Some of you may know that I have lately had a problem with reading novels. The problem is that I just can't pay attention to a novel for very long. I find myself uninterested, distracted, and left wanting something engaging. I don't know why I have this problem lately, especially considering my history of reading the same novel over and over again. At any rate, until this problem is solved, I will spend my time reading non-fiction. I picked up In the Land of Invisible Women by Qanta A. Ahmed, MD because it... wasn't a novel. That, and I've always wanted to learn more about women's issues in the Middle East. This book is a memoir of Dr. Ahmed's time spent in the Saudi Kingdom, written in a very engaging voice, making it almost like... a novel. But it's not a novel. Dr. Ahmed paints a surprising picture of the Saudi Kingdom through her accounts of the time she spent practicing medicine in this foreign territory.
At first, I couldn't believe that this book was non-fiction. Some of the events recounted by Dr. Ahmed are unbelievably shocking. The strict laws of the Kingdom create some unimaginable barriers for women. All women in the Kingdom, Muslim or not, are required to cover their hair when in public. Until very recently, women were not even allowed to drive in the Kingdom. Dr. Ahmed sheds light on some very interesting aspects of life in the Kingdom, few of which I was aware prior to reading this book.
Although Dr. Ahmed's descriptions of her experience are both intimate and interesting, I found parts of this book to be a bit disconnected. The memoir is written episodically, so a degree of "jumpyness" between chapters is to be expected. However, at times Dr. Ahmed's sequence of events would be confusing and difficult to follow. Additionally, Dr. Ahmed seemed to leave some ideas half-developed (the story of her almost-but-not-quite romance with a fellow doctor, for example), thus making them seem more like distractions like interesting side-stories.
I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn more about Islam and women's issues in the Middle East. A few warnings, however: The author is Muslim, but was raised in England and the United States, so her views are at times biased and a little naive. The book is also fairly long (464 pages), so you'll have to commit some time to reading it. It is fairly easy to get through, though, so don't let the high page count deter you. Also, there are a few graphic descriptions (almost all are medically-related, since the author is a doctor) that might be startling. Overall, this is a good read. Plus, it's halfway between a novel and sociological non-fiction, so it was a good genre for me. :)
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