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Dec 17, 2009

La Petite Américaine added it

Am I the only one that hates this book? Found it insulting? Stupid?

Look, I'm not a muslim and I think the way that women are treated in most Islamic countries is pretty damn barbaric.

Come on, people! This book is FICTION, and with all the efforts people have made to out fake writers like James Frey, Laura Albert, and Kaavya Viswanathan, I can't believe that no one has so much as questioned the veracity of this one.

Saudi princesses don't go making friends wi More...

52 comments like (30 people liked it)

Nov 25, 2007

Renee rated it:

Princess, by Jean Sasson is the life story of a Saudi princess as told to an American journalist. It details the dysfunction, hypocrisy and imposed inertia of the royal family in general, and depravity of some members in particular. Most of all, it describes the gilded but treacherous cage in which royal women are forced to live, and the vulnerability of all Saudi & foreign worker women in the Kingdom.

On a personal note, if I thought the Saudis were a bunch of troglodyte degenera More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Dan rated it:

Princess is the story of a Saudi Arabian princess called Sultana for the purposes of the story. It shows a picture of the life of a woman in the male dominated Saudi society. Her brother is treated like a god from birth while she and her sisters are subjected to whatever cruelty he desires. As Sultana gets older, she encounters more and more horror at the treatment of women. Things chance when she is betrothed to Kareem. Or do they...?

First of all, this was a homework assignment More...

12 comments like (20 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2007

Debarati rated it:

I seriously dont know if the book is fiction or non-fiction. But few months after reading the book I saw an interview of some Arabian princess on a news channel. The incidents she shared sounded so same to the book. It talks about the kind of life women lead in Saudi Arabia. It discloses some shocking facts like a young girl stoned to death and a girl child was married to a man of 50's. The life of a princess in Arab is only about gold and dimonds but when it comes to self respect and love, she More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Apr 12, 2010

Helynne added it

I have read several books by contemporary Muslim women from Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Iran. Women from all of these countries have sad tales to tell about the strict laws of Islam and the cultural prejudices that restrict women's activities, personal expression and freedom, and keep them closely under the control of their fathers, husbands, or other men in their families. However, no stories were more heart-wrenching than this tale of a woman's life in Saudi Arabia. The narrator, kn More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 27, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

3.5 stars
I was slightly put off by the way Princess Sultana tried to portray her life as somehow representative of what average Saudi women have to endure. The reality for most women there is so much worse. She does mention some examples of what happened to other women, but her tone is often self-pitying. "I was born free, yet today I am in chains." Give me a break! Her life of leisure was a dream compared to the lives of most Saudi women. Here's what filled her days:

More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 18, 2008

Cheri added it

As a woman who has traveled to Saudi Arabia and having worn the veil; I have to admit, when I read the stories of these women Jean Sasson writes of, I now feel--looking back on wearing the veil--that I was somehow an imposter (I can't explain it any better than that) when comparing my life with the lives of these women. My wearing the veil was only compulsory when I went outside the confines of the base on which I was stationed; to these women it is a way of life. I couldn't help but feel that n More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

May 02, 2008

Ashlee rated it:

The book Princess is about a young woman living the life of the royal family. The book tells the real life stories of this one girl and her family and friends. It blew me away when reading these stories. The women are looked at as tools used to reproduce sons and are they are only there for the sexual pleasures of the men.
The young lady in this story goes by the name, Princess Sultana. She is ahead of her time; because of this she had to learn to keep her thoughts to herself. It w More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2008

Roos rated it:

Kisah Putri Sultana dari masa kecil hingga dia memberanikan diri untuk membuka dirinya terhadap penulis.

Sebelum sampai pada kata penutup, aku merasa Kisah Sultana ini tidak begitu tragis, justru yang tragis itu adalah wanita-wanita yang hidup disekeliling Putri Sultana ini termasuk kakaknya, Sara. Kenapa tidak tragis karena Putri Sultana ini dari kecil sudah hebat, melawan dominasi lelaki ( Ayah dan kakak laki-lakinya, bahkan suaminya ) meski pemberontakannya cenderung kekanakan tapi More...

