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    Girls of Riyadh: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Girls of Riyadh: A Novel
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    Girls of Riyadh: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    Girls of Riyadh: A Novel

    Written by Rajaa Alsanea

    Narrated by Kate Reading

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    When Rajaa Alsanea boldly chose to open up the hidden world of Saudi women-their private lives and their conflicts with the traditions of their culture-she caused a sensation across the Arab world. Now in English, Alsanea's tale of the personal struggles of four young upper-class women offers Westerners an unprecedented glimpse into a society often veiled from view. Living in restrictive Riyadh but traveling all over the globe, these modern Saudi women literally and figuratively shed traditional garb as they search for love, fulfillment, and their place somewhere in between Western society and their Islamic home.

    Editor's Note

    Banned in Saudi Arabia…

    When this novel came out in Saudi Arabia, it was immediately banned, but within a few years, it became a hit around the world. It depicts the lives of four upper-class Saudi women as they struggle against their culture’s gender restrictions.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 5, 2007
    ISBN9781429585859
    Unavailable
    Girls of Riyadh: A Novel

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    Reviews for Girls of Riyadh

    3.5/5

    365 ratings39 reviews

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    • 5/5
      رواية ممتعة جدا تتحدث عن قصة لاربع صديقات سعوديات باسلوب شيق و مرح عبارة عن رسائل تصدرها عبر مجموعة بريدية
    • 4/5
      First of all, I will say that “Girls of Riyadh” is a fast and relatively light read. However, it goes deeper than the fact that there are four young and wealthy college-age women (some are attending college, some not) who have problems finding their own ”Mr. Right”. Each chapter starts with an anonymous female character telling stories about these four friends, via e-mails to an ever-growing subscriber list of an online yahoo group. It could be that this anonymous character is actually one of these four women, but we are kept guessing. We are told the story of Gamrah, who is married off to a man who already has a mistress. After they divorce, she is considered “spoiled goods”. We are also told the story of Michelle, daughter of an Saudi man and an American mother. Michelle falls in love with Faisal, but because Michelle is not considered to be part of an true Saudi family, has to see him end up marrying someone else. There’s also Sadeem, who gives herself up (losing her virginity) to the man that she is contracted to be married to. In between the signing of the marriage contract and the finalization, he decides to break it. Sadeem falls in love again, but will it work out for her? Finally, there is also Lamees, who doesn’t seem to play a major part in this book (perhaps because she does find someone she is happy with), but through her we also find how Saudi women are affected by Saudi culture.All this may seem soap-operaish, but I think it serves to show that even today, there is still many places in this part of the world where women have little say in their own lives, even if some of them become doctors or dentists (the author was a dental student at the time she wrote this book). Yes, we read books like “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini, that show the gritty lives of women in Afghanistan; but “Girls of Riyadh” shows that even women who are wealthy and on the surface have everything that they ever could want — including college educations — still are restricted, especially in matters of love. One of the girls, Lamees, is taken to a police station after she is seen having coffee in a cafe’ with a male student. In Saudi Arabia, women can only be seen in public with male relatives (including their own husband if they are married), or if they are in a car, with their driver (women are not allowed to drive on their own).“The thought of finally mixing with the opposite sex was a grand dream for many, many students — guys and girls alike. Some joined these colleges primarily for that reason, even if the mixing that they anticipated so eagerly was heavily restricted. Male doctors taught female medical students and male students were allowed to examine female patients, but it was not allowed for male and female students to share a classroom or a lounge. Contact with the opposite sex would never go beyond some coincidental and transient encounter in the breaks between lectures or at prayer times (facilitated by the fact that the male students tended to pray in the prayer area close to where the female students habitually were), or quick glimpses and stolen glances while about the hospital or riding the elevators. Still, it was better than nothing”.In the introduction of this book, Ms. Alsanea states:“I hope that by the time you finish this book, you will say to yourself: Oh yes, It is a very conservative Islamic society. The women there do live under male dominance. But they are full of hopes and plans and determination and dreams. And they fall deeply in and out of love just like women everywhere else”.
    • 4/5
      What I liked about this book was that it was set in Saudi Arabia and it let you into the lives of upper class women in Saudi Arabia. I had no prior knowledge of day to day life in Saudi Arabia and I found that very interesting.What I didn't like was that I felt this was the Saudi version of chick lit. It seemed to have lots of women who's big goal was to fall in love and catch themselves a husband. And in order to get the husband they had to be deceptive and play games. That part of the book annoyed me. I felt like there must be more to their lives than just fall in love and snag a good husband.
    • 4/5
      Not predictable. Intricate yet gossipy.
    • 4/5
      Not predictable. Intricate yet gossipy.
    • 5/5
      Have you ever watched or read Gossip Girl? Well, this is the Arabic version.

