Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Woman at Point Zero

Beautiful and terrible. Truthful. Firdaus is an indomitable woman, pulling away all of the veils placed over her eyes by the men in her society. El Saadawi wonderfully captures the hypocritical horrors of misogyny and male superiority through the eyes of a prostitute who you will learn is not at all disgraceful, but clever, wise, and honorable enough to realize that all the men in her life, all men who claim to protect women and describe each other as devout and heroic are the most sinful of liars. Firdaus spits upon all of these men, and finally conquers her own fear of repercussion by literally hitting it in the face. She realized the price of herself could never be paid by even the wealthiest man in the world. Read this book and remember that truth is both simple and savage, and that only the brave can acknowledge it.

Content Warnings

noe_mireille's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

KAM takes on a whole new meaning after reading this

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bdilley28's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I thought this book was very well written, and the different POVs tied together really well.

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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

this book was merely ok - albeit dark and insightful on an aspect of women's lives in egyptian society - originally, but 2/3 of the way thru things heated UP for real.

idk how representative firdaus and her tribulations were, but they were def shitty at every turn, w/ her being used by all the men in her life. her gradual, then rapidly crashing epiphanies and realizations abt women in a patriarchal, objectifying, power- & money-obsessed society were a gut punch. woman at point zero was also perhaps the first whose powerful patriarchy-hating declarations were able to actually make me legit moaned?? bc of how much i FELT them and their truth; they were so satisfying.

we all knew how things would end, so there wasnt a lot of tension and anticipation while reading, thus this novel didnt elicit much emotions from me, but i still appreciate it for its bold truth-telling of how absolutely shitty it is to be a woman in a man's world, regardless of which part of the world it is.

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georgiarybanks's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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theanxiousbookworm's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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