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Rok w Jemenie
Kiedy w 2006 roku Jennifer Steil – przebojowa nowojorska dziennikarka, przyjmuje nietypową propozycję pracy w Sanie, nie przypuszcza, że właśnie rozpoczęła się największa przygoda jej życia. Szkolenie jemeńskich dziennikarzy, które ma trwać trzy tygodnie, okazuje się jedynie wstępem do jej rocznego pobytu w tym egzotycznym kraju.
"Rok w Jemenie" to wciągająca, prawdziwa historia dziennikarki, która - wbrew typowym dla Jemenu patriarchalnym uwarunkowaniom kulturowym - przez kilkanaście miesięcy pełni obowiązki redaktor naczelnej gazety „Yemen Observer”.
Świetnie napisana, porywająca lektura o współczesnym Jemenie i kulisach pracy
dziennikarzy a także o kobiecej niezłomności charakteru i pasji.
"Rok w Jemenie" to wciągająca, prawdziwa historia dziennikarki, która - wbrew typowym dla Jemenu patriarchalnym uwarunkowaniom kulturowym - przez kilkanaście miesięcy pełni obowiązki redaktor naczelnej gazety „Yemen Observer”.
Świetnie napisana, porywająca lektura o współczesnym Jemenie i kulisach pracy
dziennikarzy a także o kobiecej niezłomności charakteru i pasji.
480 pages, Paperback
First published May 11, 2010
36 people are currently reading
1401 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Steil
11 books179 followersJennifer Steil is an award-winning novelist and memoirist who lives in many countries. She left the United States in 2006 to take a job as editor of a newspaper in Sana’a, Yemen, where she lived for four years. Her first book, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, was inspired by her Yemeni reporters. She began writing her first novel, The Ambassador’s Wife, after she was kidnapped when pregnant with her daughter. That experience became the first scene of the novel. She and her infant daughter were evacuated from Yemen after her husband Tim Torlot, a British diplomat, was attacked by a suicide bomber. They lived in Amman, Jordan, until his posting ended and he could join them in London. In 2012, they moved to La Paz, Bolivia. Early in her time there, Steil met Jewish Bolivians whose families had fled the Nazis in Europe during World War II. Their stories inspired her third book, Exile Music. She now lives in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The Ambassador’s Wife won the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Best Novel award and the 2016 Phillip McMath Post Publication book award. It was shortlisted for both the Bisexual Book Award and the Lascaux Novel Award, and has received considerable critical acclaim, notably in the Seattle Times, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and The New York Times Book Review. It has been published in several other languages, including Italian, Bulgarian, Greek, and Polish. The Mark Gordon Company optioned the film rights to The Ambassador’s Wife, with plans to create a television miniseries starring Anne Hathaway.
Jennifer’s first book, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky (Broadway Books, 2010), a memoir about her tenure as editor of the Yemen Observer newspaper in Sana’a, received praise from The New York Times, Newsweek, and the Sydney Morning Herald. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune chose it as one of their best travel books of the year in 2010, and Elle magazine awarded it their Readers’ Prize. National Geographic Traveler included the book in their 2014 recommended reading list. It has been published in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, and Poland.
Steil’s stories and articles have appeared in the New Orleans Review, Saranac Review, World Policy Journal, The Week, Time, Life, Peauxdunque Review, The Washington Times, Vogue UK, Die Welt, New York Post, The Rumpus, and France 24.
She was born in Boston in 1968 and grew up in Groton, Massachusetts. She attended the Putney School in Vermont and studied theater at Oberlin College. After spending four years working as an actor, her frustrations with the limited range of roles available to women drove her to begin writing. She completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College and an MS in Journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is currently working on a new novel as part of her dissertation for a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham in the UK.
The Ambassador’s Wife won the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Best Novel award and the 2016 Phillip McMath Post Publication book award. It was shortlisted for both the Bisexual Book Award and the Lascaux Novel Award, and has received considerable critical acclaim, notably in the Seattle Times, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and The New York Times Book Review. It has been published in several other languages, including Italian, Bulgarian, Greek, and Polish. The Mark Gordon Company optioned the film rights to The Ambassador’s Wife, with plans to create a television miniseries starring Anne Hathaway.
Jennifer’s first book, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky (Broadway Books, 2010), a memoir about her tenure as editor of the Yemen Observer newspaper in Sana’a, received praise from The New York Times, Newsweek, and the Sydney Morning Herald. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune chose it as one of their best travel books of the year in 2010, and Elle magazine awarded it their Readers’ Prize. National Geographic Traveler included the book in their 2014 recommended reading list. It has been published in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, and Poland.
Steil’s stories and articles have appeared in the New Orleans Review, Saranac Review, World Policy Journal, The Week, Time, Life, Peauxdunque Review, The Washington Times, Vogue UK, Die Welt, New York Post, The Rumpus, and France 24.
She was born in Boston in 1968 and grew up in Groton, Massachusetts. She attended the Putney School in Vermont and studied theater at Oberlin College. After spending four years working as an actor, her frustrations with the limited range of roles available to women drove her to begin writing. She completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College and an MS in Journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is currently working on a new novel as part of her dissertation for a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham in the UK.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
December 20, 2021
The author is teaching American-style journalism to a class of Yemenite male and female reporters. She is trying to remember who the women are as she can only see their eyes. This one has bushy eyebrows, this one has glasses, this one ties her burkha at the back. She thinks burkas and niqabs aren't a bad thing, after all why should strange men not her husband be able to look at her face and body?
Why does she not realise it's not just charms, or perhaps it's not charms at all, but the erasing of individuality, making all women look the same. Surely it should be more to do with what the woman wants to look like rather than what men her husband thinks should be able to look at her? Why are women subject to men at all, in any way? Men certainly don't think they are subjects of women.
After the course finishes, the newspaper owner who brought her over, gives her a big goodbye party one evening. None of the women are there. They aren't allowed out that late. During the course they had to leave at 1pm or, if they had permission, 3pm, in order to make sure they were home at the designated time.
This is the country of I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced where Nujood brought to the world's attention that the marriage age was 9 and Yemen changed it to 18. It is where the mullahs successfully argued that as Muhammed, aged 53, married a girl of 9 (she was actually 6 when the marriage contract was written, but did not go to live with her husband until she was 9) then the law was unIslamic and it was reversed. A child of any age can be married to a man of any age the parents (father) choose for any reason.
Efforts at modernising the state, which was the only socialist Muslim state in the world and is now working towards democracy, are one thing, but efforts at modernising the medieval, enslaved conditions under which women live is just a step too far for the country, for the men, the male politicians, to take (so it's 'socialism' was only for men and therefore not socialism). It is a country, like many of the Middle Eastern countries, where foreign women get privileges, can live the high life and do what they please including going to mixed parties, drinking, having sex outside marriage, that local women would be variously imprisoned, lashed or even given the death sentence for. And it is this kind of life the author lived, which is why she liked Yemen so much.
