I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was fine. Nujood is a Yemeni girl who is married off at too-young an age, and then abused by her husband. In a show of amazing courage, she seeks - and ultimately is granted - a divorce. Gaining international attention, her divorce has led to changes in Yemeni law (though their enforcement is still questionable) as well as a handful of other young women in the Middle East to seek the same freedom.
Her story is sad, and the poverty she lives in magnifies that. Even after garnering international attention (going on The Today Show and appearing in Glamour Magazine), she and one of her sisters fail to continue attending school and while her family's station is slightly improved by her book royalties and humanitarian efforts, they are not magically lifted out of poverty and appreciative of Western values.
Perhaps that is the most interesting part. Her courage is amazing and unusual - but the difficulty in changing the oppressive society that forces women to submit to a male-dominated culture is equally striking.
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