Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
by Jean Sasson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
If you care about the treatment of women in any country, read this book. If you want to know more about harem cultures (which even modern Saudi Arabia still reflects), read this book. It may tear at your heart a bit, but you’ll walk away glad that you’ve educated yourself. And perhaps wondering how this sort of cultural influence or gender bias might still be affecting even so-called “free” women in the United States.
And how many lives have you lived in such cultures as this? Do you carry an echo within you? Does your relationship with either gender reflect this subtle influence? I know I have a strong, past-life connection to harem lifetimes, as both man and/or woman, proven by my flashbacks and experiences in the present life, as detailed in my own book. It’s important to ferret out any leftover imbalances in attitude in the present, and this book will help you do it. We live such lives to learn, but now’s the time to discard the less useful elements through our objectification and analysis.
The sad aspect is that both men and women in such a restrictive social world are suffering from the lack of equal partnerships, or, as I like to call them, polarity relationships, which could otherwise do so much for their happiness, peace of mind, and productivity.
Do I think the Princess of the title is a real person? Hard to say. What a risky thing these two women did by creating this book! I waited two decades to read it, after my own close call with an opportunity to live in Saudi Arabia. From all I’ve learned from insiders about life in that country, I believe every story told in the book is true or as close to truth as could safely be conveyed. Since identities needed to be so securely hidden, some of the stories may have been many times repeated, but I didn’t sense a lot of exaggeration, based on my knowledge of the customs.
It’s a highly readable book, and you may find yourself compelled to keep turning pages, even when the situations are so shocking you’d like to quit.
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