study (it's not - it's just the name for school/university) or that to learn t...more
Feb 17, 2009
Angela
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Angela by:
book club selection
Shelves:
sd-fem-bookclub
"Meena" falls into the unfortunate category of nonfiction book that tells a fantastic, riveting story but suffers from poor writing. Meena seems to have been an inspiring woman with an amazing story, and once I was drawn into her biography I devoured it quickly.
As a literary work, though, Chavis doesn't do the story any favors; the book reads like a ten-year-old's book report and Chavis routinely breaks the narrative to explain simple concepts. I wasn't sure, reading this, what was going on: wa...more
As a literary work, though, Chavis doesn't do the story any favors; the book reads like a ten-year-old's book report and Chavis routinely breaks the narrative to explain simple concepts. I wasn't sure, reading this, what was going on: wa...more
Let me be straightforward: this is a book to read. It's a great story, an eye-opener about Afghani history and culture, and an inspiration. It's also a quick, easy read that you can undertake in a single weekend. It details the life of a woman who sacrificed everything (including her life and the chance to raise her children) to bring literacy, democracy and gender equality to Afghanistan. While she was murdered before she could see her dream of Afghanistan come to fruition, her life is an inspi...more
I almost wanted to give the book 5 stars because I was so impressed with the the breadth of research the author did to present a comprehensive life history of an important, but largely unknown historical figure. Trouble is the writing style was a bit overly sentimental in places and the beginning was stilted with far too much time spent on Meena's near-fatal childhood illness. That said once the book gets going it doesn't stop. It continually boggles the mind the level of courage shown by not on...more
The only downside, if you can call it that is how short it is. Understandably it is hard to find any concrete paperwork on Menna such as personal diaries etc as such items were too risky to keep around under the Taliban. The author however with such restrictive resources and only second-hand accounts from family and friends does a great job in telling Meena's story. It is truly heartbreaking but courageous and inspiring that at such a young age Meena influenced a generation of Afghan girls and w...more
I started sort of ho-hum on this as I found it a bit too earnest for my taste. There were, at first, a bit too many instances of, "and at that moment, at 15, Meena was deciding too....." I sort of shut down reading a biography when the biography takes those kinds of careless liberties.
That said, it's a good story. A good companion to Charlie Wilson's War (and it really brings to light the problems with having the American support via Pakistan go to the more extremist mujaheddin, touche on in Ch...more
That said, it's a good story. A good companion to Charlie Wilson's War (and it really brings to light the problems with having the American support via Pakistan go to the more extremist mujaheddin, touche on in Ch...more
This is one of the highlighted read of 2007. The book was well written and aimed to portray the real story of a real woman, leaving any imposed political agenda out of the biography. MEENA's agenda, however, is consistent and apparent throughout her extraordinary life. The book was enlightening, inspiring, and best of all, very true.
Meena is another great biography that helped me learn about the 20th century history of Afghanistan and gave me a model of another amazing person who lived and died for what she believed in. I was so happy to read the story of an amazing woman as there are few female models whose stories are known to inspire women, but also men. As a teacher, Meena's life provides many lessons I can pass on to my students - challenging their ideas about gender, seeing history through the life of one individual a...more
Oct 15, 2012
Cristina Contilli
added it
E' la biografia di Meena, la fondatrice di Rawa, l'associazione che si batte per i diritti delle donne afghane... un libro che bisognerebbe leggere per ricordarsi che i diritti delle donne purtroppo non sono ancora garantiti dovunque.
A story of courage and profound faithfulness to a calling to serve her generation and those who now follow. An important read for our day.
Recommend to anyone who wants real insight on the women's right movement in the Middle East.
the information was really interesting, the writing could have been better.
First Edition
Deceptively simple because it has a powerful impact. A book of global importance, but also very personal. Poignent, moving, inspiring, heroic. Everyone needs to read this book--we need to know about the poor Afghan people and especially the women's struggles. The Kite Runner was good, but this makes their plight personal.
This is a great book with an intriguing story about an amazing woman. It is, however, quite lacking in style. It's written in a very elemntary manner. The author repeats herself often and jumps around from page to page. But if you can ignore the fact that it's not very well written, it's still a great book.
What an incredible book about such an amazing woman! The story of Meena and her life and formation of the feminist group, RAWA, shows that we all should believe in equal freedom, democracy and the fact that everyone should be given a chance.
Read it because the story of these women needs to be heard, and don't expect a literary masterpiece.
(Three stars only because the writing leaves much to be desired.)
(Three stars only because the writing leaves much to be desired.)
It's always a little disappointing to read a book that has potential to be better and isn't. Meena's story is amazing, and yet the writing is "dumbed down."
Easy to read and gives a really intimate picture of life in Afghanistan.
A must read! truly touching.
I thought this book was great
A very inspiring book!
GREAT!
May 23, 2013
Aeshatou
marked it as to-read
May 20, 2013
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May 14, 2013
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is currently reading it
May 09, 2013
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Dec 18, 2009 07:49pm