I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced: A Memoir

by Nujood Ali and Delphine Minoui

Book Overview

"I'm a simple village girl who has always obeyed the orders of my father and brothers. Since forever, I have learned to say yes to everything. Today I have decided to say no." Nujood Ali's childhood... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307589676
• Release Date: March 2010
• Publisher: Broadway Books
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.5" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

Incredible

A beautifully written, eye-opening memoir about an issue that must be addressed. Simply inspiring.

Baby Brides in Burkas...

...is the Yemeni version of "Toddlers & Tiaras," but where the U.S. version is prurient and vulgar, the Yemeni version crosses the bounds of human decency. Little Nujood Ali is a typical Yemeni child. She loves her dolls, she likes to play house, and dreams of going to school, maybe becoming a teacher or even getting married someday. Except for Nujood, "someday" is today. Her father enjoys the state of matrimony so thoroughly, he can't stop after one wife and family. Nope, although he cannot support the wife and kids he does have, good old Pop decides he needs to double the financial burden and get himself a second wife and set of kiddies. To cover the costs of his nuptial excesses, he sells off his ten year old daughter to a acquaintance. Here in the U.S. we call grown men with a penchant for little kids degenerates. In Yemen, they are called husbands. Technically a "bride," Nujood is in fact, a chattel, to be used as her new husband and family see fit. Her husband does not even wait for the child to reach puberty before raping her. Puberty! I guess by Yemeni standards, this is decency and restraint...because as we all know, a girl of 12 is a woman. I understand that Yemen is a society that lacks the benefit of Western progress. I also understand that before a culture can consider such esoteric points of etiquette as not selling off your babies to licentious old goats, there has to be a certain standard of living. Perhaps it is only through education and civilization that humans attain the discernment that allows this sort of genteel reflectionand the ability to differentiate between that which is decent and moral and that which is heinous. But come on, haven't we heard over and over again that the Middle East is the Cradle of Civilization? It's not a matter of not knowing better, it's a matter of greed and licentiousness and corruption...and it smells as bad in Yemen as it would in Yellowstone! Nujood's abuse is not only condoned, it's encouraged by her family, by men and women alike. Her mother can't be bothered to help her. Her mother-in-law just wants a willing household slave to serve everyone's whims. When Nujood shows a little of the courage that is her stellar quality, the MIL encourages the husband really get tough. Ordinary rape, beatings and torture aren't good enough...not if one needs to show a tiny ten year girl who's boss. This book was very hard to read because I became so incensed, I kept flinging it across the room and was on the point of enlisting in whatever branch of the military will take a women of an age, say, where her first crush might have been Fabian. Fortunately I there is no such branch since I'm useless at any form of warfare that goes beyond the "Am not" "Are too" stage. Unlike most of the child brides in her country, Nujood was -- and continues to be -- lucky. She managed to contact sympathetic adults and, through them, some more evolved local officials who risked their own lives and welf

absolutely astounding

I remember hearing about the story when it first broke on the news in 08 and cheering for her. But to read everything that she went through is another thing entirely. I couldn't put it down. I applaud the strength and dtermination it took for her to do this, not only to stand up but to put it out in this book. Everything she endured, all the struggles and fears, so that others may be encouraged to do the same.

Shocking...

2010's "I Am Nujood" is the true story of Nujood Ali, a Yemeni female who was forcibly married off at the age of ten to a much older man. Sent away to live with her husband's clan, she is repeatedly raped by her new husband and treated as a servant girl by her mother-in-law. Nujood slips away from her husband's clan and bravely makes her way to a court in the Yemeni capital of San'aa, where she demands a divorce. In so doing, she takes on a deeply embedded traditional way of life in which women have few rights, even fewer of which are honored. Nujood does win her divorce, opening the way to an uncertain future with her poverty-stricken family. Nujood's story, written with Delphine Minoui, travels backward and forward in time in the months around Nujood's marriage and divorce. The narrative is sometimes charming, as when it describes the beautiful Yemeni countryside and the better aspects of traditional family life. It is also shocking; its descriptions of rampant poverty and backwardness in Yemeni society are heartbreaking. The story itself is a tough read, made bearable by the positive spirit of Nujood, which shines through the narrative. Nujood's divorce may have triggered some change in Yemeni society, although it is unclear at the end of the story just how lasting that change will be. Nujood was semi-literate at the time of the events in the story; the book is written from her point of view but it is unclear how much of the story is the voice of Nujood and how much is that of her co-author. "I Am Nujood" is very highly recommended to those readers seeking insight into an Arabic society at the uncertain interface of past and present.

