American Chick in Saudi Arabia

by Jean Sasson

It all begins with an ad in the newspaper. When Jean Sasson, a young Southern woman living in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, answers a call to work in the royal hospital in Saudi Arabia, what should have been a two-year stay turns into a life-changing adventure spanning over a decade. Over the years Jean is plunged into the hidden lives of the veiled women in Riyadh, where women are locked in luxurious homes and fundamentalist mutawas terrorize the streets. Jean meets women from all walks of life--a feisty bedouin, an educated mother, a conservative wife of a high-ranking Saudi, and a Saudi princess the world knows as Princess Sultana--all who open a window into Saudi culture and help to reshape Jean's worldviews. AMERICAN CHICK IN SAUDI ARABIA is the first installment in a heartfelt, inspiring memoir about Jean's thirty-year travels and adventures in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait and Iraq.

Jean's first book THE RAPE OF KUWAIT, based on her eye witness reporting on the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops, was an immediate bestseller. Shortly thereafter she became a full-time writer. Her next three books, PRINCESS, PRINCESS SULTANA'S DAUGHTERS, and PRINCESS SULTANA'S CIRCLE, became international sensations as they were the first books to bring to the western world the shocking stories about life for women in Saudi Arabia. Jean is also the author of MAYADA, DAUGHTER OF IRAQ, about the prison experiences of an Iraqi journalist praised by Saddam Hussein; LOVE IN A TORN The True Story of a Freedom Fighter's Escape from Iraqi Vengeance which tells the story of a beautiful Kurdish woman; GROWING UP BIN Osama's Wife and Son Take Us into Their Secret World; and FOR THE LOVE OF A One Afghan Woman's Quest for Her Stolen Child. Her work has been featured in People, Vanity Fair,The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The New York Post, The Sunday London Times, The Guardian, CNN, FOX, NBC, and many other news organizations.

Still traveling the world, Jean has made her homebase in Atlanta, Georgia where she is a passionate animal rights and women's rights supporter.

PRAISE FOR JEAN SASSON'S

“Fascinating...an intimate account of a family life that became steadily more dangerous and bizarre...in forced pursuit of Osama’s jihadist dreams.” --Washington Post

"The startling truth behind veiled lives...frank and vivid" --Sunday Express

"Anyone with the slightest interest in human rights will find this book heart-wrenching." --Betty Mahmoody, bestselling author of NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER

"A fascinating narrative...devastating" --Robert Harris, Sunday Times

"Absolutely riveting and profoundly sad..." --People magazine

"A chilling story...a vivid account of an air-conditioned nightmare..." --Entertainment Weekly

"Must-reading for anyone interested in human rights." --USA Today

"Shocking...candid...sad, sobering, and compassionate..." --San Francisco Chronicle

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Middle East, Ebooks, Travel, Biography Memoir

75 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2012

About the author

Jean Sasson was born in a small town in Alabama. An avid reader from an early age, she had read all the books in her school library by the time she was 15 years old. She also began her book collection at age 15. When given the chance to travel, Sasson accepted a position at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, and lived in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for 12 years. She traveled extensively, visiting 66 countries over the course of 30 years.

Jean started her writing career in 1991 when she wrote the book, THE RAPE OF KUWAIT. The book was an instant best-seller, reaching #2 on the New York Times bestseller list. When the Kuwaiti Embassy in Washington heard that soldiers sent to free Kuwait did not know why they were there, the Embassy sent 200,000 copies to the region. Later Sasson wrote PRINCESS: A TRUE STORY OF LIFE BEHIND THE VEIL IN SAUDI ARABIA, which is the story of a princess in the royal house of al-Sa'ud. The book was an international bestseller published in 68 different editions (also staying on the NYTIMES bestseller list for 13 weeks). Later Sasson wrote two sequels (DAUGHTERS AND CIRCLE). Please visit this link to read an interview with the author about her book "Princess": http://reith-jerevinan.blogspot.com/2....