      Girls of Riyadh is a very captivating story. I read some part of it in English but when I knew it was originally written in Arabic, I bought the Arabic version and devoured it. Such an interesting intense read.

      Very sad, real and captivating. I absolutely loved it. Though I think the end was rushed and incomplete.
    • 4/5
      Sadeem, Gamrah, Lamees and Mashael are 'velvet' class girls in their first year of university: rich, privileged, and constantly brushing up against the strictures of Saudi society. They accept the teachings of Islam without question, but they long for love and hope to find men of their own choosing who will accept them as the free-spirited thinkers that they try to be.On the surface of it, this is exactly the sort of book I hate: chick lit, in which 4 smart, independent girls define themselves almost entirely through their (much-imagined) love lives. The book is entirely given over to their dreams and heartbreak. But I didn't hate it. I swept through it rapidly, intrigued by the conflict between the girls aspirations and their situation, and fascinated by this rare glimpse into a society I know fairly little about: Saudi Arabia.Ultimately, it is a paean to the right to make your own choices; to abandon social prejudices (or at least some of them; the section dealing with a Sunni/Shiite friendship remains awkwardly underdeveloped - crossing this religious boundary seems to remain beyond the pale); and a rallying cry to recognise the value of a smart, independent woman rather than abandon her for an uneducated, sheltered girl who can be dominated. A searing moment - a critic writing in to question why a man wouldn't marry another man if he was looking for that sort of relationship. Ouch. But it is worth noting that it focuses strictly on a class showered with money and privilege. Compared with less well-off girls, the friends are bemoaning the cultural equivalent of #firstworldproblems - I was reminded of A Thousand Splendid Suns precisely because there are no similarities here. Regardless, this was a good read and I'm glad I finally got to it.
    • 3/5
      Chick lit from Kuwait. Four young women from very wealthy families search for love, and the meaning of love, within the strictures of religion, culture, and class. You think it's hard to navigate finding a loving mate as a Westerner? Try being a woman in the Middle East.
    • 2/5
      Riyadh, for personal reasons, is a place that is near and dear to my heart and since I needed another book for my Muslim reading challenge, I thought I should give Girls of Riyadh a try.

      Girls of Riyadh had a lot of hype and controversy when it first came out. Some people blasted it for exposing unIslamic stuff, while others praised it for being a modern Saudi novel that shows how Saudis are really like.

      So when I opened up the book, I was expecting to either be shocked and intrigued by all of the stuff that's actually happening in Saudi, or angry that it was just a book that's meant appease the West as it bad mouths Muslims. Or, I'd be surprisingly pleased at the balanced look it gave to my Saudi.

      Now that I'm done, I'm not shocked, I'm not intrigued, I'm not angry, and I'm not pleased. I don't really feel anything. I think one of the biggest reasons for this is due to the hype surrounding this novel. I had big expectations and none of them were fulfilled.

      Girls of Riyadh is just Gossip Girls without the sex and alcohol. It's the lives of privileged Saudi women who try to find their place in the world. Only, it's not really that. It's actually a story of four women, one of them tries to complete her dreams, while the rest fall in love, get hurt, and become bitter about men and love.

      As a Muslim, marriage is a big thing to us. Everyone, men and women, want to find that special someone so they can be married and fulfill the hadith (traditions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)) where he said that marriage is 'half of ones deen (religion).'

