Discussion for Daring to Drive

[Diane , Armchair Tour Guide]

Start discussion here for Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening by Manal Al-Sharif.

[Harper]

I'm in Chapter 3 when Manal has been taken to the women's prison. She is incensed with the fact that she has been detained and with the indignity of her treatment. While I agree with this completely, I wish that she--especially as a narrator removed from the situation--was looking at the other women in the prison (especially the foreigners) and wondering if they too had been detained unjustly.

[Anne]

Went to buy this book today but decided the sample was all I needed....not sure I made the right decision...is there a good reason to buy it?

[Diane , Armchair Tour Guide]

Anne wrote: "Went to buy this book today but decided the sample was all I needed....not sure I made the right decision...is there a good reason to buy it?"

It is a very enlightening story and well-written. I didn't realize just how few rights women have in Saudi Arabia and how many double standards and contradictions exist regarding them.

[Missy J]

Harper wrote: "I'm in Chapter 3 when Manal has been taken to the women's prison. She is incensed with the fact that she has been detained and with the indignity of her treatment. While I agree with this completel..."

I had the same reaction, Harper. I also wished she could've shown a bit more concern for the foreign women in prison since they constituted basically the entire female prison population.

I just got to the part where she and her sister were (view spoiler)[circumcised (hide spoiler)]. Before reading this book, I finished our book selection for Togo. In that book, the protagonist's aunt and uncle's wanted her to undergo that horrific procedure because the husband they arranged for her wanted it done. Here, the parents were willing to see their children go through so much pain just to give in to family pressure. How to get rid of such a terrible procedure that doesn't show any scientific benefit nor is it clearly advocated in the Quran, when society has been so misinformed?

[[deleted user]]

At last I’ve managed to read a book in time to discuss it with you guys!

I LOVED this book. I’m very glad Manal wrote down her story. It was so important for her to do so after all the misinformation written about her.

I disagree with your points about her compassion for the foreign women in prison. I think she was very sympathetic about their situation. She asked them their stories, wrote them down, on her release managed to pay for or raise the money to fly them home from prison when otherwise they would have had to stay, made sure they had money to restart their lives and has since been campaigning for more women’s release. I saw, after a quick search on the internet, that she was driving across America last year to raise money & awareness about women prisoners.

And I do agree that the procedure she had to suffer was horrific - a form of torture. I nearly fainted reading that part.

I think Manal is a very strong, inspiring woman. I’m very glad this group chose this book.

[Claire]

Just wanted to pop in and say hi, I've just started this one and, like Missy J, I just finished Do They Hear You When You Cry and can't help but draw parallels. I'm excited to read further and discuss with you all! I'm new to groups in general and this group.

[Missy J]

I just finished reading the chapter on Falafel Man.

I have to say, I found the part when she describes how she became a more radical Muslim as a teenager intriguing. She was driven by fear when she heard the imam preaching about death and punishment, so she embraced this Salafi ideology.

Also, am I the only one who has never heard of the 1979 Grand Mosque seizure before reading this book? Maybe because I wasn't born yet. But wow. That was the reason why the Saudi became more conservative in order to prevent another "coup d'etat". I always assumed that they were conservative and ultra-religious from the start.

Then it was heart-warming to read how she became disillusioned with Salafi-inspired Islam. When she heard the Backstreet Boys song and thought, how could such a beautiful song be considered haram? Her friendly female friend in university who didn't cover her face but had such a good personality and kind heart, how could she be punished?

[Marissa]

I just finished this book and it was such a powerful read to me.

The chapter when she talked about getting that procedure was really challenging to read so I can imagine how difficult it was for her to write it down and to live through it. It's a practice that really needs to end. She endured a lot as a woman with a lot of restrictions put on her.

I also found it really interesting that she was so heavily influenced by the Salafi ideology to the point where she would not be friends with women who did not cover their face or believed how she did. It's encouraging to see her change her opinion though as she grew and experienced life more. When your branch of religious ideology is so extreme that it takes away your happiness and restricts you to the point that you can't really have a life without feeling guilt, that's pretty bad.

I also thought she showed a lot of compassion for the women in the prison. She brought plane tickets for some of the women. Maybe she'll write more about them in the future because I'm sure that's an interesting topic too. The stories of the other women seem like a different narrative from "Daring to Drive" and best suited for another book. I'm sure Al-Sharif also wanted to be respectful towards those women. So, there has to be a balance between telling their stories and treating said stories with dignity.

I honestly loved this book. It was an eye-opener to parts of Saudi culture and the way a lot of people in the country think about women and the western world. I'm glad a lot of women are trying to bring about a change when it comes to driving and other rights.

I found it so odd too that women were allowed to have strangers drive them when every other time they needed a husband or male relative to do anything. And I'm sure there's a lot of sexual harassment happening that the women can't talk about.