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allisonseverson's review against another edition
5.0
I'm so glad I read this book. Great to have read Malala's story, and it provided a very elementary background on the rise of the taliban in Pakistan.
chairmanbernanke's review against another edition
3.0
Good account but in parts difficult reading for its structure
smpaul's review against another edition
2.0
I struggled so much to get through this book. Malala has an important story to tell but the writing was difficult for me to get into. I just couldn’t do it.
grahamlm86's review against another edition
4.0
I Am Malala was an empowering, beautiful, yet heartbreaking story of a young woman, Malala. I admire her courage and her passion to speak out for girl's education and for girl's independence. I thought that her life in Pakistan was appalling at times... it was normal to hear about so many suicide bombings and violence in the community. Nowhere should people, especially children, have to experience such trauma and suffering, and nowhere should there be that much control over people's lives. I admired her father as well, who spoke out in support of education and encouraged Malala to speak out.
I love the ending, and despite being shot, she has gratitude for her life and for the doctors and those that prayed for her, and she has the passion to help others and to fight for education.
- "I know God stopped me from going to the grave. It feels like this life is a second life. People prayed to God to spare me, and I was spared for a reason - to use my life for helping people." (301)
- "I don't want to be thought of as the "girl who was shot by the Taliban" but the girl who fought for education." This is the cause to which I want to devote my life." (308)
- "By giving me this height to reach people, he has also given me great responsibilities. Peace in every home, every street, every village, every country - this is my dream. Education for every boy and every girl in the world. To sit down on a chair and read my books with all my friends at school is my right. To see each and every human being with a smile of happiness is my wish." (313)
Words are power:
- "... I began to see that the pen and the words that come from it can be much more powerful than machine guns, tanks, or helicopters. We were learning how to struggle. And we were learning how powerful we are when we speak." (157)
- "If people were silent, nothing would change." (140)
Education and learning should be a right for all:
- "He believed that lack of education was the root of all of Pakistan's problems. Ignorance allowed politicians to fool people and bad administrators to be reelected. He believed schooling should be available for all, rich and poor, boys and girls." (41)
- "But I said, "Education is education. We should learn everything and then choose which path to follow." Education is neither Eastern nor Western, it is human." (162)
- "We believed school would start again. The Taliban could take our pens and books, but they couldn't stop our minds from thinking." (146)
- "Today we all know education is our basic right. Not just in the West; Islam too has given us this right. Islam says every girl and every boy should go to school. In the Quran it is written, God wants us to have knowledge." (311)
Hardships in Pakistan:
- "There seemed to be so many things about which people were fighting. If Christians, Hindus, or Jews are really our enemies, as so many say, why are we Muslims fighting with each other? Our people have become misguided. They think their greatest concern is defending Islam and are being led astray by those like the Taliban who deliberately misinterpret the Quran. We should focus on practical issues. We have so many people in our country who are illiterate. And many women have no education at all. We live in a place where schools are blown up. We have no reliable electricity supply. Not a single day passes without the killing of at least one Pakistani." (222)
- "Sometimes I was very afraid, but I said nothing, and it didn't mean I would stop going to school. But fear is very powerful and in the end it was this fear that had made people turn against Shabana. Terror had made people cruel. The Taliban bulldozed both our Pashtun values and the values of Islam... We Pashtuns know the stone of revenge never decays, and when you do something wrong you will face the music. But when would that be? we continually asked ourselves." (153)
The Taliban are in too much control of the civilians' lives:
- "We felt like the Taliban saw us as little dolls to control, telling us what to do and how to dress. I thought if God wanted us to be like that He wouldn't have made us all different." (124)
- "How could they stop more than 50,000 girls from going to school in the twenty-first century?" (158)
- "I didn't want to stop learning. I was only eleven years old, but I felt as though I had lost everything." (161)
Their hope and courage:
- ""They can stop us going to school, but they can't stop us learning," I said." (161)
- ""At night our fear is strong, Jani," he told me, "but in the morning, in the light, we find courage again." And this is true for my family. We were scared, but our fear was not as strong as our courage." (138)
