I picked up this book at the Barnes & Noble in midtown Manhattan last fall. I truly judged the book by its cover. Didn't even take the time to skim the first chapter as I normally do. I was taken in by the phrase on the back cover, "Imagine Sex and the City, if the city in question was Riyadh."
Now, I never watched Sex and City (mostly because both the premise of the series and the characters made me gag - and seeing how people transferred the fashion sense of the size 0 actresses to normal people...well, that is fodder for a different blog), but somehow, when thought about in terms of contemporary Saudi Arabia, it became fascinating to me. What makes this book even more astounding is that it was first published in Arabic and only recently translated to English. After reading the book, I imagine it caused quite a sensation in the Mideast.
The book follows four young women as they literally and figuratively shed their traditional garb and pursue their lives in contemporary Saudi Arabia. I felt like I was invited in to their homes to see a part of Saudi life that I never could have experienced any other way. I grew to like these four women, dislike some of the other people in their lives and appreciate the uniqueness of their culture. This is truly a view under the veil.
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