I finished the book, it's a 3.5 star rounded up (reluctantly) I learned a lot, including that the author met and was with her husband, a diplomat, whilst he still had a wife in London. That's not from her bio, but in the book. It didn't endear me to her, but her writing is good and I might read another book by her sometime. Not now.
Why does she not realise it's not just charms, or perhaps it's not charms at all, but the erasing of individuality, making all women look the same. Surely it should be more to do with what the woman wants to look like rather than what men her husband thinks should be able to look at her? Why are women subject to men at all, in any way? Men certainly don't think they are subjects of women.
After the course finishes, the newspaper owner who brought her over, gives her a big goodbye party one evening. None of the women are there. They aren't allowed out that late. During the course they had to leave at 1pm or, if they had permission, 3pm, in order to make sure they were home at the designated time.
This is the country of I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced where Nujood brought to the world's attention that the marriage age was 9 and Yemen changed it to 18. It is where the mullahs successfully argued that as Muhammed, aged 53, married a girl of 9 (she was actually 6 when the marriage contract was written, but did not go to live with her husband until she was 9) then the law was unIslamic and it was reversed. A child of any age can be married to a man of any age the parents (father) choose for any reason.
Efforts at modernising the state, which was the only socialist Muslim state in the world and is now working towards democracy, are one thing, but efforts at modernising the medieval, enslaved conditions under which women live is just a step too far for the country, for the men, the male politicians, to take (so it's 'socialism' was only for men and therefore not socialism). It is a country, like many of the Middle Eastern countries, where foreign women get privileges, can live the high life and do what they please including going to mixed parties, drinking, having sex outside marriage, that local women would be variously imprisoned, lashed or even given the death sentence for. And it is this kind of life the author lived, which is why she liked Yemen so much.
I finished the book, it's a 3.5 star rounded up (reluctantly) I learned a lot, including that the author met and was with her husband, a diplomat, whilst he still had a wife in London. That's not from her bio, but in the book. It didn't endear me to her, but her writing is good and I might read another book by her sometime. Not now.
June 26, 2012
The only redeeming anything to this book (because quality is not a word I would use for it) is that it is one person's picture of Yemenese culture, a culture I knew nothing about before reading it. However, being someone that has traveled quite a bit, I found her treatment of the culture and country shallow, especially for a reporter. I enjoyed when she spoke about the reporters at the newspaper, especially when she related her conversations with the women reporters and discussed how they came to work at the paper and the obstacles they dealt with just to be able to do so. However, even how the author described the reporters as "hers" - "my women", "my men," "my reporters" - just rubbed me the wrong way. It took me weeks to get through this book because I found the author to be self centered, U.S.-centric and condescending from the very start of the book. She constantly described herself as a saviour of the newspaper, and even if she helped put in place more productivity, her self agrandizement just wore on me the more I read. Every time I picked up the book it was like having a frustrating conversation with someone I would never be friends with. This feeling was doubly confirmed when I got to the end of the book to find out she had an affair with a married man and described it as though it were some glorious experience that should be encouraged or desired by all. For someone that claimed to never have wanted to hurt anyone through her choices in that experience, I'm sure the ex wife is now reading those chapters and completely disturbed with how easily her husband left her for another woman. Discretion is not something this author thought to use when it came to that chapter of her experience in Yemen.
August 18, 2010
I really wanted to like this book. I just couldn't get past the author. I found her incredibly self-centered and shallow. When she returns from her first trip to Yemen, she despairs that her colleagues don't care to hear more about her trip. After all, she states, "I want to be found interesting." When her favorite Yemen reporter becomes ill, instead of expressing concern, she thinks, "Who will make me laugh when I'm feeling cross? Who will walk me to the Jordanian sandwich shop?" And, when she sets her sights on a married British diplomat, "By Christmas Eve, he's told her [his wife:] everything, and by January, she is gone. It's messy, complicated, and horrifically painful for his wife and daughter. It's excruciating for me to know that I am hurting people I have no desire to harm. But not once has either of us had a nanosecond of doubt that we are doing the right thing." By the end of the book, she is residing in the British ambassador's residence with ten bodyguards and a household staff of five.
October 22, 2010
I was really interested to learn about the state of "journalism" in Yemen, and hear the observations of an outsider living there. The author was a bit chatty and haw-haw for me, and she's pretty shallow in the cultural sensitivity and interpretation departments. Her beginning an affair with the married British ambassador, and then moving into the embassy as his mistress--in YEMEN--leaves one wondering about her veracity and wisdom in other areas and casts a little shadow of doubt upon the rest of her stories. Expat adventure readers may like this one. Cultural anthropology buffs, probably not.
February 3, 2017
In the land of pomegranates and grapes, amongst goat and cow herders, where desert sands swirl and shift and offer up frankincense and jasmine, Manhattan journalist Jennifer Steil is hired to give a three week seminar in newspaper reporting in Yemen's ancient capital city of Sana'a. Steeped in historic and biblical legend, Sana'a is said to have been founded by Noah's son Shem, and is one of the oldest cities in the Middle East. Yemen is a country consisting of a mixture of either desert people that still today live in caves thriving off a dry and desolate unforgiving land, or city residents that live in chocolate covered square mud buildings that are ornate with white icing-like adornments. Yet all Yemeni people are poor enough to be without many modern conveniences, money or food. Most people are illiterate, owning no other book beside the Qu'ran. Water is scarce. One must walk great distances for the privilege of hauling back a bucket or two of water for the family to drink. Few are lucky enough to be aware that ipods, cell phones, or large screen televisions exist, never mind be fortunate enough to own these gadgets we Americans take for granted. The author travels into the foreign world of the Taliban, the home of Osama Bin-Laden and the Al-Quaeda, and where suicide bombings are a daily event.
Arriving to the Arabian Peninsula eager to experience this exotic yet troublesome world, Jennifer is immediately greeted by the staff of the Yemen Observer, patiently waiting for her to teach them what she knows about reporting in order to improve their newspapers' popularity. Thinking this was going to be a cinch, never did Jennifer imagine how difficult this challenge would be. Finding she needed to start from scratch with reporters who were strongly lacking in morals, ethics and a passable command of the English language, Jennifer embraces the job of integrating herself as friend, tutor, and mentor. Slowly working with a handful of both male and female reporters that are eager for her help, she becomes quickly aware that it will take nothing short of a miracle to get this newspaper up to professional standards in just under a month.