- "The more interviews I gave, the stronger I felt and the more support we received. I was only eleven, but I looked older, and the media seemed to like hearing from a young girl. One journalist called me takra jenai - a "bright shining young lady" and another said I was pakha jenai - wise beyond my years. In my heart was the belief that God would protect me. If I am speaking for my rights, for the rights of girls, I am not doing anything wrong. It's my duty to do so. God wants to see how we behave in such situations. There is a saying in the Quran, "The falsehood has to go and the truth will prevail." If one man, Fazlullah, can destroy everything, why can't one girl change it? I wondered. I prayed to God every night to give me strength." (141-142)
Women independence:
- "In Pakistan when women say they want independence, people think this means we don't want to obey our fathers, brothers or husbands. But it does not mean that. It means we want to make decisions for ourselves. We want to be free to go to school or to go to work. Nowhere is it written in the Quran that a woman should be dependent on a man. The word has not come down from the heavens to tell us that every woman should listen to a man." (219)
Positivity and gratitude, even with her circumstances and after being shot:
- "We human beings don't realize how great God is. He has given us an extraordinary brain and a sensitive loving heart. He has blessed us with two lips to talk and express our feelings, two eyes which see a world of colors and beauty, two feet which walk on the road of life, two hands to work for us, a nose which smells the beauty of fragrance, and two ears to hear the words of love. As I found with my ear, no one knows how much power they have in their each and every organ until they lose one." (300-301)
- "I thank Allah for the hardworking doctors, for my recovery and for sending us to this world where we may struggle for our survival. Some people choose good ways and some choose bad ways. One person's bullet hit me. It swelled my brain, stole my hearing and cut the nerve of my left face in the space of a second. And after that one second there were millions of people praying for my life and talented doctors who gave me my body back. I was a good girl. In my heart I had only the desire to help people. It wasn't about the awards or the money. I always prayed to God, "I want to help people and please help me to do that." (301)
- "May God always keep your door open, wherever you are." (204)
- "I am Malala. My world has changed but I have not." (313)
I love the ending, and despite being shot, she has gratitude for her life and for the doctors and those that prayed for her, and she has the passion to help others and to fight for education.
- "I know God stopped me from going to the grave. It feels like this life is a second life. People prayed to God to spare me, and I was spared for a reason - to use my life for helping people." (301)
- "I don't want to be thought of as the "girl who was shot by the Taliban" but the girl who fought for education." This is the cause to which I want to devote my life." (308)
- "By giving me this height to reach people, he has also given me great responsibilities. Peace in every home, every street, every village, every country - this is my dream. Education for every boy and every girl in the world. To sit down on a chair and read my books with all my friends at school is my right. To see each and every human being with a smile of happiness is my wish." (313)
Words are power:
- "... I began to see that the pen and the words that come from it can be much more powerful than machine guns, tanks, or helicopters. We were learning how to struggle. And we were learning how powerful we are when we speak." (157)
- "If people were silent, nothing would change." (140)
Education and learning should be a right for all:
- "He believed that lack of education was the root of all of Pakistan's problems. Ignorance allowed politicians to fool people and bad administrators to be reelected. He believed schooling should be available for all, rich and poor, boys and girls." (41)
- "But I said, "Education is education. We should learn everything and then choose which path to follow." Education is neither Eastern nor Western, it is human." (162)
- "We believed school would start again. The Taliban could take our pens and books, but they couldn't stop our minds from thinking." (146)
- "Today we all know education is our basic right. Not just in the West; Islam too has given us this right. Islam says every girl and every boy should go to school. In the Quran it is written, God wants us to have knowledge." (311)
Hardships in Pakistan:
- "There seemed to be so many things about which people were fighting. If Christians, Hindus, or Jews are really our enemies, as so many say, why are we Muslims fighting with each other? Our people have become misguided. They think their greatest concern is defending Islam and are being led astray by those like the Taliban who deliberately misinterpret the Quran. We should focus on practical issues. We have so many people in our country who are illiterate. And many women have no education at all. We live in a place where schools are blown up. We have no reliable electricity supply. Not a single day passes without the killing of at least one Pakistani." (222)
