The Poison Tree - Planted And Grown In Egypt

by Marwa Rakha

The Poison Tree - planted and grown in Egypt is not a traditional novel; it combines the techniques of blogging, journal-keeping, and formal writing while retaining one binding thought that keeps the story together; poison is the fertile ground that I, and many other Middle Eastern women, was born into; a poisoned culture nurtured my roots with suffocating traditions, taboos, and beliefs; poison runs through my stem. I branched out and my branches carried me far away from the roots and the ground. I questioned the tutoring of my conservative society and green leaves covered my bare branches. My tree bore its fruits; poisoned fruits that were the poison of many who dropped dead next to the solid stubborn tree. This is a book about love, marriage, divorce, sex, dating, virginity, adult dating, religion, shame, taboos, gender wars and fear that grew and blossomed on my poison tree.

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Born and raised in Egypt, I was brought up to be a good middle class Egyptian girl; but somehow being good did not suit my notions. Deep down I have rejected the heavy heritage of traditions and norms that made no sense to my inquisitive mind. I could not understand why girls were killed, committed suicide, or lived in eternal shame when they lost their virginity. I failed to comprehend why such a rule applied only to girls and their male counterparts were spared. After my grand mother passed away we stopped celebrating Christmas, New Year's Eve, Halloween, and Thanks Giving ... does being a Muslim forbid me from all my childhood memories? Why do I have to get married? Why can't I date? Why do men cheat? Why do I have to accept it? Why? Why? Why? And many more unanswered questions.

I have come a long way from the scared little girl that I once was ... I found my passion in writing, my voice in teaching & training, and my strength in marketing ... I took off my mask ... and I decided to speak up and loud .. as loud as loud could ever be.



DOWNLOAD MY RESUME
http://www.marwarakha.com/index.php?c...

Reviews

[Iman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me long time to read it, six months on and off, mainly because it's a collection of articles, which cannot be read at once, but more because it's an over dose of broken hearts, bitterness, breakups, despair, and rebellion against our traditions, cultural heritage, and misperceived religious concepts and teachings, in which she sometimes proved right, others proved wrong, or mislead.

She preaches honesty, rebels against double standards, I admit, and I enjoyed and appreciated this clarity, her courage to talk the mind of many, even if wrong, when God only knows how her words, opinions and stories would be perceived and interpreted. Thus, took the first step we all must take to improve our social system and fix it, and I've no doubt she will help many through their problems, warn others before they do, or at least spread awareness of various opinions show the options and let everyone choose his own path.

However, she was subjective about it, there was no land mark to go to when we're lost, nothing is good enough, nothing will last enough, every story being true, or beyond imagination, shocking, or possible, is an image of failure, double standards and rotten system, not the slightest bit of hope, as if we're doomed to fail when it comes to relationships.. "Tareekuka masdoodon masdoodon masdoooood.. ya walady" :). This affected the quality and integrity of her articles and opinions, made me question when I should take her wisdom for granted and when not, sometimes get the feeling that we are here to oppose to, rebel against every and each thing, be it right or wrong and nothing but that. She sheds light on rotten spots of our social system, but with seeing no good at all and no way through, I find it very difficult to see her vision as real or as objective as it should be.

[Mai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marwa's memoir is about relationships,men ,Egyptian society and societal norms that she tries to defy and rebel against while exposing the double standards in the Egyptian society when it comes to Men Vs women ,It was always and still Men who won ,Marwa could seem or appear like a hardcore feminist but she actually speaking the harsh truth that we women try to ignore or live with it anyways!
Marwa talked about her many failed relationships and while I was reading I could see a pattern of her going for unavailable men,may be that has to do with one of her parents being unavailable to her during childhood ,I think her father as she mentioned at the beginning of the book that he left her when she was a child.
Through her many failed relationships ,it makes you wonder how someone so beautiful ,successful and smart had a hard time finding a husband ?! Her friends and family accused her of being too picky ,while she sees that she intimidates men by her bold personality and independence . Either ways,she wasn't willing to settle for the sake of getting married or surrender and pretend to be the "good girl" that society approves of!
Another revelation that comes to me ,Is Marwa really Egyptian? Becoz everything about her ,her values ,her beliefs seem so westernized .I guess her struggle comes from adopting the western mentality and lifestyle in an oriental society with conservative values and traditions and she becomes torn in the process trying to find balance,so typical of Libra :)
Although the topics discussed in her book are so controversial ,she gave us a new perspective and something to think about like who we really are ,how to express our individuality in a society that suppresses it
It's a good read , I luv Marwa's writing style ,so metamorphic and to the point,totally recommend it for Every Egyptian :)