Other groundbreaking books followed: MAYADA, DAUGHTER OF IRAQ; ESTER'S CHILD; LOVE IN A TORN LAND; GROWING UP BIN LADEN (please visit this page to read an in-depth interview with Jean Sasson about "Growing Up bin Laden" http://www.thedailybeast.com/contribu... and FOR THE LOVE OF A SON.

In March 2012, an e-book short was released: AMERICAN CHICK IN SAUDI ARABIA, which consists of the first three chapters of Sasson's autobiography. On the second day of release, the book reached #1 on Barnes & Noble biography bestseller list. Jean's latest release is YASMEENA'S CHOICE, a heartbreaker of a story about two women (one Kuwaiti and the other Lebanese) kidnapped to be raped & tortured by the Iraqi special forces in occupied Kuwait. (Please visit this link to see an itnerview with Jean Sasson about her newest book "Yasmeena's Choice: http://gulfnews.com/arts-entertainmen...).

Jean's 12th book, PRINCESS, MORE TEARS to CRY has just been released and is available in the English language in most countries. Foreign editions will be available throughout the next year. Jean Sasson's official website is: www.jeansasson.com.

Reviews

[Jean Sasson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi! This is Jean Sasson and I wanted to remind readers that this short tome, AMERICAN CHICK IN SAUDI ARABIA, is NOT the completed memoir. That is why the book has not been published in a traditional manner. This is why you are reading only a few stories of my early days in Saudi Arabia. So, please be warned that the book is not a completed book and there are not that many pages. I don't want you to be disappointed, so if you feel you do not want to bother reading a short book, then please wait for the complete memoir. I have plans to complete my memoir after I finish writing Princess Sultana: More Tears to Cry, which will be the 4th book in the Princess series and will be published in September 2014 by DOUBLEDAY PUBLISHERS.

Additionally, I have another book I am committed to write almost immediately after I complete PRINCESS 4.

THUS, due to time-constraints, I will not be able to come back to my memoir (which, by the way, will have a different title) until after the two book commitments are completed.

In these first chapters I tell about my arrival in Saudi Arabia, and three of the first Saudi women whom I met. All were extraordinary women and and helped me to realize that the women of Saudi Arabia had to be the ones to make change come to the kingdom.

Most likely my autiobiography will be a 3 to 5 volume series. I lived in and traveled the Arab world from 1978 until now. I experienced many dramatic moments in war-torn Lebanon, Kuwait after the invasion, and Iraq in 1998. But most of all, I am looking forward to telling you all about the amazing Arab people I met on my life's journey. I learned so much from the extraordinary people I met.

Thanks for reading this very small book (in pages) although I believe that the stories of these three Saudi women are very important. I'll be back with you soon! Thanks, so much, Jean Sasson

[W · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author of the Princess series writes about her early experiences in Saudi Arabia,while working at a hospital,in 1978.I've read several of her books earlier,so it did feel very familiar.

But I didn't enjoy this particularly.The writing style is rather gossipy,though occasionally the book is a bit funny.

Her experiences as a veiled woman,in the streets of Riyadh are interesting.But then she goes into a familiar discussion of how tough it must be for Saudi women,in a male dominated society.Plus a discussion of how wealthy Saudi women spend most of their time in frivolities.

Some of the issues discussed are genuine,but she has milked them in so many books,so there wasn't anything particularly new.And,she does have a preachy attitude,which this time,grated on my nerves.

[Patti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love almost everything Jean Sasson has written.. what a trailblazer she has been, beginning in the 80s, telling us the personal stories of women that she has met in her life in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. I wish this were much longer, of course, and look toward the time when the volumes she's planned for her autobiography are complete!

[Maimoona Rahman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a memoir. This is a woman being preachy and holier-than-thou.

American Chick in Saudi Arabia is about Jean Sasson’s experiences in Saudi Arabia as an administrative employee at a royal hospital, mostly witnessing like any outsider the lives of Saudi women behind the veil, trying to live a day like them, and imagining ways to encourage them to fight for their rights. She introduces three women to us: a Bedouin, who is happy; an educated woman who is forced to veil her face and deliver genetically deformed babies knowing that they will all be deformed and they will all die; and a beautiful distant princess who accepts the conservatism and tries too hard to please her old husband. The book focusses less on the happy Bedouin and more on the unhappy educated woman, the princess who tries too hard, and Jean Sasson’s missionary attempts and her blond hair and fair skin.