      It's a pretty big deal, so I did enjoy reading about the girls obsessing over that. But then, it got to the point where their lives were dictated by the men that they love. And once it didn't work out, they'd be an emotional wreck until the next guy comes.

      It got boring after awhile. Out of the four, only one doesn't fall in this trap and surprisingly enough is the only one who ends up happy in love and not scorned.

      By itself, Girls of Riyadh isn't a bad novel. It flows well and it will keep you reading, but if you've read up on all of the controversy surrounding this book, you might end up disappointed when you find that this is just a regular run of the mill chick lit.

      I dunno. I just expected more.
    • 5/5
      Wow, lovely novel. First book that I have ever listened to/read in a single day. Well told narrative!
    • 5/5
      Really fun and easy to "read" book. Super enjoyable and would be a great holiday book
    • 4/5
      The story of four Saudi women. They are members of the upper-class, their families are well off. They struggle to find some independence and love. However they face restrictions from the traditions they live under. We also have a narrator who is telling the story through emails. I really enjoyed their stories.
    • 3/5
      "We-the Girls of Riyadh - have been forbidden many things. Do not take the blessing of love away from us too!"By sally tarbox on 5 June 2017Format: Kindle EditionSex and the City in Saudi! A very readable narrative following four well-to-do young women in Riyadh. The book opens with perhaps the "least favoured" of the group being the first to get married. A triumph - or is it?In short chapters, the nameless narrator tells of her friends' lives in a series of e-mails. A message from her introduces each chapter - she discusses the comments that her soap opera has provoked - some sympathetic, many shocked and critical. She quotes poetry and the koran, mulls over possible book deals that seem to be heading her way...But the true story rests with the four friends - their careers, their families, but principally their love-lives. And what a sorry lot many of their menfolk prove to be!"They are slaves to reactionary customs and ancient traditions even if their enlightened minds pretend to reject such things!"When a relationship fails, of course, there is not just the heartbreak but the social devastation as a woman finds herself no longer eligible, struggling to find a match at all once she's been repudiated by one. And all this alongside the ultra-conservative Saudi world, where women can't drive, organise a business or socialise with men..."The two of us had an agreement not to meet in Riyadh. It's just too difficult, dangerous and awkward. It wouldn't be relaxing like it would be if we were abroad. Outside the country, you can loosen up, you can breathe without worrying who's watching you."Very entertaining read.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      is it only came in audiobook?
    • 2/5
      This was apparently a bit of a phenomenon when it was published, a Sex & the City take on Saudi society by a young Saudi woman studying in the US. It’s a shame then that it’s all a bit juvenile. It’s presented as a serial told via email by the author, who prefaces each chapter with an email “answering” some of the responses she’s received to the previous chapter. The story itself is about four young women – Lamees, Michelle, Gamrah and Sadeem. Gamrah marries Rashid, and travels with him to the US, where he is studying. But he seems more interested in a prior US girlfriend, and Gamrah finds it hard to cope with life in the West. She returns to Riyadh, pregnant. Sadeem falls in love, arrangements are made, contracts exchanged, but a couple of days before the ceremony she succumbs to his blandishments and lets him take it too far… so he divorces her. Michelle falls for a young man from a good family, but his mother won’t hear of her son marrying beneath him, so he breaks it off. And Lamees is a bit of wild thing, making friends with Shi’ites, visiting chat rooms, and getting arrested for meeting a young man in a café. And other things happen too. While it shows the appalling treatment of women in Saudi well, and I realise English is not the writer’s first language, but it is the translator’s, this could really have done with a lot of a polish. The novel is structured to look like the titillating adventures of an amateur writer, and the prose reads like it was written by an amateur too.
    • 3/5
      It is like Saudi MB - only happy ending is not guaranteed. It is like secret lives of upper-class Saudi girls - more than physical access to men - they have phone sex and cyber sex et al.
    • 4/5
      The book tells the stories of four upper class fríends in Saudi Arabia. And it is thee cultural context which makes a normal chicklit- story to a revolutionary one. These girls are not free. They can´t choose, whom to mary, they can´t defend themselves when suddenly they get divorce papers. They are younf women like everywher else, dreaming of love, gossiping, dressing up. But there are huge differences to the west, and the book points them clearly. I found the high standard of female education inspite of the isolated lifestyle unexpected. All in all the book is interesting. Das Buch erzählt die Geschichte von vier Freundinnen der saudi-arabischen Oberschicht. Und dieser kulturelle Kontext macht aus einer einfachen Chicklit-Geschichte revolutionären Stoff. Denn die jungen Mädchen sind nicht frei. Sie können nicht wählen, wen sie heiraten, sie können sich nicht wehren, wenn sie plötzlich die Scheidungsurkunde zugestellt bekommen. Es sind junge Frauen, die genau wie überall von Liebe träumen, sich gern schminken, studieren und tratschen. Doch die vier Freundinnen haben andere Voraussetzungen als im Westen und das macht das Buch deutlich.Ich hätte nicht erwartet, dass der Bildungsstand der jungen Frauen so hoch ist, trotz ihrer anscheinend zur Abgeschiedenheit verurteilten Lebensweise. Insgesamt fand ich das Buch einfach interessant und ungewöhnlich.
    • 4/5
      A fantastic first person account of women growing up in the Middle East. Kudos for the author to take readers behind the “veil” and experience true life of a Middle Eastern woman.
    • 4/5
      Girls of Riyadh gave a fascinating glimpse of the pressures of developing relationships in Saudi Arabia. I can see why it was a challenge to translate for a non-Saudi audience. We learn about the lives of four young women who share a long friendship. We see how girls and boys raised in isolation from each other manage to meet and communicate, how a tendency to romanticize relationships can perhaps increase with that isolation, and what happens when their society's rules are broken.