26 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 20, 2007

Yuanita rated it:

Untill now, I still have a huge doubt wheter the story is real or just a smart fiction.Sasson claimed her writing to be an original story of a real Arab's Princess who underwent a very tough life in Arabs noble realm.This book tells that becoming a princess of Arabs was not as happy as it might seem.Sasson wrote down every adversity that Princess Sultana (and other Arabs women) had to go through in her stages of life with a full-of-detail way.The story took a setting against a backdrop of Arab w More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2009

Sue rated it:

Remember Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale? This is the real handmaid's tale. First published in 1992, it has been reissued in paperback. While some of the facts cited about women's lives in Saudi Arabia may have changed since then, most of the story is still, unfortunately, true. Not an easy book to read, but one that gives voice to a whole group of women you never hear from.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 20, 2008

Marjanne rated it:

This is the true story of a Saudi Arabian Princess. I am sure that most people can guess some of the horrors discussed in this book. Unfortunately, this wasn't really anything new to me. I am fairly familiar with Arab culture. I imagine this book would really surprise some.
This story makes me think that perhaps is it Saudi Arabian men who give Muslims a bad name/reputation (at least here in the US). I am not so quick to condemn them all because of the acts of a few. However, it is difficu More...

10 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2008

Bridget rated it:

This was OK. I can't say I learned too much - life sucks if you are a woman in Saudi Arabia...but I knew that already. Reading this reminds me that I am very, very lucky and happy to be an American. There is no mention of how the American writer befriended this Princess or the circumstances surrounding thier friendship. I think I would have liked that story. The end bugged me because it kind of just stopped, and then there was a note to go read the author's 2 more books if you wanted t More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 23, 2008

Annette rated it:

This book really affected me. I read this book about 13 years ago and still have not been able to erase the images from my mind. I found the treatment of women, as portrayed in this book, appalling. I was not prepared for the startling realism portrayed in this book. I gave it a favorable rating because it truly made me grateful that I am an American citizen. I did not give it a 4 or 5 because I found it to be emotionally disturbing. I would not recommend this book to anyone who prefers to r More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2009

Laila rated it:

it is a sad story of a princess who lived horrible life behind the veils...

no human rights !!!!!!!!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 20, 2008

Kerry rated it:

This pictures portrays the life of a Saudi Princess. The book captures the reader's attention. The atrocious acts committed against women are difficult to read about at some points. I have to admit that some of the incidents absolutely incensed me, but it does illustrate some of the reasons why those in power have a great deal to lose by allowing progress to take hold.

I was bummed about the abrupt ending, but there are sequels I have heard. So maybe some of the hanging questions More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

S.P. rated it:

I thoroughly enjoyed this story despite the insight into an antediluvian culture and the simplistic writing style. Hard to believe some of the things that go on in the Middle East today, which leaves you wondering why exactly is it allowed still. This book is shocking, yes, but the story needed to be told, revealing the brainwashing and subservience of women, even a Princess who took her life in her hands to tell the story, some put to death for even talking to a man.

I gave it three More...

0 comments like

Feb 02, 2012

Betty rated it:

Ok I wanted to try something different I have a few things lined up but I took a chance at this.

No I did not pick this up for a Princess story – its about how different life for women is in the middle east vs. here. The anti-feminist me actually picked this up, I picked one up with some politics so it wasn’t really just a woe is me story.

It does a good job a describing the highlights of ‘Sultana’ and what some of the woman in the Muslim religion lived through. The best of thi More...

0 comments like

Jan 17, 2012

Erin rated it:

I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. It's billed as a true story and was published in the 1990's, but even still I can hardly believe some of the events in it. Sultana is the code name for one of the many women of the Saudi royal family, one who dares to speak up about the shameful treatment of women in her country. There's the veil and tough laws of this Islamic-based country, but the book goes much, much beyond that, detailing stories of women who are stoned to death after being ra More...

0 comments like

Oct 21, 2011

إديث rated it:

Sensationalist is what comes to mind. While we've all heard "stories" of the messed up things that can happen in some areas of the MENA, especially Saudi Arabia, and this book precisely delivers that - a rehash of all the horror stories of an eastern society that endlessly oppresses women. (I'm not commenting on the actual issue of domestic violence. No doubt it exists. [A true memoir of child marriage in modern Yemen can be found in a book by Nujood Ali] But my problem with this book More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 12, 2011

Ahmed rated it:

In the course of the true life stories found in the book Princess, by Jean P. Sasson, the reader becomes enveloped in the terrible and heart-wrenching lifestyles of middle-eastern women. Through the course of the narrative, though horrifying stories are related in a truly eye-opening manner, the reader discovers a true slice of Princess Sultana's imaginative and vivacious personality, and weeps as it slowly becomes lost in the process of womanhood in Saudi Arabia. "The history of our women More...