I will admit this upfront: I do not want to live in Saudi Arabia, based on my own experiences in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia. But, neither do I compare the freedoms I enjoy with the freedoms women in Saudi Arabia do and feel arrogant. Sasson has a haughty way of telling you that this is a barbaric country, and what a pity women here do not know of the freedom American women enjoy. Yes, women in Saudi Arabia are oppressed, but I wish Sasson told us more about the Bedouins, because aren’t they the romantics whose lives are truly intriguing? Sadly, the Bedouin woman’s story is in fact shorter than the passages on the oppressed women. Sasson claims that she was often privy to Saudi gossip, but it is strange that she never discovered that the more progressive Saudi families did have men and women mixing at home and private centres. I also wish that Sasson, during her stay in Saudi Arabia, had done more research on original Saudis, i.e. the Bedouins, the freedoms their women enjoyed, and how all that changed with the British creating a Saudi state and the discovery of oil. A true Bedouin woman is a free woman, but Sasson never hints at that. Neither does she tell us why the rather progressive politics of Saudi Arabia allow the existence of the religious police, who are a lot like cunning lions, springing in front you, their dyed beards flashing in the sun, as they spray paint parts of the female body that aren’t covered.

The writing style in this book is rather dry and seems representative of the white person lost in a barbaric land. She talks rather a lot about the privileges she enjoyed in Saudi circles and how her fair skin and long blond hair were the envy of all. She doesn’t mention that someone more educated or holding a better job than she would not be as admired if they weren’t American, and that to an extent, she should attribute her privilege in prestigious Saudi circles to her being a white American. She doesn’t talk about the domestic maids, who were probably abused at the hands of their rich female mistresses, to whom Sasson claims to have had access. Simply because America entitles women to more rights doesn’t mean she can start waging a war against Saudi men on behalf of Saudi women. Excuse me, that is interfering, and playing unsolicited Big Sister is simply an exhibition of pride and arrogance. Yes, Saudi women are oppressed, but to write like Heavens have ordained her to save them suggests that women in America enjoy a utopia.

Sasson calls herself a chick in the title, and yet I read it, because I thought there was no way Jean Sasson could go wrong. This is just the first instalment in the American Chick series, and I will read the others only if I am in a terribly bitter mood and I need to read something to frustrate me and set my senses on fire. I will also not be able to read any of her books with a straight face because a foreigner pretentious enough to consider herself a voice for Middle Eastern women is as suspicious as a white colonist.

And I hope Sasson learns better than to keep describing how long her blond hair is and how fair her American skin is.

[Jaylia3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Jean Sasson moved to Saudi Arabia in her twenties she wasn’t a journalist or a Middle Eastern scholar, but she’s now the author of at least nine well received books on the people, especially the women, of that vital, sometimes volatile, always interesting region. This short revealing book is her own story of what her impressions were and what her life was like when she relocated across the world to work in a Saudi hospital. The conservative life style wasn’t as uncomfortable for Sasson as it might have been because she didn’t drink alcohol anyway and she was from a Southern town where modest dress was the norm, but some of the ways she saw women treated shocked her.

In one instance, Sasson was out shopping with a woman who was mostly draped in the required tent-like outerwear, except that her forearms were uncovered. For that offense the woman was attacked and sprayed with red paint by a religious zealot while Sasson watched in horror and no one came to their aid. After other similarly upsetting instances Sasson vowed, somewhat naively at that point maybe, to encourage Saudi women change their lives. She was able to meet and get to know a variety of Saudi women, from Bedouins to princesses, but to her initial surprise some of those women felt sorry for her, almost thirty and with no husband for protection.

