Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody, William Hoffer
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.14 You Save: $3.85 (43%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Not Without My Daughter
Book Review: I BELIEVED EVERY WORD!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Having watched the movie numerous times, this book was a must-read. It is riveting from page one until the end. Betty Mahmoody went through hell with her Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde husband. There are many reviews I see here (mostly from Iranians) that renounce Betty and deny that Iranian culture is as she has depicted.
However, I worked with a young lady who married an Iranian and he treated this sweet, beautiful girl the way Dr. Mahmoody treated Betty. And he did this while in America!! Furthermore, when his family visited him and she brought them into our office to see where his wife worked they were exactly as Betty Mahmoody described her own in-laws. The women were clad in their chadors barely daring to breathe...(while we held our breath because of their 'stench'.) This young man (my friend's husband) wouldn't let her associate with any of us outside the office and she was deathly afraid of him. As a result, she finally divorced him, thank the Lord, and moved back to Michigan with her family. Thank God she had no children by him or she would have suffered the same fate as Betty and Mahtob. One time he actually threated to cut her up in pieces and throw them in the garbage can...(sound familiar????)
THis is why I believed every word Betty wrote in her book. No one should be treated as subhuman, male or female. True, there are good and bad in every culture, including America. Unfortunately, seeing what my friend went through and reading what Betty and Mahtob went through with these 'animals' makes me proud to be an American and never to take anything in this country for granted.
People won't accept the fact that what Betty Mahmoody went through was harrowing and true. I believed every word she wrote and thank the good Lord above He helped her get away from the devil himself!!
Book Review: open-ended question?
Summary: 5 Stars
This book represents the lifestyles and culture of the Arabians in Arab. Based on Betty's experience in Iran, women are treated as second-class citizens and they are unable to experience the freedom of choice to which every individual is entitled. Issues regarding women abuse are no more a new thing in Arab as Arabian men has the highest rank and priority in the society. Arabian women are expected to obey their husband without doubt. Moreover, she referred the Arabians as filthy and do not uphold cleanliness to the highest degree, primitives, are allows to marry their own cousins, slaughter animals, cover their hair or wear Chador which most women in Iran have to wear not by choice but by law, have dirty homes and bathrooms with no furniture and behave like complete uneducated savages.Indirectly, Betty was being ethnocentric as she compared her hometown (United States) with a third world country (Iran) where there is differences in the level of standard of living. She expected the Arabians to behave like the Americans, and to have what they Americans had. There was also an element of bias, as she believes that American culture is superior to all non-Western cultures. Betty generalizes the entire society in Arab with the same assumptions, but there are also Arabians who are modern educated human beings with great ambitions and happy life. They are also known for their family values, hard work, emphasis on education and success, hospitality and delicious food.
Apart from that, Betty was also being racist. A distinction has to be made between Islamic law and the culture of Iran, something that is apparent to all who are familiar with Iranian culture. As there is a distinction to be made between a good Christian lifestyle and the average American's life.
Book Review: Book Review of Not Without My Daughter
Summary: 5 Stars
...I absolutely loved this book. I read it in my twelfth grade English class in high school. Although I don't know much about the country of Iran seeing how I've never been there, I did study their culture, religion, and lifestyle in high school. I do know enough about Arabians that live in Iran to know that women are treated inferior to men and they must do exactly what their husbands say in order to steer clear of conflicts. This book was a very good and true representation of Arabians that live in Iran from my knowledge source. I don't think that all Arabs are like this especially the ones living in America that have been Americanized. Moody was a good representation of that concept because while his family lived in America he was portrayed to be a very happy, loving husband/father, but when he lost his job and they went back to his country his personality changed drastically. While in Iran surrounded by his huge family they swayed his decisions, and he became very moody and mean to his wife. He started beating her and took away all of her freedom. All of the other Arabian women and American women who were married to Arabians and had lived in the country now for some time were used to this sort of treatment and tried not to provoke the men in their lives in order to stay safe and resist conflicts. This to me would be very scary and hard to do, because they are forced to just give every right they have up. I think that Betty was a very brave woman to attempt to escape and bring her daughter and herself back to safety and freedom, and luckily she succeeded.
This book was very interesting. It was one of the only books that I had read in high school that really held my attention and really made it hard for me to put it down.
Book Review: Read this if you want a good story, not a documentary
Summary: 5 Stars
The main thing I never understood about this book: why does Ms Mahmoody condemns his ex-husband's attempt to separate their daughter from her when she is doing the very same thing to him?I gave it 5 stars because it is a good novel. Novel, not documentary. It is as interesting and authentic as Gone With The Wind. When I was fourteen years old I loved the book but even then it seemed too tabloid to be true. Actually she hasn't even got the mind to write her book herself and it seems she hasn't even supervised its writing. An advice to Mr Hoffer in case he wants to write something like this: at least be sure that the facts mentioned won't contradict each other (like why did the sister-in-law go to the public bath when she had a bathroom at home).
Betty lived with this man for more than ten years. It seems unbelievable that she knew almost nothing about his culture. She also admits in the very beginning of the story that she has prejudices against Iran. Now if I were married to someone from a different culture I would try to learn as much about his culture (and religion, home country and family) as I can (unless I'm a good American patriot who knows that outside the US there's nothing that's worthy of knowing).
Just one more thing in addition: I think Betty's keeping her hated husband's name is just another marketing trick, she knew that with an exotic sounding name on the cover of the book people will expect a story like this.
To anyone who have read this book or intends to read it, I'd recommend Taraneh Bahrampour's "To See and See Again: A Life in Iran and America". Please read Ms Bahrampour's book, it's like reading Alex Haley's "Roots" after Gone With The Wind. It shows a new perspective. And a good book, really.
Book Review: FOR THOSE WHO THINK THAT BETTY WAS LYING.......
Summary: 5 Stars
I would advise you all to read her follow-up book to "Not WIthout My Daughter" called "For the Love of a Child". Betty WAS NOT LYING in any part of her book. She has proof of all her experiences and the way she escaped, namely, her stamped passport in Ankara, Turkey. Her ex-husband Moody, recently published his own side of the story is his book "Lost WIthout My Daughter" where he says Betty lied about everything, but he offers no concrete proof of this. Betty has her bus tickets, passport stamps and valid witnesses to the proof of her escape from Moody's wicked claws. More proof? Mahtob, her daughter, who is now an adult has repeatedly refused to acknowledge her father because her trust was betrayed as a child. Surely, as a grown woman, Mahtob is able to make her own decisions and her decisions stand as proof of what both she and her mother went through to get away from this madman (who has lied repeatedly). Also, this book (and the movie) was not meant as an affront to the Iranian culture. Quite the contrary, Betty goes out of her way in the book to relate the fact that it was the kind and compassionate Iranians who helped her escape from Moody's clutches. She received NO HELP from the U.S. state departments. People should remember that this is an honest depiction from HER standpoint and what SHE WENT through. She is only speaking for herself and no one else. As for Moody, well, he is obviously a bitter old man now. Perhaps he does feel loss and anguish for Mahtob, but he did bring the situation upon himself. If Mahtob refuses to have anything to do with him, it is her decision and who can blame her? It is time for people to realize that Betty's book was factual and not exaggerated in any way.