A startling, eye-opening glimpse into another culture

This short book, which I read in a single sitting, astounded me with its narrative and left me feeling a mix of anger and incredulity upon completing it. Before reading this book, I'd read about Nujood Ali, who has been described as possessing a "precocious self-assurance." After reading the book, it's clearly an accurate description of a young girl who refuses to accept a situation that she knows is wrong. In doing so, it turns out, she opens the door for long-overdue change. Nujood doesn't live an easy life as a young girl in Yemen, but she still finds time to enjoy her childhood. Her father, who has two wives, seems incapable of supporting them on his meager salary, and the rest of the family must find ways to make ends meet. Her father, in an effort to ease his own burden, agrees to an arranged marriage with a man three times Nujood's age, with the condition that he not consummate the marriage until one year after her first period. The new husband breaks that promise on the very night of their wedding, and from that point forward continues to beat her and rape her nightly. This is not consensual sex, but child rape, pure and simple. The story that unfolds from that point forward is nothing short of amazing. It's also heartening to learn that right from the beginning of her ordeal, several Yemenese men stepped forward to stand up for her rights, even while knowing that Sharia law and local customs would be working against them. It is also important to realize that educated, empowered women in these countries are also willing to step forward and challenge such destructive customs and laws, and one of them, Shada Nasser, becomes her lawyer and champion. It is my hope that this book, and the fall-out from the divorce trial, will continue to help change the lives of women living within this type of culture, although perhaps not quickly enough. No matter how many times I read about situations like this, I still find it astounding that a man can rape a woman, as was the case with Nujood's older sister Mona, and it somehow becomes the fault of the woman that shame comes to the family name. How can this possibly be? How can a young woman be raped in her own home, and somehow it becomes her fault, and the males must protect their own honor by condemning the females? This horribly twisted logic (or the complete lack of it, truth be told) boggles the mind, and books such as this one help break down barriers by exposing dark secrets. Nujood's father continually justified marrying off his ten-year-old daughter by pointing to the example of Muhammad, who married Aisha when she was but six, and consummated the marriage when she was nine years old. Some apologists insist that Muhammad didn't marry her until she was nine, but Aisha's own words, found in Bint al-Shati's The Wives of Prophet Muhammad, tell a different story. "The Prophet married me when I was six years old and the marriage was consummated when I was nine. The Prophet of God came to our

short, yet searing--made my hair stand on end in parts!

Nujood Ali, a ten-year old Yemeni girl forced into marriage with a repulsive older man, refuses to put up with the injustice of the terrible abuse she suffers daily at his hands. Against tremendous odds, she will not back down until she gets what she wants: a divorce. Najood tells her own amazing story with the help of co-author Delphine Minoui. This inspiring book, which comes out out in February 2010, has already been translated into 16 languages. The eleven chapters, plus epilogue, alternate between her determined legal battle beginning at the court house in the capital city of Sana'a, and the idealic early childhood in a remote village, leading up to her the disasterous union with her abuser. Bucking the forces of age-old customs, family disapproval, and the tabu of "bringing shame to her family", Nujood's bravery and determination never flicker nor flag. She is completely sure of the justice of her cause, of her own self worth, and her faith in God. Really, Nujood is just an regular kid, like any other; she likes to play, to draw pictures and learn to read, and she loves her family--not so different really than millions of other girls who live in this mostly impoverished society, where men have the final word, no questions asked. But she has an internal strength to never question herself, and the simple belief that right will win out. I think that, although Nujood's world may seem impossibly remote to our own, her book has universal appeal. It's the story of courage, of human rights, of passion and of compasssion. Little Nujood manages to find powerful allies within the justice system, including a remarkable attorney named Shada, and international support from women's and human right's groups, such as Oxfam. Her success has already inspired a few other young girls in similar situations to obtain justice. And it can inspire people like me, who, by comparison, live blessed lives, to believe in, and stand up for ourselves. Thankfully, Nujood is recovering from the trauma of her ordeals. Hopefully, she will still enjoy being a child for a while longer. Gratefully, she has been able to return to school and sate her thirst for learning. Wonderfully, she has found a great reservoir of compassion for others who suffer. Inspiringly, she has set her sights on higher education and tireless work in the cause of justice, as an attorney or, possibly a journalist. You go, Nujood, the world is watching!