The book offers an intriguing glimpse into the lives of these women, whose ways of thinking are so different from most people living in the West. American Chick in Saudi Arabia is the first installment of Sasson’s memoirs and so is just about those early years. I’m eager to read the others as they come out. It will be fascinating to see how Sasson went from being an inexperienced, but determined and idealistic young woman working as a medical administrator, to being the celebrated author she is today.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

You’ve imagined it of course—wearing a black abāya, the robe that covers a person from head to foot with a cloth screen where one’s eyes are. And you’ve thought about black in all that Mideast heat. It almost seems, doesn't it, that the men are afraid of women, that they have to tie them up so and put every obstruction in their way? After all, [some sarcasm here] what mightn’t these pesky women get up to if they weren’t thoroughly hampered? It would be laughable if it weren't so humiliating and degrading. I can't help but get the niggling notion that those men that require such restrictive clothing for women must have so little control of themselves that they are more afraid of what they themselves would do when presented with feminine beauty than they are afraid of what women would do.

Sasson, perhaps best known for a number of books about prominent women in Muslim countries, has cleverly taken advantage of electronic formats to give us a taste of her own personal history. In this 78-page installment, she tell us of her early years in the Saudi kingdom when she recognized the constraints under which women there lived and when she developed her determination to form bonds with women of all backgrounds who wanted a free-thinking American friend.

We are invited to view the life Sasson experienced in the late 1970’s, and are treated to remembrances of events and reconstructions of conversations which bring home to us the realities of life in Saudi. Sasson bravely reveals her early naïveté, and shares with us her dawning realization of what it would take to change the attitudes which constrain women: women must have their own support groups but men must also be a part of any changes that take place. And now, thirty years later, the resistance to giving women a measure of freedom lives on, lessened only a little.

Like all good memoirs, this is open and candid, revealing as much about the author as about the country she seeks to unveil. This segment covers Sasson’s first years in Saudi. Later segments should address her extensive travel throughout Muslim countries, and the writing of many biographies. I’d known of Sasson for many years before picking up Growing Up bin Laden, a truly remarkable look inside the marriage of a man known throughout the world for his single-minded and bloody pursuit of his beliefs. What struck me then was the access Sasson enjoyed, and the detail she chose to share with us. In her memoir, we see the younger version of the woman who was later able to write that book.

[DubaiReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

First installment.

My initial reaction to this 80 page, first installment of Jean Sasson's memoir is, why only 80 pages? Why has this been issued as just a sample? Personally, although I did enjoy this, I found it a bit frustrating that it was only part of a more complete book.

Jean became famous as the author of the rather shocking book, Princess. This was an insight into the hidden lives of women in Saudi Arabia, particularly the Princess known as Princess Sultana.
The first part of her recent memoir explains how she came to be working in Saudi and the origin of her mission to persuade Saudi women that they must fight for their freedoms and live a full life.
There are three wonderful characters revealed in this installment, a Bedouin woman who has had a satisfying life and has no problems about wearing the veil, an educated young mother who has married her cousin and cannot give birth to a healthy baby and a woman who's only purpose in life is to please her dominant husband.

This is not as good as my previous reads by this author and I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could. It was because I had read two of her other books that I was particularly interested in her story, but I prefer her biographical works.
I particularly dislike the title which would not have attracted me if I'd seen the book on a shelf.

Awaiting the next installment.

Also read:
Princess (4 stars)
Mayada: Daughter of Iraq (4 stars)

[Deni Aria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review

It's the first journey of Jean Sasson in Middle East country, Saudi Arabia that made her bring the unstoppable questions to the world in forms of books she writes on how the Middle East women's life is over-controlled by Male kingdom and the culture and sadly sometime combined with the religious misinterpretation.

Over 30 years living in Saudi Arabia she has been keeping her hope to see the change the women life living in Arab Country and she sadly only found small changes and till now the realm of male gender in the name of Religion is still so powerful and becoming status quo back up with the holy scripture misinterpretation.