[Ahmed El Wakeel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect Audio Book ... So far
Here, the Download link ..
Language : English

http://marwarakha.com/?p=1260

[Hala · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't know how to rate this bool, or in which category it belongs. It's so full of negativity that I haven't encountered before, yes our society can be very unfair to women and yes some men are not worth a penny but what Marwa was saying all over the book that all the men she met are not worthy of her always abusing her or just bad in relationships and as much I would like to curse all men that's not true there are very decent good men out there. She never questioned that maybe she had a bad (or a very bad) taste in men or maybe she simply chooses the wrong ones over and over again!!
Or maybe she is looking in the wrong place like she goes to the grocery's looking for a car. She simply looking in the wrong society, not only that; she has that image in her head of the man she wants and when she meet a guy that doesn't fit that image she blames the guy, which I really think it's totally wrong, and she doesn't take the time to see the guy before she barge into a relationship with him and then she wound up broken hearted. I just don't get it. I agreed with some of what she said about the society has double standards when dealing with women. But then she hates every custom the society has; that also I don't get.
Back to categorizing the book I didn't get out of the book with one positive thing so the book to me can't be about self development or about relationships or getting anything out of her experience. and it can't be a book of art because it wasn't. I'm sorry to say that it was some waste of time because I never consider any book a waste of time but this one is and full of negative energy.

[Alaa Ezzeldin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is talking about all types of relationships in Egypt...and how they are affected with our traditions...as Marwa the author is a woman, she managed to deliver the message very well she said what we -Egyptian women- want to say..as I agree with most of the ideas she believes in...Hwever I disagree with some..such as the "cave man" idea and sure I disagree with neglecting our religious side when we are about the woman attitude in our society.

[Sue Adel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never enjoyed a book about relationships like this one , I have to say it's a masterpiece and it's written in a very creative way.
Loved it to the core.

[Iman Khazback Farid · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gave me more insight into Egyptian society and things I was really puzzled about. It gave me reasons for confusing attitudes of many boys and girls, men and women - nowadays. However, I would have liked more illustrations, experiences, stories and basic issues of our society; such as, how divorced women are viewed by society and why. The books also included too many synonyms and metaphors just like old Arabic books rather than not straight-to-the-point discussions and explanations. Furthermore, the author's writing style had a stereotyping tone and a shocking bold language. American books are much more conservative and straightforward in a practical scientific way compared to.

[Rania · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've heard so much about this book that I was probably expecting something better. I liked the chapter on her friend Sparky, the one on whether a woman should share financial responsibilities of the household with her husband and the one on why younger guys tend to be attracted to older girls. The book as a whole has some interesting insights though some parts didn't appeal to me much. For some reason I thought I might have enjoyed it more if it were in Arabic. Generally speaking, worth reading!

[أسماء · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually I listened to the Audio book, rather than reading a printing copy.
Many Ideas appealed to me in this book, and I found logic in them,
But others also were shocking to me.. overall I was pleased with discussing such topics with logic and experience.

[Nermeen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished it in 2 days and I want to read more ..
Its a decent read for a collection of articles and thoughts.
I kept reading everything in her voice, though I never met her or heard her speak before.
I think I will reread it again later in the future.

[Hebatullah · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book for marwa rakha

[Abeer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't believe it.. it's not planted & grown in Egypt as she says.. didn't agree with anything in the book.. I liked some parts though...

[Sarah Elshafie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Controversial book but definitely worth reading... alot of rebellion..

[Lastoadri · Rating 3 out of 5]

No good, not bad. just a light read.

[Esraa Salem · Rating 1 out of 5]

"I was like a monkey trying to snatch the moon's reflection on the water; I risked drowning, did not reach the moon, and paved the way to frustration. I ridded myself of the shackles of shame that weighed on my consciousness as I reminded myself that I was not created to meet expectations of others."