The Woman Who Fell From the Sky is an excellent memoir of the author's life transforming experience in the land of Allah. This Muslim culture often throws her one exasperating challenge after another, as she learns of Yemen's history, culture, and of the kind and lovable people who welcome her into their lives with open arms. Her story is funny, interesting, eye opening, and intellectually stimulating, as the reader is pulled into a world we often hear about in a negative way. Jennifer enlightens us to the many wonders of the Middle East, and to the many thought provoking aspects of their religion and often confusing ways of life that we Americans might find stifling or archaic.
Donning an abaya and head scarf, and learning to cover herself to assimilate into a world behind the veil, Jennifer is brought into the private world of the women of Yemen and surprisingly enjoys the idea of actually having her beauty hidden, and in some ways the freedom it can give. As she meets each new daily challenge, she soon becomes passionate about assisting the newspaper, and eventually takes on the job of managing editor and remains in Yemen. Her new friends become her family, she finds the love of her life, and truly becomes one with Sana'a. I whole-heartedly enjoyed Jennifer's story and found her to be an excellent writer who had the talent to praise the positive attributes of Yemen's country rather than focusing on the difficult and often frightening terrorist side of their history. She was able to portray her new friends with love, in an unbiased and non- condemning manner. Her ability to cheer her students on as they quickly improved their news reporting was generous and patient, showing what a gifted and kind person she herself is to have told their story so openly with charm. I give a many-star rating for this fabulous book. Lovers of the books "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Tales of A Female Nomad" will devour this story; book club discussion groups should push this to the top of their lists. Standing ovation for Jennifer Steil!!
Arriving to the Arabian Peninsula eager to experience this exotic yet troublesome world, Jennifer is immediately greeted by the staff of the Yemen Observer, patiently waiting for her to teach them what she knows about reporting in order to improve their newspapers' popularity. Thinking this was going to be a cinch, never did Jennifer imagine how difficult this challenge would be. Finding she needed to start from scratch with reporters who were strongly lacking in morals, ethics and a passable command of the English language, Jennifer embraces the job of integrating herself as friend, tutor, and mentor. Slowly working with a handful of both male and female reporters that are eager for her help, she becomes quickly aware that it will take nothing short of a miracle to get this newspaper up to professional standards in just under a month.
The Woman Who Fell From the Sky is an excellent memoir of the author's life transforming experience in the land of Allah. This Muslim culture often throws her one exasperating challenge after another, as she learns of Yemen's history, culture, and of the kind and lovable people who welcome her into their lives with open arms. Her story is funny, interesting, eye opening, and intellectually stimulating, as the reader is pulled into a world we often hear about in a negative way. Jennifer enlightens us to the many wonders of the Middle East, and to the many thought provoking aspects of their religion and often confusing ways of life that we Americans might find stifling or archaic.
Donning an abaya and head scarf, and learning to cover herself to assimilate into a world behind the veil, Jennifer is brought into the private world of the women of Yemen and surprisingly enjoys the idea of actually having her beauty hidden, and in some ways the freedom it can give. As she meets each new daily challenge, she soon becomes passionate about assisting the newspaper, and eventually takes on the job of managing editor and remains in Yemen. Her new friends become her family, she finds the love of her life, and truly becomes one with Sana'a. I whole-heartedly enjoyed Jennifer's story and found her to be an excellent writer who had the talent to praise the positive attributes of Yemen's country rather than focusing on the difficult and often frightening terrorist side of their history. She was able to portray her new friends with love, in an unbiased and non- condemning manner. Her ability to cheer her students on as they quickly improved their news reporting was generous and patient, showing what a gifted and kind person she herself is to have told their story so openly with charm. I give a many-star rating for this fabulous book. Lovers of the books "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Tales of A Female Nomad" will devour this story; book club discussion groups should push this to the top of their lists. Standing ovation for Jennifer Steil!!
October 23, 2021
“The best man for the job is a woman” takes on real meaning in Yemen. The men sit around all day chewing qat, smoking and gossiping while the females do the majority of the work. Jennifer Stiel has written a comprehensive account of her experiences in one of the most dangerous places in the world.
It is hard to believe in this day and age that so much of the world still suppresses women’s rights and treats them like slaves! This memoir was a real eye opener. The country is so corrupt and backward I can’t imagine it ever turning around. This was written in 2010 and in the ensuing years things have only become progressively worse and more dangerous.
She refers to “our embarrassment of a president”, I’m thinking Trump, but she was actually referring to George W Bush. If she thought he was an embarrassment I wonder how she would describe the Big Buffoon?
I learned a lot, probably more than I wanted to know. The writing was easy to read and I loved Googling the points of interest, especially all those gingerbread buildings.
To find out the rest of the story I went to Google again. She had a baby in 2009 and finally marries in 2012. She is now the ambassador’s wife in Uzbekistan.
One correction - she refers to stalagmites hanging everywhere- wrong! StalagTITES hang down, so they have to hang on “TITE” - stalagMITES form from the ground up. I learned that in elementary school, shame on you Jennifer.
It is hard to believe in this day and age that so much of the world still suppresses women’s rights and treats them like slaves! This memoir was a real eye opener. The country is so corrupt and backward I can’t imagine it ever turning around. This was written in 2010 and in the ensuing years things have only become progressively worse and more dangerous.
She refers to “our embarrassment of a president”, I’m thinking Trump, but she was actually referring to George W Bush. If she thought he was an embarrassment I wonder how she would describe the Big Buffoon?
I learned a lot, probably more than I wanted to know. The writing was easy to read and I loved Googling the points of interest, especially all those gingerbread buildings.
To find out the rest of the story I went to Google again. She had a baby in 2009 and finally marries in 2012. She is now the ambassador’s wife in Uzbekistan.
One correction - she refers to stalagmites hanging everywhere- wrong! StalagTITES hang down, so they have to hang on “TITE” - stalagMITES form from the ground up. I learned that in elementary school, shame on you Jennifer.
May 6, 2010
In The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, author Jennifer Steil recounts her engrossing adventure as an American journalist in Yemen working for an English-language newspaper. Throughout her memoir she explains various hurdles she’s encountered as a Western woman living in an Islamic country. While her intentions are to adapt to the culture as seamlessly possible, including wearing a hijab to cover her hair, Steil quickly learns that she is not able to hide her Western ways in both appearance and as a journalist.
An intriguing window that allows the reader to peer into the life of Yemeni culture, Steil’s memoir expresses the hardships and restrictions imposed on Yemeni life through the eyes of a Westerner. Her writing tells of the struggles that women face in a country dominated by men, the difficulty for both foreign and Yemeni journalists to report accurate news stories in a country that lacks accountability and reliable witnesses, and the overall impact and influence of religion on day to day living. Despite all the hurdles and trials encountered, Steil paints a fascinating portrait of Yemeni life and quickly falls in love with all its beauty and mystery. Steil’s journalistic voice and descriptive encounters make for an entralling story that is difficult to put down.
