Girls of Riyadh

A Novel

By: Rajaa Alsanea, Rajaa Alsanea - translator, Marilyn Booth - translator

Narrated by: Kate Reading

When Rajaa Alsanea boldly chose to open up the hidden world of Saudi women—their private lives and their conflicts with the traditions of their culture—she caused a sensation across the Arab world. Now in English, Alsanea’s tale of the personal struggles of four young upper-class women offers Westerners an unprecedented glimpse into a society often veiled from view. Living in restrictive Riyadh but traveling all over the globe, these modern Saudi women literally and figuratively shed traditional garb as they search for love, fulfillment, and their place somewhere in between Western society and their Islamic home.

Critic reviews

“Alsanea's wisdom and insight into the female experience seem surreal. She captures the core, universal truths of the complications in finding and holding a life partner. Her characters provide wisdom to each other that are astounding in their accuracy, and Alsanea thus speaks for countless women everywhere.” —Bookreporter.com

I enjoyed this book like never before.

I recommend this book the most. I really live it. My recommendation is to read it.

I know this is asking a lot

Most of the blame for the disfunction is put on the men, however, the role of the mothers is suscribes but not taken as a serious part of the problem. These yong women will be 'enforcers' in 20 years and hence will propagate the problem.

It would have been interesting to get the men's view of all these relationships.

The insight into Saudi society is interesting and the fact that the book was banned speaks loudly about that society.

beautiful story!

Gorgeously told, and surprisingly endearing. 5 stars in every category! Would definitely recommend this book!

Truth Is Often Stranger Than Fiction

This may be a work of fiction, but it reads like a lot of the non-fiction/memior material that has been written by Arab women in the last 25 years. Enjoy it for the accurate cultural voyeurism it offers, respect it for the truth it tells.

Great Story & Narration

As an American woman living in Riyadh for a year now, this book definitely confirmed a lot of the observations and guesses I had made about what life may be like for a native woman here. The narrator was very easy to understand in English yet clearly also spoke Arabic, as those words sounded even more comfortable. The asides meant to explain some Arabic words and Saudi customs were very helpful (most I knew but I learned a few new ones). The stories were also wholly engrossing, as I found myself listening and listening, hardly able to stop.