All Jason Sasson's books are about battling the ideas of freedom for the oppressed, tortured and abused women especially in the Middle East. It is an eye opener that will bring myself so many questions on freedom mostly from the western way of thinking

My afterthought on women life struggling or being struggled by western activists for their freedom in the Middle East always is ended up with my own self-questioning toward the definition of Freedom as we may be wrong/different to see and to define the terms of the freedom itself, OR is it perhaps only our envy for the life in eastern way which is derived from so many rigorous restrictions AND we maybe longing ourselves for renewing our definition of freedom with eastern way as we do not see any longer the freedom we learn or implanted from the west is giving us the happiness, the real one and it's always in the eyes of beholder.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised to read so much detail in such a short book, but I enjoyed it cover to cover. I actually did want to learn more about the Saudi culture, even from a male point of view, but will probably find other books to read for that. I'm sure Ms. Sasson's other books will be interesting, too.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story explores the lives of women living beneath the veil in Saudi Arabia. It examines the how and why about the veil and the long existing customs of women’s rights,especially in regards to husbands and their rights within a marriage.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book a great deal. This book was very informative on the Saudi etc culture. I learned things I never knew and enjoy learning from the books I read. I look forward to reading more of Jean Sasson's books!

[Diane Nagatomo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting autobiography of an American woman who went to Saudi Arabia in 1978 to work in a hospital with the intention of staying only 2 years.

[Kavita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've always liked Jean Sasson's books, though sometimes they do seem a little exaggerated. This book is a personal account of her time in Saudi Arabia. For once, there was no American posturing of how great the US is and how the rest of the world is mere shit, that usually is the case with such books. Full marks for avoiding that trap. The descriptions of her experiences are fun and the plight of some of the women described seems pretty realistic considering the human rights statistics and reports that are available. However, I am not convinced how 'a mere woman' gets so friendly with so many royals.

Also, I wonder what kind of women would call herself a 'chick'. I winced every time the word made an appearance. For a feminist author striving to help women achieve their rights, this seems remarkably off base.

The book is also too short and ends too abruptly. I was rather shaken from my immersion in the book when I found that it was over. Eh?! When did that happen?

Anyway, worth a read but I found her other books much better written.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

How could I not read this snippet of a book? The author is from Troy, Alabama, not far from my mother's family farm between Clio and Louisville, AL.! Heard from a 1st cousin that another 1st cousin is an acquaintance of the author...

Curiosity about the author led me to read this title and it answered my primary question - How did she come to be in Saudi Arabia. (I'd read her 3 "princess" books years ago.)

Sasson traveled very far from her small town home and had adventures undreamable earlier in life. For that, I respect her. Most of us 1940s/1950s women were too meek to do such a thing.

I wish she had turned her experiences into fiction rather than non-fiction (which led to much controversy), as did many British women who went to India during the Imperial occupation of India. Rumer Godden comes to mind as one of the best writers of that genre.

I'm glad i found this book on my Nook Glowlight:-)

[Rachel Cotterill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very short book which tells of the author's experiences in Saudi Arabia in the late 70s and early 80s. Part personal travelogue, part feminist manifesto, Sasson tells of her interactions with Saudi women and her naive attempts to persuade them that Western freedoms are worth fighting for. Of particular interest to me were the attitudes of these Saudi women, most of whom seemed to feel that she was the unfortunate one, as she must work for a living and has no-one to take care of her. As the appendix makes clear, little has changed between then and now, in the matter of Saudi women's rights. Despite being an enthusiastic traveller myself, I've always been reluctant to visit countries where women are so oppressed; Sasson's story gives me a glimpse of what I'm missing, and I appreciate the candour of her account.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Jean Sasson's earlier books it was good to hear her personal story. Her preconceived notions were startling to me. To Western women a woman's life in the Middle East is very different. I would still think that there would be women who would find comfort in the structure of that society. I would also not assume that all men there would be abusers. Jean Sasson did not seem very open minded to what this new world might offer her. Rather she seems to come to it trying at once to fix it before getting to know it. The book is occasionally hard to follow as it doesn't flow entirely chronologically. It is short and sweet. I look forward to reading the rest of the story. I understand she does intend to continue her autobiography in several short volumes.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's plain why Sasson used this title. Intelligent, well educated, carefree woman decides to travel alone to Saudi Arabia and work in hospital administration. While there she discovers the complete oppression of women and, naive chick that she is, thinks she can wake the women up to their situation and convince them to organize so that they can recover their rights. This was in 1979. 33 years later we see just how effective her pecking around was. This is sort of an introduction to all the books Jean Sasson has written about strong women in dangerous situations. I may read more of her full length stuff.