An intriguing window that allows the reader to peer into the life of Yemeni culture, Steil’s memoir expresses the hardships and restrictions imposed on Yemeni life through the eyes of a Westerner. Her writing tells of the struggles that women face in a country dominated by men, the difficulty for both foreign and Yemeni journalists to report accurate news stories in a country that lacks accountability and reliable witnesses, and the overall impact and influence of religion on day to day living. Despite all the hurdles and trials encountered, Steil paints a fascinating portrait of Yemeni life and quickly falls in love with all its beauty and mystery. Steil’s journalistic voice and descriptive encounters make for an entralling story that is difficult to put down.
September 9, 2015
This was running at a three star book for most of the book. I'd never read anything about Yemen, so I was interested. I didn't realize that the author had had a very public affair until I got to that part. After reading it, I dropped one star off of my rating because my dislike of the author took away from my enjoyment of the book.
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June 9, 2016This is one of those books that I buried myself in and lived vicariously through. It hit all my sweet spots: an American woman who writes, travels, and experiences the highs and lows of navigating a culture very different from her own. I especially appreciated the blend of personal experience and political and social insight.
It's intriguing to read about the way Jennifer took the helm of a faltering newspaper in Yemen and attempted to turn it around. I loved the personal and political newsroom drama. It was fascinating to see the way that she developed beautiful (and a few antagonistic) relationships with Yemenis. Her growing understanding of--and participation in--the lives of the women was especially moving.
I enjoyed learning about life and politics in the Middle East from a completely different angle--and now I want to learn more about Yemen.
The book has a happy ending in this way: Jennifer doesn't like to cook, and she ends up living a life where she doesn't have to! Okay, there's actually more to the ending...but I'm not including spoilers.
The Epilogue has enough fascinating material in it for a second memoir. I hope she writes it.
I was lucky to meet Jennifer at a book event last week in NYC. On the page and in person she's smart, funny, and effervescent.
It's intriguing to read about the way Jennifer took the helm of a faltering newspaper in Yemen and attempted to turn it around. I loved the personal and political newsroom drama. It was fascinating to see the way that she developed beautiful (and a few antagonistic) relationships with Yemenis. Her growing understanding of--and participation in--the lives of the women was especially moving.
I enjoyed learning about life and politics in the Middle East from a completely different angle--and now I want to learn more about Yemen.
The book has a happy ending in this way: Jennifer doesn't like to cook, and she ends up living a life where she doesn't have to! Okay, there's actually more to the ending...but I'm not including spoilers.
The Epilogue has enough fascinating material in it for a second memoir. I hope she writes it.
I was lucky to meet Jennifer at a book event last week in NYC. On the page and in person she's smart, funny, and effervescent.
October 23, 2022
Trigger warnings: drug use, explosions, antisemitism, mentions of 9/11, misogyny, cheating
This was very obviously a book I picked up for my Read Around the World challenge and while the newspaper stuff was interesting and I liked reading about Steil's struggles to get the staff to understand the importance of journalistic standards and sentence structure, I felt like I didn't get to see as much of Yemen as I was hoping to see.
The story was told in a very engaging way and I did like the discussion of Steil's ability as a white woman to move between Yemeni male and female spaces. That being said, the last chunk of the book talks extensively about how she falls in love with a married man and how amazingly charismatic and handsome he is and a) I definitely didn't expect a segue into a romance based on cheating, and b) I looked up pictures of Steil and this man (who's now her husband) and wow that is ABSOLUTELY not how I would describe that man lol. But mostly the cheating stuff left me finishing the book with an icky vibe.
This was very obviously a book I picked up for my Read Around the World challenge and while the newspaper stuff was interesting and I liked reading about Steil's struggles to get the staff to understand the importance of journalistic standards and sentence structure, I felt like I didn't get to see as much of Yemen as I was hoping to see.
The story was told in a very engaging way and I did like the discussion of Steil's ability as a white woman to move between Yemeni male and female spaces. That being said, the last chunk of the book talks extensively about how she falls in love with a married man and how amazingly charismatic and handsome he is and a) I definitely didn't expect a segue into a romance based on cheating, and b) I looked up pictures of Steil and this man (who's now her husband) and wow that is ABSOLUTELY not how I would describe that man lol. But mostly the cheating stuff left me finishing the book with an icky vibe.
March 31, 2014
Interesting description of the city and people, and that Yemeni consider western women a "third sex". But I find it appalling that she judges someone for having affair, then caused an international incident herself by having an affair with the British ambassador, breaking up his marriage, moving in to the ambassador's mansion, and having a child out of wedlock in this very conservative country. I had a hard time liking or even finishing the book when I learned about that.
June 28, 2022
This woman sounds interesting but the story just wasn’t. She was a bit too much into her own experience and I would have liked to have learned more about Yemen.
July 6, 2013
Fascinating memoir/ethnography of an American journalist who takes on the task of becoming managing editor for the Yemen Observer, an English language newspaper headquartered in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen.
Because the author is already a talented journalist, the writing is clear, engaging, and pulls the reader in with just the right amount of description and observation. Not only is this book a great example of *honest* travel/culture writing, but also it's a great read for anyone interested in how to write as a journalist no matter where you are. In explaining, editing and teaching the basics of reporting, fact-gathering, interviewing and ethics to her Yemeni reporters, Jennifer Steil (the author) treats the reader to a "mini-workshop" in journalism.
The cultural aspect of the book was also enlightening. Since Yemen is a Muslim country, the second-class status of women created many obstacles and trials for Jennifer as she struggled to teach and train the few female reporters on her staff. However, male attitudes of entitlement and their dependence on qat was often even more frustrating. Most distressing to me was the "learned aversion to education and absence of a culture of reading" the author found among the Yemeni people. As the author observes, this puts the Yemeni people at a huge disadvantage in understanding the world and other people's experiences.
I marked the following quote because I think it is true for any reader and a clear statement of the path to empathy and understanding towards anyone not like ourselves:
"How does one develop compassion for someone with a completely different set of values without reading something from their point of view? Books are one of the few ways in which we can truly get into the heads of people we would never meet in our ordinary lives and travel to countries we would otherwise never visit."
This book isn't a non-stop rant against Yemen or the Muslim culture or the Middle East, though. The author clearly loves the scenery, and is fascinated by the architecture and history of Yemen. She is curious and engaged in her surroundings and experiences and I finished the book with more than a passing interest in learning more about Yemen.
Because the author is already a talented journalist, the writing is clear, engaging, and pulls the reader in with just the right amount of description and observation. Not only is this book a great example of *honest* travel/culture writing, but also it's a great read for anyone interested in how to write as a journalist no matter where you are. In explaining, editing and teaching the basics of reporting, fact-gathering, interviewing and ethics to her Yemeni reporters, Jennifer Steil (the author) treats the reader to a "mini-workshop" in journalism.