      The Saudi author has the benefit of having lived in the U.S. herself, so she was able to see the difference between the two with a sympathetic eye. It's good to read a story by an author native to the country, so the criticism of Saudi strictures is complemented by a love of the country and its people.
    • 5/5
      This can be described as Sex in the City in Riyadh. Chicklit with a Saudi Arabian accent. That show is even referenced in the book, about four friends, young women of the wealthy and educated "velvet class," trying to find love in contemporary Saudi Arabia. Originally written in Arabic, the author helped translate it into English. She writes about the difficulties of adapting the story for a Western audience in an Author's Note and admits that her story isn't that of all Saudi women, but says she does "hope by the time you finish this book, you will say to yourself: Oh yes. It is a very conservative Islamic society. The women there live under male dominance. But they are full of hopes and plans and determination and dreams. And they fall deeply in and out of love just like anywhere else." In other words, they're nothing like me, yet very much like me. Mission accomplished.I've seen this described as an epistolary novel, but doesn't really read like one. The bulk of the book is written in the common third person perspective. But each chapter begins with comments framing the story, which is supposed to be composed of emails from a mail group, seerehwenfahda.net. The unknown narrator teases her readers. Is she one of the women whose stories she will tell? She speaks of the reactions she's getting from readers--and the author seems prescient because I can see all those reactions in reviews of the book on Goodreads and LibraryThing. The book begins and ends with a wedding--the wedding of Gamrah Al-Qusmaji and Rashid--celebrating an arranged marriage doomed from the beginning. We'll then meet Sadeem Al-Horaimli, who finds herself divorced before there's even a wedding. In the marriage contract, her husband was asked for a signature--she was asked for a thumbprint. There's the ambitious Michelle (Mashael Al-Abdulrahman) whose first love drops her because his family doesn't approve of a potential wife whose mother is American. And there's the sophisticated Lamees Jeddau, a medical student; she's arrested by the religious police for sitting in a cafe with someone of the opposite sex.There are times reading this novel when I'm swept away by how alien Saudi culture is, a society steeped in Sharia law and that seems so repressive that I imagine only North Korea or Cuba could be worse. The way women are often treated seems so horrendous (they can't make contracts, can't legally drive a car) the only thing comparable it seems is what it was for a black in pre-Civil Rights Movement America. But then I find myself identifying with one or the other of the girls, and think of some of the Neanderthal things I've heard come out of the mouths of people here about women and relationships, and I can't say I feel that comfortable a distance. Gamrah is the most traditional in her values and most trapped and passive in her circumstances and Michelle by and large rejects the ways of Saudi Arabia. The other two, Sadeem and Lamees, struggle to find a way to keep what they value in their culture and yet pursue happiness. I particularly felt for Sadeem and her experiences with love and seeing past it and through it. I ended the book sorry to say goodbye to them. This wasn't the kind of book that impressed me because of the writing, but one I will never forget because of the experience of reading it, and how it made me think.The book is banned in Saudi Arabia.
    • 3/5
      This book was pretty much fluff, even though I admit it kept me entertained. It was pretty much chick-lit about Saudi women. On the back it says, "Imagine Sex and the City if the city in question were Riyadh," and that is exactly what this book was. I admit, I am a fan of Sex and the City, so I could even picture of which of the four women in the book compared to the characters in Sex in the City. Again, not much too this book -- but it kept me entertained until the end.
    • 3/5
