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A review by aasplund
I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Delphine Minoui, Nojoud Ali, Linda Coverdale
emotional
sad
medium-paced
3.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault
This book made me really sad. Nujood's story is heartbreaking, but something about this book felt a bit off to me. I ended up doing more research on what happened to her after this book and Nujood ended up staying at her parent's home and continued to be taken advantage of by her father. This book also felt a bit voyeuristic - I feel like a lot of well-meaning book groups have read or will read this book and will reduce this book to "Feminism rules!" and see non-Western cultures as "other" and feel a sense of superiority to Nujood and her culture. This poor little girl just wanted to get out of an abusive child marriage - and ended up becoming known worldwide as a result without any full understanding of what happened to her or what sharing her experiences so publicly would entail. In some ways, I feel like the publisher took advantage of a little girl just as much as her parents and ex-husband did and I have really mixed feelings about reading and recommending this book. At the same time, what she did was groundbreaking and it sounds like her story encouraged a lot of other young girls to get out of their abusive child marriages.
I'm ranting, but I have really unfocused and complicated feelings about this book. It's probably worth reading, but I think you have to read this book with a grain of salt AND with a wider understanding of how a book like this can be damaging to the people who tell their stories.