The cultural aspect of the book was also enlightening. Since Yemen is a Muslim country, the second-class status of women created many obstacles and trials for Jennifer as she struggled to teach and train the few female reporters on her staff. However, male attitudes of entitlement and their dependence on qat was often even more frustrating. Most distressing to me was the "learned aversion to education and absence of a culture of reading" the author found among the Yemeni people. As the author observes, this puts the Yemeni people at a huge disadvantage in understanding the world and other people's experiences.
I marked the following quote because I think it is true for any reader and a clear statement of the path to empathy and understanding towards anyone not like ourselves:
"How does one develop compassion for someone with a completely different set of values without reading something from their point of view? Books are one of the few ways in which we can truly get into the heads of people we would never meet in our ordinary lives and travel to countries we would otherwise never visit."
This book isn't a non-stop rant against Yemen or the Muslim culture or the Middle East, though. The author clearly loves the scenery, and is fascinated by the architecture and history of Yemen. She is curious and engaged in her surroundings and experiences and I finished the book with more than a passing interest in learning more about Yemen.
December 19, 2011
Top-notch memoir by a female American journalist who ran a newspaper in Yemen. A great story & totally authentic. No romanticized views or stereotypes here. Highly recommended.
After a three week stint to train Yemeni journalists, Jennifer returns to her job as an editor in New York City. Yet she finds herself yearning to for Yemen, as her Manhattan life now seems oddly dull compared to Sana’a. She longs to return to accept an offer to run the Yemen Observer for a year.
And so she does. Jennifer’s memoir recounts her adventures in Yemen, how she throws herself into running the newspaper and whips her staff into shape. In turn, they educate her on Yemeni society, customs, and politics. She integrates herself into her new community, a varied and flawed cast of Yemeni “characters.” She eats meals with them, goes to their homes and weddings and befriends them.
Meanwhile, the newsroom of the Yemen Observer is full of drama and power struggles. At one point, an editor is thrown in jail. Later, the newspaper is sued. With witty prose, Jennifer recounts the often hilarious day-to-day life in the newsroom.
Particularly interesting are the struggles of her female Yemeni staff, who nearly all wear niqab and come from traditional families. For these women, it poses serious problems simply to interview a man, take a taxi or stay at work past mid-afternoon. Despite all this, the female journalists find ways to work together and excel, often out-performing the men. The star is Jennifer’s Yemeni sidekick, a fellow female journalist named Zuhra.
This lively memoir is not all about journalism and Yemen. Jennifer writes of her personal life as a single working woman, living in her “gingerbread” house in Old Sana’a. In fact, there is an unexpected romantic twist at the end of the story which turns the book into a page-turning novel.
After a three week stint to train Yemeni journalists, Jennifer returns to her job as an editor in New York City. Yet she finds herself yearning to for Yemen, as her Manhattan life now seems oddly dull compared to Sana’a. She longs to return to accept an offer to run the Yemen Observer for a year.
And so she does. Jennifer’s memoir recounts her adventures in Yemen, how she throws herself into running the newspaper and whips her staff into shape. In turn, they educate her on Yemeni society, customs, and politics. She integrates herself into her new community, a varied and flawed cast of Yemeni “characters.” She eats meals with them, goes to their homes and weddings and befriends them.
Meanwhile, the newsroom of the Yemen Observer is full of drama and power struggles. At one point, an editor is thrown in jail. Later, the newspaper is sued. With witty prose, Jennifer recounts the often hilarious day-to-day life in the newsroom.
Particularly interesting are the struggles of her female Yemeni staff, who nearly all wear niqab and come from traditional families. For these women, it poses serious problems simply to interview a man, take a taxi or stay at work past mid-afternoon. Despite all this, the female journalists find ways to work together and excel, often out-performing the men. The star is Jennifer’s Yemeni sidekick, a fellow female journalist named Zuhra.
This lively memoir is not all about journalism and Yemen. Jennifer writes of her personal life as a single working woman, living in her “gingerbread” house in Old Sana’a. In fact, there is an unexpected romantic twist at the end of the story which turns the book into a page-turning novel.
June 30, 2012
Full disclosure: I actually know the person who wrote this book. We went to Columbia Journalism School together, graduating in 1997. But no matter. Jennifer, you did a great job! I loved every minute of reading it and even had my book club read it. It was a hit at book club, as well.
Steil is one of the world's great adventurers and I envy her the ability to leave it all behind for the next new adventure. 'The Woman Who Fell From the Sky' is more than an adventure story, however. It offers an inside look at journalism ethics, as well as society in Yemen. It is the story of women in a repressive society -- one that reveals the faces, feelings and personalities behind the burkas. The women in this book are the best part of the story. They grow in the telling, so that you feel like you know them just as well as Jennifer does. You hurt for them, feel for them, root for them as they claim their victories. Reading about how the female reporters for an English language paper in Yemen puts your own life in perspective. I also wondered how the heck Jennifer was able to stand working with some of the men in that news room. It is a challenge I am not sure I could have met.
Steil is one of the world's great adventurers and I envy her the ability to leave it all behind for the next new adventure. 'The Woman Who Fell From the Sky' is more than an adventure story, however. It offers an inside look at journalism ethics, as well as society in Yemen. It is the story of women in a repressive society -- one that reveals the faces, feelings and personalities behind the burkas. The women in this book are the best part of the story. They grow in the telling, so that you feel like you know them just as well as Jennifer does. You hurt for them, feel for them, root for them as they claim their victories. Reading about how the female reporters for an English language paper in Yemen puts your own life in perspective. I also wondered how the heck Jennifer was able to stand working with some of the men in that news room. It is a challenge I am not sure I could have met.
October 29, 2013
Memoir of a year as Yemen Observer's managing editor. She's never lived abroad before and goes through all the shades of adapting and trying to fit in such a different culture and society without giving up herself, finally finding a new personal dimension as well as love.
What did I like most of this book? EVERYTHING, it's such a treasure. It has all I always look for in a memoir and travel book: insight on people's daily life,country politics, history and culture all objectively considered by the author, through her personal experience and background. I connected to the love for the new country sh feels as well as it being a constant challenge to everything she's used to and the will to make it work to make a difference without giving up all she is and believes in. I loved her honesty in depicting herself and the total lack of useless sentimentalism about things that's so common in expat stories.
Her writing is matter of fact, journalist like, but never lacks feeling or personal touch.
It was very long since I was so satisfied and happy with a book!
What did I like most of this book? EVERYTHING, it's such a treasure. It has all I always look for in a memoir and travel book: insight on people's daily life,country politics, history and culture all objectively considered by the author, through her personal experience and background. I connected to the love for the new country sh feels as well as it being a constant challenge to everything she's used to and the will to make it work to make a difference without giving up all she is and believes in. I loved her honesty in depicting herself and the total lack of useless sentimentalism about things that's so common in expat stories.
