Living in Hell: A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces

by Ghazal Omid

Book Overview

Living in Hell is a true story providing a window into the life of a young woman growing up in Iran. It is also an educational history of Iran and its people. Although this story is entirely mine, it... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0975968300
• ISBN13: 9780975968307
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Park Avenue Publishers (OK)
• Length: 488 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A Heartrending, Truthful, and Inspiring Autobiography

Ghazal Omid is one of humanity's treasures. She faced crushing poverty in her childhood in Iran, even with a father who usually was flush with cash but found little of it to spend on his own family. She was abused, mistreated, ignored, and utilized by family members only for what she could be bullied into giving up. Standing up to the Revolutionary government in Iran in her daily life, her obstinate refusal to parrot the dictates of the Mullahs ended up with her receiving the tender mention of her name by Ayatollah Khemeni at Friday prayers as an "American patriot", tantamount to a death sentence by the nation's highest-ranking cleric, and plenty of the mindless myrmidons of the Revolution were inspired by the Ayatollah's words to carry it out. Fleeing her home nation and making it eventually to Canada, Ghazal struggled with newfound difficulties of a woman raised in a controlling culture, suddenly faced with the open society of Canada, and initially had great difficulties coming to terms with her new life. The abuse from her two horrible brothers in Canada, now devolved into the spychological abuse of a patriarchial culture in which women are regarded as burdens and not gifts to humanity, continued as Ghazal did her level best to rise above a lifetime of hideous maltreatment by the very men in her life who should have been standing up for her, protecting her, and helping her establish herself as an independent spirit in a unkind world. Even in the face of this tremendously sad background, Ghazal decided to devote her life to help the people left behind in Iran, and to this day does everything she can do to help Iranian people, political prisoners, and resistance groups, overcome the death grip the Mullahs have on the people of her home nation. She is an immensely strong, brilliant, and eloquent woman, and a role model of strength and determination that any woman would find inspiring. This is a book that any woman in the West should read, to further understand the shackles hammered around the necks of women in Muslim countries, and more deeply appreciate the societies into which Western women have had the fortune to be born. Those who have assailed this book in above commentaries completely missed the point of the book. This is no whine-fest, it is a sincere confession of a woman who seeks to make other human beings stronger by helping them realize the struggles that billions of women living in subjugation face on a daily basis. My own life has been enriched by reading Ghazal's story, and anyone who reads her book with an open mind cannot help but come away with a different understanding of Iranian culture, and Islam in its true form, not the perverted politicized Wahabbist/Jihadist delusion that somehow a God out there is reveling in the deaths, or the sufferings, of innocents.

An Education of the Middle Eastern Female

What a great book! This book got better with each chapter. The reality of being a female in Iran, in the not too distant past, is staggering. Young Ghazal dodged many bullets and had a hard time keeping her mouth shut which added a little spice to the story. In particular, personal battles for truth, right vs wrong and sticking up for herself in the family and school. I used to think all the Muslim women covered their beautiful hair and faces by choice and wore long hot dresses for the same reason. Unfortunately, these women have brothers, fathers and husbands that make their choices for them. Without income, birth control and education, they have no choices. Ghazal understood God at a very young age and with His guidance went forward. Without much writing experience, she did a great job putting this very deep book together.

A Must Read

This book is an amazing account of an Iranian woman who learned the value of civilized society the hard way. To her it was not some college exercise in philosophy, it was life or death. I cannot stress enough what a unique perspective this book brings. Although raised as a devout Muslim, she reasoned, on her own at a young age, the difference between the "True Message" of God, and religious manipulation. Although at first the book may sound like a long series of complaints, it makes some extremely serious points. I read it cover to cover and then had to take a couple of days to think about it. If she were talking about our society, we might consider her a chronic complainer. We would, as a caveat, automatically make the assumption our system itself was correct. Instead I consider her one of the first to see the overall problem and expose it for what it is, a barbaric culture which has failed to develop into a modern cooperative society. After all this author has been through in her life most people would be completely devastated and unable to function. She, on the other hand, still believes in a civilized world and wishes to do all she can to promote peace. This is a book that screams for women's rights, and helps you understand why they are an absolutely essential part of any civilized society. I have puzzled for years over why fanatic behavior exists and is tolerated. This book shows first hand a direct connection between how women are treated and how their lack of a voice in family dynamics cause high numbers of insecure children. The insecure grow up to be selfish and self centered, totally lacking a self generated moral compass. Out of these insecure children grow the suicide bombers of tomorrow, who, unlike this author, do not understand that there is no reward in heaven for being manipulated in the name of religion.

A book difficult to put down!

Seldom do I read a book that I have a hard time putting down. This is one of those books. Ms. Omid's story from her childhood in Iran to her struggles in her adopted country of Canada is the story of a life that most of us can not even imagine. Still, through all of her problems, Ms. Omid stands out as a woman who has the courage of her convictions to carry her through adversity to the place where she is today! I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the status of women in the middle east and to those who simply wish to read a story about how inner strength can lift any of us out of intolerable situations.

Omid's book is one the best books I have recently read ......

A frightening memoir of growing up under Iran's male-dominated oppressors, confirming that the mad ayatollahs have, in 27 years, wrecked a once-vibrant nation and destroyed its culture. Omid's Iran is a dysfunctional society in a "coma of ignorance," led by "mindless fanatics." Males are obsessed with money and hymens. Women, if they aren't victims, have sold out and joined the Pasdar spies who hound female violators of the ayatollahs' decrees. Throughout, Omid displays numerous perceptive, valuable observations: Ayatollah Khomeini's command of Farsi was so weak he could barely be understood; his mullahs took the Shah's palaces after the overthrow, then cornered the black market for food to become "even richer" than the Shah; 70 percent of Iran's villages have been destroyed or abandoned under the mullahs. She also harbors no illusions about Iran's wickedness: "If Iran becomes a nuclear power," she warns, "the world should start digging, either their shelters or their graves..." What is most riveting, however, is her striking journal of personal pain within her abusive family-her brother forced her into persistent incest, her wealthy father humiliated her and abandoned the family to destitution and she was forced to battle her way out of one arranged engagement after another. Little wonder she has emerged on the far side, in Vancouver, as a brittle manic-depressive finding it difficult to outrun her past. Omid wrote most of Living in Hell in a single month while under a therapist's care, imbuing the work with a powerful sense of urgency. Passionate and commanding. Omid, Ghazal LIVING IN HELL: A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces Park Avenue Publishers (488 pp.) $26.95 July 30, 2005 ISBN: 0-9759683-0-0 -Kirkus Discoveries Kirkus Discoveries, VNU US Literary Group, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 646-654-4602 fax 646-654-4706 discoveries@kirkusreviews.com