[Kamal Kashyap · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is all about Jean Sasson's experience in Saudi Arabia. How she reach there & than the series of event that she encountered there. Looking at others life from there point of view or living there life is always a king of fantasy when ever we entered in to a foreign land ( especially if there custom & tradition is entirely different from ours), that's the same case with jean sasson. And her discussion with Saudi women & there different interpretation of freedom & both trying to put there views over each other.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just the first volume in a series of memoirs to be published. I got the ebook from Barnes & Noble but it will be available at amazon in a few weeks. This gal has spent the past 30 years traveling the world and meeting people during the most tempestuous times in their country's history. Looking forward to the next release.

[R.Z. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jean Sasson puts her whole heart into telling the stories of women whom she feels are oppressed, even when the women don't understand that they are oppressed. Sasson makes many assumptions about the people that she meets, but nevertheless, the reader can't help but be entertained. I was fascinated by her adventures.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all of Jean's books but this gave a bit more insight into how she came about being in the Middle East and the friendships she made. I would recommend this book to fans of her other books but bear in mind that its rather short as it is only the first installment. I can't wait to read the second installment!!

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at what it is like to be a woman in Saudi Arabia. Just wearing a veil in public...hot, awkward, no identity, etc. When she wore a veil to experience this for herself, her fiance tied a colored string to her shoes so he could identify her in a crowd. I can't imagine living like that. Some of the women, not having known anything different, see it as protection.

[Muhammad Syed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good read for anyone visiting KSA for the first time especially the Non Muslims. Indeed the Saudi men are the most cunning and hypocrite. They have mixed the Islamic teaching and culture and imposed rules and laws that suit their freedom and suppress the women and Non Muslims.

The author has ample experience of the Saudi way of life and has portrayed the society immaculately.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book grabbed my attention, I feel like I need to read the others though to be able to recommend it.

[Dawn Briscoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time rating this because it was such a short bit. I do have to say I am adding the other books she wrote to my "to read" list because I did like her writing.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always enjoy a Jean Sasson book on Saudi

[Stasi Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, but finished unexpectedly...thought it would be much longer than it was.

[Rachel Rueben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book, yes, it's short but it's her own personal memoir so she's allowed that courtesy. Honestly, I'm not into long winded memoirs. I'm a "get to the point" kind of reader.

This book is filled with humor and as well personal discovery which is rare these days. Most memoirs especially, those of celebrities and politicians are just commercials to their self-perceived grandeur. However here, Jean allows you to see her screwing up and doesn't make excuses for it. There are no happily ever afters and no heroes who make it all better in 100 pages or less. This is real life you know! And that is what I loved most about this book, so I gave Jean Sasson's American Chick in Saudi Arabia 5 stars for keeping it real.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the first installment of Jean Sasson's memoir, it starts off when she leaves her small southern town in the USA to go work at a Royal Saudi Arabian hospital in Riyadh, this was in 1978. Here she meet incredible women but Jean having come from a world where women have freedom of choice, is appalled by the restriction put on the women of that area and quite often she tries to make them see her point of view which doesn't really work. I have read the Sultana trilogy by her and found those books to be very interesting. I enjoyed her first installment of her memoir and am looking forward to more of her escapades throughout the area, and to seeing the world through her eyes.

[Vidya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've red this author before and her books were so impactful. This one is about her journey to Saudi. While boys of the book were good to read on the whole it was a very dry read.

I expected an explosion just like her previous works and that didn't happen with this one.

She does leave you with some questions about what we believe is right for the women of Saudi, what the rest of the world believes is freedom. Quick read but not something you must pick up.