Her writing is matter of fact, journalist like, but never lacks feeling or personal touch.
It was very long since I was so satisfied and happy with a book!
June 23, 2017
So obviously Jennifer Steil is a sketchball (though I'm amused by the extent that the British press - true to form - blames her for being, like, a temptress, rather than blaming Torlot for stepping out on his wife), but I enjoyed this. Yemen is a really interesting place, and as someone who worked for a newspaper, it was interesting to see the differences (and similarities - we had a guy who smoked in his truck all afternoon instead of working) between journalism there and here.
I continue to be frustrated by the way women's writing (ESPECIALLY women's travel writing) is dismissed. Her sketchball romance takes up maaaaybe 15 pages of this book, yet it's mentioned in the jacket copy, in reviews, etc. Not every travel book by a woman is Eat, Pray, Love (thank God), and I'm tired of every book getting treated that way.
I continue to be frustrated by the way women's writing (ESPECIALLY women's travel writing) is dismissed. Her sketchball romance takes up maaaaybe 15 pages of this book, yet it's mentioned in the jacket copy, in reviews, etc. Not every travel book by a woman is Eat, Pray, Love (thank God), and I'm tired of every book getting treated that way.
July 22, 2019
A book about an American journalist in her one year assignment in Yemen.
Beautifully written, with special and artistic details about one of the oldest cities in the world, Sana'a.
I could relate so much to the book, and felt in a way that Jennifer Steil was speaking my mind on how amazing Sana'a is, since I have visited the place twice in my life.
The writer's way of being as informative as she could with regards to the culture, religion, and freedom of expression makes this a well-worth reading, specially to people who has curiosity about the region, and probably are thinking of visiting Yemen.
A highly recommended travel book.
Beautifully written, with special and artistic details about one of the oldest cities in the world, Sana'a.
I could relate so much to the book, and felt in a way that Jennifer Steil was speaking my mind on how amazing Sana'a is, since I have visited the place twice in my life.
The writer's way of being as informative as she could with regards to the culture, religion, and freedom of expression makes this a well-worth reading, specially to people who has curiosity about the region, and probably are thinking of visiting Yemen.
A highly recommended travel book.
October 26, 2017
I enjoyed this book. I'm not particularly interested in journalism and could have happily skipped a number of the passages about how Steil tried to improve the newspaper. However, I was fascinated by her account of life in Yemen and the people, particularly because there are many similarities with Egypt... also a number of differences.
An easy and enjoyable read for the "environment".....
An easy and enjoyable read for the "environment".....
February 5, 2023
Quite an egocentric journey and a very Western, privileged narrative.
Yemen is much more than this
Yemen is much more than this
March 29, 2020
Reading the book, I liked it. After all it is a kind of memoir about how a person experienced living and working abroad. And that's what I liked most about the book.
When you're born & raised in a western society, you can't just look with different eyes to the world you've entered. Just like the female reporter with a scholarship in Missouri can't shed her eastern look on the western society she's living in.
Describing differences, things that catch your eye or that you find strange is something everyone does. And I think that it's okay to say that there are things in your new society that you disagree with.
This book brought memories of that back to me, from my time living and in Georgia (Sakartvelo).
Loving a married man, being the reason for a divorce, well I'm not going to comment on that.
When you're born & raised in a western society, you can't just look with different eyes to the world you've entered. Just like the female reporter with a scholarship in Missouri can't shed her eastern look on the western society she's living in.
Describing differences, things that catch your eye or that you find strange is something everyone does. And I think that it's okay to say that there are things in your new society that you disagree with.
This book brought memories of that back to me, from my time living and in Georgia (Sakartvelo).
Loving a married man, being the reason for a divorce, well I'm not going to comment on that.
May 15, 2010
Culturally fascinating, well-written, and at time absolutely hysterical
The Woman Who Fell from the Sky: An American Journalist's Adventures in the Oldest City on Earth is the memoir of Jennifer Steil, a 37-year-old journalist who goes to Sana'a, Yemen in 2006 to teach a three-week crash course in journalism to the reporters of the Yemen Observer ... and ends up staying for a year. Her time there will change the course of her life and she meets a cast of wonderful, exasperating, funny, interesting, annoying, generous, stubborn, and complex characters.
Steil starts off with dreams of drastically transforming the struggling English-language newspaper into a well-written, well-oiled machine that could be a force for democracy in a country where freedom of the press is questionable. Shortly after embarking on this venture, she realizes that this goal is beyond her - or any single person's - reach, however the significant temporary changes she manages to implement during her tenure there and the drastic lasting impact she has on the skills and lives of her reporters are undeniable. This was a very enjoyable and enlightening read and one I would definitely recommend to friends - especially my female ones, though this is a book everyone can enjoy.
AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST IN YEMEN
One of the most fascinating things about this book was reading about the country of Yemen and how one American woman experienced and observed it. Steil includes intriguing details about Yemeni life, gender relations, attitudes, beliefs, culture, habits, etc. There were also touching, memorable, and some very sad side stories that she relates, glimpses into the lives of different people she meets or learns about during her year there.
Additionally, it was interesting reading about certain current events (the maelstrom over the Danish cartoons, Saddam Hussein's execution) and comparing my experience of them here - with the American media and the American reactions - to Steil's experience of them in Yemen - with that country's media and that population's reactions. Other "exciting" events include Steil visiting a mostly-Somali refugee camp, having one of her co-workers tried and risk the death penalty for publishing an editorial, and being almost-sued by the Ministry of the Interior.
In trying to transform the Yemen Observer, Steil has to deal with different work ethics, conceptions of time and deadlines, and journalistic standards; a belief that plagiarism can be journalism and anything you find on the internet must be true; and poor (or nonexistent) English language and writing skills. However, we see the change that occurs in both the paper and the reporters and despite many obstacles that Steil has to deal with up until the end - her staff sometimes not being paid, her successor quiting anew every day, being told to retract certain articles or not cover certain topics - there is no doubt that her time and efforts were not in vain.
HUMOR GALORE
It must be said that about the second half of the book has some of the funniest passages I've read in a long while; I was laughing out loud on *several* occasions. I'm sure you will react the same way, between the English mistakes (ex: the Ministry of Tourism is referred to as the Ministry of Terrorism), Steil being told to go through a dusty pile of x-rays when they can't find hers and "see if you can find one of ribs" (she's cracked hers), and the unbelievably hysterical episode that results from a surprise vibrator.