      This is billed on the cover as "Imagine Sex And The City, if the city in question were Riyadh", and that's a pretty good description. It's the intertwining tales of four young women, with different personalities and interests, told in a series of emails by one of their friends... or perhaps one of the quartet herself, anonymously. Sadly, it's also like SATC and much chick-lit in its love for designer labels and conspicuous consumption. One of the young women makes a new friend because "the two had several classes together and each noticed the other's good looks and perfect American accent right away". It's also not particularly well-written.In the end, though, it is quite interesting to see how Saudi cultural and religious values impact on the lives of even the most wealthy and Westernised women - including the pressure they feel even when they are outside the kingdom. And the many different ways the author finds them to get to know men - whether it's a bold character who comes up and suggests they pretend to be related so they can stroll round a shopping mall together, someone met through an internet chatroom, or a work colleague.
    • 5/5
      This was a great read – interesting story, simply but effectively told, and an education along the way. There aren’t many books like this that come out of Saudi Arabia and make it to the Western market. I suspected there was some tweaking of the content to make it easier for a Western audience to understand – many footnotes explaining unfamiliar terminology and names of people famous in the Arab world, and time taken to explain cultural traditions along the way. I am so glad this book was published, because I am sure that through fiction it is possible to gain an understanding of unfamiliar cultures whereas ignorance can lead to mistrust and fear.The story takes the form of a series of emails supposedly sent to the members of an internet chatroom, detailing the lives of four young women in Riyadh. The identity of the emailer is a mystery, but enables the author to make her own comments on the comings and goings of her protagonists, quote scripture etc which adds a further dimension to the novel. The four main characters are seen to be normal, modern young women – they watch Sex and the City, they use the internet and mobile phones, they talk endlessly about their boyfriends, they are educated and intelligent. On the other hand they live in a society dominated by men and the strict observance of Islam, and do not have complete freedom in choosing a partner.There are an astonishing number of ill-fated romances here, and an illustration of the way in which semi-arranged marriages do not always lead to wedded bliss. Some quite heartbreaking scenarios throughout the book.It would be easy to criticise this society for its treatment of women. Certainly the reader feels their pain. But on the other hand they are not seen to be waiting for someone to ‘rescue’ them from their culture – they want to hang on to its core values. I suspect this book will one I’ll think hard over long after reading it.
    • 4/5
      A brave book revealing the hypocrisy of life behind the veil and the difficulties encountered by young women in Arabia.
    • 5/5
      Acquired via BookCrossing 11 Dec 2009 - BCBirmingham Secret Santa giftA nameless Saudi woman starts sending out a weekly email highlighting the doings of a group of female friends from the "velvet" - the highest - level of society. Although they come from good families with plenty of money, opportunities for travel etc, their lives are full of the same worries as other women of their age - studying, how to find love, friendship - and also of the constraints of their society. We see them try to pick a path between personal fulfillment and matching their families' and society's expectations; I was aware of quite a lot of the issues they face such as the terrible shame of divorce, etc, but I think the attractive chick-lit cover might well bring new readers who would learn quite a lot. The women are feisty and see their men clearly in the end, and there are no sugary-sweet happy endings or silly coincidences. A really good read, a celebration of friendship, and some important issues are highlighted.I'll be offering this on a bookring soon.
    • 4/5