- "Sometimes I was very afraid, but I said nothing, and it didn't mean I would stop going to school. But fear is very powerful and in the end it was this fear that had made people turn against Shabana. Terror had made people cruel. The Taliban bulldozed both our Pashtun values and the values of Islam... We Pashtuns know the stone of revenge never decays, and when you do something wrong you will face the music. But when would that be? we continually asked ourselves." (153)
The Taliban are in too much control of the civilians' lives:
- "We felt like the Taliban saw us as little dolls to control, telling us what to do and how to dress. I thought if God wanted us to be like that He wouldn't have made us all different." (124)
- "How could they stop more than 50,000 girls from going to school in the twenty-first century?" (158)
- "I didn't want to stop learning. I was only eleven years old, but I felt as though I had lost everything." (161)
Their hope and courage:
- ""They can stop us going to school, but they can't stop us learning," I said." (161)
- ""At night our fear is strong, Jani," he told me, "but in the morning, in the light, we find courage again." And this is true for my family. We were scared, but our fear was not as strong as our courage." (138)
- "The more interviews I gave, the stronger I felt and the more support we received. I was only eleven, but I looked older, and the media seemed to like hearing from a young girl. One journalist called me takra jenai - a "bright shining young lady" and another said I was pakha jenai - wise beyond my years. In my heart was the belief that God would protect me. If I am speaking for my rights, for the rights of girls, I am not doing anything wrong. It's my duty to do so. God wants to see how we behave in such situations. There is a saying in the Quran, "The falsehood has to go and the truth will prevail." If one man, Fazlullah, can destroy everything, why can't one girl change it? I wondered. I prayed to God every night to give me strength." (141-142)
Women independence:
- "In Pakistan when women say they want independence, people think this means we don't want to obey our fathers, brothers or husbands. But it does not mean that. It means we want to make decisions for ourselves. We want to be free to go to school or to go to work. Nowhere is it written in the Quran that a woman should be dependent on a man. The word has not come down from the heavens to tell us that every woman should listen to a man." (219)
Positivity and gratitude, even with her circumstances and after being shot:
- "We human beings don't realize how great God is. He has given us an extraordinary brain and a sensitive loving heart. He has blessed us with two lips to talk and express our feelings, two eyes which see a world of colors and beauty, two feet which walk on the road of life, two hands to work for us, a nose which smells the beauty of fragrance, and two ears to hear the words of love. As I found with my ear, no one knows how much power they have in their each and every organ until they lose one." (300-301)
- "I thank Allah for the hardworking doctors, for my recovery and for sending us to this world where we may struggle for our survival. Some people choose good ways and some choose bad ways. One person's bullet hit me. It swelled my brain, stole my hearing and cut the nerve of my left face in the space of a second. And after that one second there were millions of people praying for my life and talented doctors who gave me my body back. I was a good girl. In my heart I had only the desire to help people. It wasn't about the awards or the money. I always prayed to God, "I want to help people and please help me to do that." (301)
- "May God always keep your door open, wherever you are." (204)
- "I am Malala. My world has changed but I have not." (313)
gwenby's review against another edition
3.0
This is a story of an amazing father and daughter. It's just not an easy or particularly engaging read.
kait_lost_in_books's review against another edition
2.0
I have a feeling this is going to be an unpopular opinion. I know I’m going to hell for this but after the first part of the book I’d had enough of her, Nobel peace prize winner or not! She comes across as jumped up and precocious and I don’t know if that’s just something cultural that’s getting lost but damn I didn’t like this girl. I wanted to. I wanted to support her mission and glean a whole load of understanding but instead I’ve come away from this book with my opinion of her utterly changed. Sure, since she got shot in the face by the taliban she’s gone out of her way to push the subject of educating girls but her story prior to the shooting is so full of comparative privilege and virtue signalling it’s really turned me off.
emmamadds's review against another edition
3.0
I love Malala a lot and she's one of my biggest inspirations. I loved learning more about Pakistan and Afghanistan and the Taliban, but I feel like I didn't need to know all that I read. I appreciate Malala's life more as I watch it happen myself.
debbartram's review against another edition
5.0
What an amazing girl and what a unique insider view of life in Pakistan. Very glad I read this!