WOMEN, MEN, AND GENDER RELATIONS
The differences between gender roles/relations in American and Yemen were sometimes fascinating, sometimes horrifying, and sometimes surprisingly nonexistent. The women reporters in this book were absolutely wonderful and I'll agree with Steil: they were my favorites too :-). I loved Zuhra (I'll admit I was thrown by a twist at the end) and wanted to cheer her, Adhara, Radia, Enass, Najma, and Noor as they become the "professional journalists" they aim to be. For me this was a window into a new world - and an eye-opening one at that.
NOT REALLY A LOVE STORY
Steil remarks somewhat caustically midway through the book that it seems Yemeni men are as faithless as American ones, though instead of having secret mistresses they marry the other women they fall in love with; she then later becomes the girlfriend/lover/mistress/whatever of the married British Ambassador, Tim Torlot. This apparently caused an uproar and slight diplomatic crisis in Yemen, a country where adultery is punishable by death. I was not looking forward to reading about a love triangle in which the protagonist is "the other woman," however Torlot only comes on the scene at the way end of the book (perhaps the last 1/6, if even that), and so is not a central part of the story (which personally I preferred).
MISCELLANEOUS
The story is written in vignette form, divided into twenty-four chapters and including an epilogue. ~ There is a beautiful poem at the beginning of the book: "she was a woman / who fell from the sky in robes / of dew / and became / a city". ~ On April 26, 2010, Ambassador Tim Torlot (now Steil's fiance) narrowly escaped an attempted assassination by a suicide bomber.
[This review is of an advanced copy format of the book:]
The Woman Who Fell from the Sky: An American Journalist's Adventures in the Oldest City on Earth is the memoir of Jennifer Steil, a 37-year-old journalist who goes to Sana'a, Yemen in 2006 to teach a three-week crash course in journalism to the reporters of the Yemen Observer ... and ends up staying for a year. Her time there will change the course of her life and she meets a cast of wonderful, exasperating, funny, interesting, annoying, generous, stubborn, and complex characters.
Steil starts off with dreams of drastically transforming the struggling English-language newspaper into a well-written, well-oiled machine that could be a force for democracy in a country where freedom of the press is questionable. Shortly after embarking on this venture, she realizes that this goal is beyond her - or any single person's - reach, however the significant temporary changes she manages to implement during her tenure there and the drastic lasting impact she has on the skills and lives of her reporters are undeniable. This was a very enjoyable and enlightening read and one I would definitely recommend to friends - especially my female ones, though this is a book everyone can enjoy.
AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST IN YEMEN
One of the most fascinating things about this book was reading about the country of Yemen and how one American woman experienced and observed it. Steil includes intriguing details about Yemeni life, gender relations, attitudes, beliefs, culture, habits, etc. There were also touching, memorable, and some very sad side stories that she relates, glimpses into the lives of different people she meets or learns about during her year there.
Additionally, it was interesting reading about certain current events (the maelstrom over the Danish cartoons, Saddam Hussein's execution) and comparing my experience of them here - with the American media and the American reactions - to Steil's experience of them in Yemen - with that country's media and that population's reactions. Other "exciting" events include Steil visiting a mostly-Somali refugee camp, having one of her co-workers tried and risk the death penalty for publishing an editorial, and being almost-sued by the Ministry of the Interior.
In trying to transform the Yemen Observer, Steil has to deal with different work ethics, conceptions of time and deadlines, and journalistic standards; a belief that plagiarism can be journalism and anything you find on the internet must be true; and poor (or nonexistent) English language and writing skills. However, we see the change that occurs in both the paper and the reporters and despite many obstacles that Steil has to deal with up until the end - her staff sometimes not being paid, her successor quiting anew every day, being told to retract certain articles or not cover certain topics - there is no doubt that her time and efforts were not in vain.
HUMOR GALORE
It must be said that about the second half of the book has some of the funniest passages I've read in a long while; I was laughing out loud on *several* occasions. I'm sure you will react the same way, between the English mistakes (ex: the Ministry of Tourism is referred to as the Ministry of Terrorism), Steil being told to go through a dusty pile of x-rays when they can't find hers and "see if you can find one of ribs" (she's cracked hers), and the unbelievably hysterical episode that results from a surprise vibrator.
WOMEN, MEN, AND GENDER RELATIONS
The differences between gender roles/relations in American and Yemen were sometimes fascinating, sometimes horrifying, and sometimes surprisingly nonexistent. The women reporters in this book were absolutely wonderful and I'll agree with Steil: they were my favorites too :-). I loved Zuhra (I'll admit I was thrown by a twist at the end) and wanted to cheer her, Adhara, Radia, Enass, Najma, and Noor as they become the "professional journalists" they aim to be. For me this was a window into a new world - and an eye-opening one at that.
NOT REALLY A LOVE STORY
Steil remarks somewhat caustically midway through the book that it seems Yemeni men are as faithless as American ones, though instead of having secret mistresses they marry the other women they fall in love with; she then later becomes the girlfriend/lover/mistress/whatever of the married British Ambassador, Tim Torlot. This apparently caused an uproar and slight diplomatic crisis in Yemen, a country where adultery is punishable by death. I was not looking forward to reading about a love triangle in which the protagonist is "the other woman," however Torlot only comes on the scene at the way end of the book (perhaps the last 1/6, if even that), and so is not a central part of the story (which personally I preferred).
MISCELLANEOUS
The story is written in vignette form, divided into twenty-four chapters and including an epilogue. ~ There is a beautiful poem at the beginning of the book: "she was a woman / who fell from the sky in robes / of dew / and became / a city". ~ On April 26, 2010, Ambassador Tim Torlot (now Steil's fiance) narrowly escaped an attempted assassination by a suicide bomber.
[This review is of an advanced copy format of the book:]
January 3, 2021
Well, I picked up this book because I know absolutely nothing about Yemen and I thought it would be interesting to read how a Western woman got on, living in a country that was so different to her own.
I did learn some things about the restrictions put upon women, both Western and especially Yemeni; it opened my eyes in many ways. The author is clearly a talented journalist.
Unfortunately, it also brought to the fore why Americans have such bad reputations when they travel abroad. A lot of this book was: "I am American, therefore, my way is the best way, and how dare you think anything different?". She was incredibly arrogant and condescending towards the local people. Yes, of course, the way they write things isn't going to be perfect, but this is their second language. Did anyone laugh about your Arabic whilst you were there? They wouldn't have dared.
I was doing ok, until I got to the part where she fell in love with the married British Ambassador. I think it is so wrong, on many levels, to get involved with a married person. I know relationships don't always work out but wow, she went to great lengths to excuse and justify their relationship. I have worked with a few women who had this kind of confidence in themselves and it never ends well for anyone around the man. Usually his wife and children. Just because you are attractive and men are charmed by you, doesn't mean you have to act on your impulses!
So, read this book with a pinch of salt. It is an interesting look at life in Yemen, but the American-centric way the tale is told, makes it hard going at times.
