Eccentric Musings (jakaEM)

An important book for anyone who would like a first-hand account of the horror and cruelty of child marriage. My quibble - as always - is in the telling: written at a basic level pretending to be out of the mouth of 10-yr-old Nujood, the prose was stilted and the horror somewhat dulled (although, what was unsaid was a powerful statement in itself) - and, above all, the pacing was too fast. We needed to dwell a little longer on the lead-up to the marriage selling of the 10-yr-old to a 30+-yr-old neighbour; and more on the machinations of the court and motivations and actions of those (the female lawyer, Shada Nasser; the two judges; the journalist who broke the story) who helped Nujood gain her divorce.

The epilogue was, ironically, where I became engaged, and I would have preferred: a) the book to start there; b) it to be longer.

The book I want to read is the one Ms Nasser, will - I hope but doubt - write. This New Yorker article provides additional details that start to answer just some of the questions I was left with at the end of I Am Nujood, and raises many others that deserve to be answered in a more in-depth way, in particular: what are some ways forward to address the poverty that leads to such cultural brutality? How can we recognize and respect the complexity of these situations while also advancing in a meaningful way dialogue and practical action to prevent them?