Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea - Essay Example

?Girls of Riyadh: This paper is primarily based on doing a well contemplated critical analysis of the widely acclaimed book Girls of Riyadh which is written in an enthralling and riveting manner by Rajaa Alsanea. This book caused huge uproar in Saudi Arabia because it provides a detailed peek into the Saudi culture and more importantly the Saudi girls about whom nothing very concrete and pronounced account has ever surfaced on the international scene before. Saying that this book largely serves to fill the appetite of those curious people who always wanted to know details about the Saudi younger population in an explicit manner would not be an unrealistic idea. The book mainly revolves around four Saudi brokenhearted teenage girls who feel entrapped in the religiously conservative Saudi society and who would do anything they can to capture attention of Saudi men of their age. The book is written in the form of e-mails and the anonymous narrator appears to be posting revealing stories on the internet aiming at seducing Saudi men on weekly basis. The e-mails concern four young girls who are educated, secular, desperate, and the blog soon becomes talk of the town. Behind the curtains of a religiously dominated Arabic society, it is difficult to imagine the kind of lives led by younger population and the book aims to describe this with help of many unfolding accounts. What is shared by the four main characters in the book is the fascination they have for opposite sex as it appears that they have no other issues to worry about since their every material desire is readily fulfilled as they belong from high class. The main purpose of the author Alsanea is to take the intrigued readers on a mesmerizing yet mysterious journey of Saudi Arabia while centering the focus on the capital Riyadh, but that is not exactly how this book or its purpose can be described. Actually, the author intends to portray the sexual desperation and complex emotional issues experienced by young Saudi population, and describes how both boys and girls, blinded by physical needs, are trying to do everything they can to reach one another even if the society does not approve of such open efforts aiming at love and mixed relationships. The book describes how more and more younger men are seen roaming around in cars which have their cell phone numbers engraved in the front or back mirrors. Likewise, girls also appear to be desperate enough according to this book to make efforts for befriending men and embark on an intimate journey with them. The book inculcates this impression in the readers’ minds that Saudi girls find themselves stymied by a conservative and strict societal system which offers them limited freedom to socialize with opposite sex and has sharply specified expectations which must be met by those living in the society. Though the main characters in the book Lamees, Michelle, Gamrah, and Sadeem appear to try following the religious and societal rituals to their best, yet they desperately long for a free life, on where marrying for love would not be a lucky happenstance but a right they could be sure of. The characters are portrayed as four ambitious and modernized girls who feel infuriated about limited freedom they are guaranteed by a strict Islamic society. Alsanea has described Riyadh in her book as a city where longing, lust, and love are suppressed. The book also describes the hypocrisy and misogyny particular of the high class Arabic society, how men absolutely despise and hate women who enjoy their sex lives before getting married though they may engage in infidelity themselves even while being married. One of the female characters in the book shows the readers how she dealt with and endured her husband’s infidelity while another main character is seen getting refused by her fiance because he hates her for engaging in sex before marriage. It is described how young Saudi girls feel thwarted by rigid social constraints which force them to stop dreaming about a free love life. The book is an effort to raise concern about issues like emotional turbulence, self-respect, tolerance, and limited freedom in a Saudi society while basing the story on four girls belonging from the high class. One feature I liked the most about this book is that it is written in an easy-to-relate-to manner and though many chapters end uninterestingly, still one feels like going all the way through to the end. Then, the book also manages in unfolding many hidden features of a typical Arabic society on some levels in the context of seduction, desperation, helplessness, and hypocrisy. It is well described how female community in Riyadh feels helpless on many stages in life as their lives are influenced by men surrounding them who also appear to be in control of their minds. Though some men may engage in immoral activities themselves, they expect their women to play the moral and pious roles as befitting the established societal norms. Also, stress is laid on how Saudi girls more often than not cannot make decisions about their marital affairs because they are not entitled freedom to do so. Not having much freedom and having to endure oppression at hands of the male community form two main features of this book as it calls for attention to be paid on improving the emotional conditions of young women. However, sadly the book does not portray the majority population of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the author, though herself being a Saudi woman, fails to portray the bigger picture since it depicts only 1% of the Saudi girls and many local Saudi mean and women find myriad facts detailed in the book to be far-fetched and shocking enough to even imagine them happening in their country. This feature is what I did not like about the book since presenting such stories in the book which lack validity and ground raise huge concern about the reputation of a country. This is because it is highly likely that the international community, especially the Western people, once having read this book and not actually knowing about the real state of Saudi girls are very likely to develop sad misinterpretations about the Saudi culture and female community that girls in Saudi Arabia must be hopelessly facing a hell lot of miserable issues which is actually not their real portrayal. It is not untrue that such vivid contrast between the real culture of Saudi girls and one which is portrayed in the book Girls of Riyadh has led many Western people to believe that even Riyadh’s velvet or rich upper class’s boys and girls are made to undergo a lot of stress, anxiety, desperation, and helplessness at hands of a largely religious and conservative Saudi society. Summing up, this much remains clear from the above analysis that this book is sure worth giving a read since it is written by a talented person who has taken care to use commendable and easy-to-relate-to vocabulary, but it fails to capture the true ideology and culture of young Saudi girls on many levels. In a nutshell, the international impression about this book is not what could be called vivacious, monumental, or exceptionally commendable since many chapters are ended in a boring fashion, translation from Arabic to English has also minimized much literary charm, and few characters described in the book possess real engaging interior or personal life accounts. Still, the book manages in lifting the veil on love and relationships in Saudi Arabia and gives readers a free ride into a society which does not approve expressing love and emotions openly or publicly. Read More