I did learn some things about the restrictions put upon women, both Western and especially Yemeni; it opened my eyes in many ways. The author is clearly a talented journalist.
Unfortunately, it also brought to the fore why Americans have such bad reputations when they travel abroad. A lot of this book was: "I am American, therefore, my way is the best way, and how dare you think anything different?". She was incredibly arrogant and condescending towards the local people. Yes, of course, the way they write things isn't going to be perfect, but this is their second language. Did anyone laugh about your Arabic whilst you were there? They wouldn't have dared.
I was doing ok, until I got to the part where she fell in love with the married British Ambassador. I think it is so wrong, on many levels, to get involved with a married person. I know relationships don't always work out but wow, she went to great lengths to excuse and justify their relationship. I have worked with a few women who had this kind of confidence in themselves and it never ends well for anyone around the man. Usually his wife and children. Just because you are attractive and men are charmed by you, doesn't mean you have to act on your impulses!
So, read this book with a pinch of salt. It is an interesting look at life in Yemen, but the American-centric way the tale is told, makes it hard going at times.
February 9, 2021
I was really looking forward to reading this book, learning more about Yemen and the culture and how one woman would help to change the way people think but it wasn't at all what I expected.
My first thought is Why - What was the title all about? To me it didn't relate at all to the book itself. Did I miss something there? Also I found it boring, repetitive, lack-lustre and a book that didn't draw me in and make me want to read more. I really did struggle right through to the end.
I must say I did learn a little bit about a country I don't know much about but it left me wanting more as it only gave me a very small glimpse of the lifestyle and culture. I thought that being written by a journalist it might be more informative but that was just no to be.
The Woman Who Fell from the Sky
Jennifer Steil
Harper Collins Publishers
My first thought is Why - What was the title all about? To me it didn't relate at all to the book itself. Did I miss something there? Also I found it boring, repetitive, lack-lustre and a book that didn't draw me in and make me want to read more. I really did struggle right through to the end.
I must say I did learn a little bit about a country I don't know much about but it left me wanting more as it only gave me a very small glimpse of the lifestyle and culture. I thought that being written by a journalist it might be more informative but that was just no to be.
The Woman Who Fell from the Sky
Jennifer Steil
Harper Collins Publishers
May 12, 2024
americans are arrogant, american journalists are even more arrogant and white american journalists the most arrogant of them all. this book is a textbook case of a woman with a white savior complex (just see the title!) who talks about her adventure trying to civilize the barbarians who, gosh, don't even know about editorial independence? utterly lacking in curiosity, she assumes her american J-school dogma as universal principles (as do most american journalists) and completely fails to use this opportunity to fully explore what the real role of the media is in different contexts, and how to best fulfill that purpose.
one incident stood out in particular -- her editor in chief is facing imprisonment, possibly death, for publishing cartoons of prophet muhammad (albeit critical of the cartoons) and all this woman can think about at the trial is how much she has sacrificed to be in yemen bestowing her immense wisdom on the natives, and how it would be all be a waste if the newspaper shut down.
having said that, this is one of very few books set in yemen, and she's a pretty engaging writer who paints a fairly decent picture of life in sana'a, so this gets 2 stars instead of 1.
one incident stood out in particular -- her editor in chief is facing imprisonment, possibly death, for publishing cartoons of prophet muhammad (albeit critical of the cartoons) and all this woman can think about at the trial is how much she has sacrificed to be in yemen bestowing her immense wisdom on the natives, and how it would be all be a waste if the newspaper shut down.
having said that, this is one of very few books set in yemen, and she's a pretty engaging writer who paints a fairly decent picture of life in sana'a, so this gets 2 stars instead of 1.
September 27, 2010
Steil is a New York reporter who goes to Yemen to offer some journalism training at a newspaper trying to get off the ground there, and ends up taking it over for a year as managing editor. It's a very interesting story about Yemen, Yemeni life, and her clashes with Yemeni culture. The journalism part is less interesting to me, but I could imagine newshounds might be intrigued.
My only quibble with the book is that it's so author-centered, which while natural for a memoir, seems jarring within the journalism context. I keep expecting her to attribute other sources or introduce quotes from other people who appear in her book in order to introduce some objectivity. That is, sometimes her book reads like journalism and sometimes it just reads like a journal.
And I'm put off by the ending, where she the British ambassador fall in love, despite his being married to someone else, because their love is "so right" and they have no doubts about it, but she's awfully sorry about the other people (his wife and daughter) hurt because of it. Please.
My only quibble with the book is that it's so author-centered, which while natural for a memoir, seems jarring within the journalism context. I keep expecting her to attribute other sources or introduce quotes from other people who appear in her book in order to introduce some objectivity. That is, sometimes her book reads like journalism and sometimes it just reads like a journal.
And I'm put off by the ending, where she the British ambassador fall in love, despite his being married to someone else, because their love is "so right" and they have no doubts about it, but she's awfully sorry about the other people (his wife and daughter) hurt because of it. Please.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 23, 2014
This was a transporting summer read. It gave me the thrill of traveling to Yemen, a country I knew little about, but now believe it to be quite beautiful. I appreciated Steil's honest reactions and efforts to balance between being herself and blending into a very different culture. That said, her style is journalistic, I guess, in that I wasn't emotionally invested or really surprised at any point - certainly not "riveted" as the cover quote would suggest.
But I was happy to finish it - in fact the afterword was the most exciting part! Since it's nonfiction, I'm not surprised that if she found love in Yemen, it would be with another Westerner. Maybe that's why it's not a larger part of the book. In any case, interesting subject, bland writing.
But I was happy to finish it - in fact the afterword was the most exciting part! Since it's nonfiction, I'm not surprised that if she found love in Yemen, it would be with another Westerner. Maybe that's why it's not a larger part of the book. In any case, interesting subject, bland writing.
August 28, 2011
I enjoyed both the journalism/ newspaper story as well as her "foreigner in Yemen" part of the story. Her openness to adventure and the culture made this a great read and a glimpse into a state I didn't know much about. There is some about the politics and government, but also a lot about culture and people, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I enjoyed that the Yemeni woman who got the fellowship in Mississippi said it wasn't so different from Yemen. Before anyone takes offense, I rather take it as something I've thought for a long time- that people aren't so different as we make them out to be.
June 16, 2024
I did enjoy learning about Yemen and their culture but found that the author didn’t have anything of interest to write about. I felt like I was reading the journal of one of the most boring people in the planet. Also hated how she glorified her affair with a married man and didn’t have any remorse. Gross.
November 12, 2016
I absolutely loved this book. Wonderful memoir of an American women who wanted to make a difference in a country with strong patriarchal tradition. A great book to discover Yemen & its rich cultural heritage.
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