1 comment like

Aug 08, 2011

A'ishah rated it:

This book is pure fiction. I do not say that just because I am a Muslim from Saudi Arabia. I'm saying it because it is true. There are a number of problems with this book, including factual errors and situations that are unlikely/implausible.

My three main problems are:

1. For starters, how does someone just "traveling" to Saudi Arabia just happen to befriend a princess and extract the many details of her life in this book? She's a princess, not a woman on the s More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 18, 2011

Jeffrey rated it:

The writing is o.k.; the content is powerful. I had skimmed this book a few years ago. But I came back to is now, as I am currently living and working in Saudi Arabia. This book is particularly meaningful, the more so because it is 20 years old, yet sounds like it was written yesterday (so little has changed since 1990).
It is truly stunning how much Saudi Arabia represses women in comparison to all other countries in the world, and how Saudis conjure the weakest rationalizations for this More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jun 07, 2011

Alison rated it:

I know there is a debate about whether this book is actually non-fiction or not. It's certainly a compelling read, though - I had a hard time putting it down. The author seems to have done her research, and if indeed these are Sultana's stories, she is certainly entitled to her point of view. It's hard for Westerners to imaqine lives lived differently from ours - we are self-centered (as are most cultures) and it's well-established that women are treated differently, and subserviently, in other More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 07, 2011

Nicolette rated it:

I thought this was a well written book. Did the author embellish or make up the entire story altogether? I don't know...but what I do know is that IF the events weren't really happening to this particular Sauidi Princess, they're most likely happening to other women in that country. And that is the true tragedy of this story.

This is really a 3.5 star, but because it was a page-turner for me, I figured I should round up. I did not like the "poor-me" attitude of the Princess More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 27, 2011

Molly rated it:

I couldn't put this book down. I borrowed it from a friend while on holiday in Singapore. I thought I'd just leaf through a few pages to pass time in between sight-seeing trips. But I ended up having long nights reading chapter after chapter. So you can just imagine what a slow start my mornings had--not exactly good for touring the city!

It's the story of a Saudi Arabian princess, Sultana. Not her real name, of course--whoever she is, she's in big trouble from her country's government. More...

0 comments like

Jan 14, 2011

Ciera rated it:

I think this book is a great book to read so that we can see what it is like for these women in their culture. It is hard to read this book because of all the terrible things that happen to women. I think it is impotant that we see what soes on in Saudi Arabia. I was amazed that women are allowed to be treated so badly and sometimes killed.
Sultana is a Princess in a house with many sisters and one brother named Ali. She tells the story of her and her brothers relationship. She is alw More...

0 comments like

Jan 13, 2011

Tracy rated it:

Gut Wrenching, heartbreaking and shocking. All that makes you seriously so appreciate the funny part's. Althought Jean makes's a point to note that she love's that country but she must have one big heart because I could never live there. Sultana (Through Sasson) said that the crime rate is much lower than many other countries, well maybe there aren't too many thieves because they get their hand's shopped at the wrist but there is plenty of rape, animal cruilty, hatred against women, prejudice, r More...

0 comments like

Oct 17, 2010

Lally rated it:

This book was terrible. Terribly written, edited terribly, and I have serious reservations over the authenticity of this book. While I do not question that women are treated very poorly in Saudi Arabia and several other Middle Eastern countries, I have a hard time believing that this 'autobiography by proxy' is true. When I picked up this book, the quick internet research I did brought up the pettiness between Jean Sasson and her would-be plagiarism victim and I find it hard to respect an author More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2009

Linda rated it:

After reading this book and comments from other readers, i really feel like i need to say something regarding Islam and Muslims because I am a Muslim.
To all people who read the book, don't be mislead by what you read. That is not the true picture of Islam. What is portrayed in the story is more of culture-based, not religion (Islam particularly). The way the men in the story treated their women is not what is taught in Islam. I know because I am a Muslim, living in a Muslim community. In I More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

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