      This book was engaging, honest, and very well crafted... and the translator did an excellent job on his/her end. This was Chick Lit done Saudi-style, based off real-life friendships of the author. The book was initially written as a series of emails to a Yahoo group, and it was only by sheer luck (and probably due to the email groups' massive popularity that grew with every installment) that it got picked up and turned into a book. The author admits that some of her friends ended up turning on her and she hasn't spoken to them since, while others thought having Alsanea write their stories down was a wonderful idea and supported her through the process. It was a great eye-opener to get behind the scenes of the lives of Saudi women... it's really not a perspective you can get from anyone BUT somebody from the inside, and I applaud Alsanea for taking the risk to tell her story and allow us to catch a glimpse of the limits and restrictions Saudi women have to live with every day of their lives.
    • 4/5
      Rajaa Alsanea has taken quite a normal subject and made it a hot topic. How? Simply, the private lives of Saudi Arabian girls/women are not the subject of discussion. That is not only the case in the rest of the world, but in Saudi Arabia itself, which is trying very hard to deny the natural human condition exemplified by the natural curiosity of boys and girls for each other.And despite the fact that the writing style (even given consideration for its being a translation from the Arabic) is not particularly exceptional, the other-worldliness of the story itself is absorbing for the reader. I came away convinced that the Saudi Arabian model can’t really last in the modern world. If nothing else, young people are simply too curious about the other sex. Given modern technologies, it is becoming more and more difficult to deny them that access, despite keeping them physically separate.In the Saudi Arabia of today, the result is rather sad. Girls who grow up exposed to the modern, international world grow up with a dreamy and unrealistic vision of what a relationship should and can be. A simplified view of the issue: these girls grow up to be twentysomethings whose view of a successful relationship is an overinflated version of the infatuation that most twelve- to thirteen-year-olds experience. The difference is that in the rest of the world, those girls experience the disappointment of unrequited love; misunderstandings; differing expectations; and their own personal development, in which they see the other person not as an answer to all their needs and problems, but as a partner who can learn and grow with them as they grow old together.The boys have the same problem, of course. Only, in their case, once they realise (also rather late) that their partner is not the answer to all their needs, they have more options at hand. After all, they run Saudi Arabia, and finding other women, either on a temporary or permanent basis, is a very acceptable solution.Needless to say, the proportion of disappointed marriages must be awesome.
    • 3/5
      Gamrah, Sadeem, Lamees, and Michelle are young, well-off, educated Saudi women. Having completed secondary education, they are looking ahead -- some to university, and all to marriage. Their story is told by an anonymous friend, via weekly e-mails sent to a far-reaching distribution list. The messages create a sensation in Saudi Arabian society, by revealing the "real life" feelings, hopes, and aspirations of these women. The weekly messages also cast Saudi men in a fairly negative light: fathers and uncles are controlling, making decisions about the women's lives without consultation. Young male prospects generally see women as fit for one thing only. And yet, everyone in this story is constrained by the conservative culture. Even the philandering young men are bound by tradition and family expectations concerning marriage. No one is free to choose a life partner based on love alone, even though they all dream of this possibility.While this book is a light read, and might be billed by some as "chick lit," it really captured my attention. Using "scandalous" e-mails to convey the story reminded me of 19th-century serializations, with a high-tech twist. This is one of the few books I've read about contemporary Muslim culture where I felt I was truly inside women's heads. Recommended.
    • 2/5
      Just OK really - an interesting insight into the world of Saudi women, but not as much as would have thought. I thought it was going to be really intriguing but sadly no - could have been so much better.
    • 5/5
      this is agreat book. its writen so good. its intresting and really get you in the life of those 4 girls....in a way you can call it sex and the city in the arab world.its clever, its intresting, and its real amd honest