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Reviews tagging 'Violence'
Jag är Malala : flickan som stod upp för rätten till utbildning och sköts av talibanerna by Christina Lamb, Lena Öhrström, Malala Yousafzai, Kjell Waltman, Johanna Svartström
63 reviews
zydecovivo's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
tense
slow-paced
4.5
Malala and I are very close in age, so I assume that is why I didn’t know who she was until after she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (no, I didn’t even know why she had been nominated at the time). Learning about her campaign for girl’s education around the world intrigued me and I have wanted to read her autobiography ever since. It is somewhat unfortunate that I did not find the time until recently.
The book itself is structured in the form of a flashback. It begins just as Malala is shot on her school bus om the way home after exams. It then goes all the way back to when Malala’s father was a child and his struggle for his own education before going through the events that shaped not just Malala, but her family as a whole, and finishes during the family’s exile in Birmingham. There are some minor flashbacks within the initial one, but they are generally small and short memories.
As an American, the most important things this story brings is perspective. American history and news is generally never critical of the United States. But I Am Malala shows how the US government can be like making a deal with the devil and why Pakistan, as well as many other countries in the Middle East and surrounding area, distrust it. This does not excuse the Taliban for the violence they cause or the Pakistani government for their inability to protect Malala (and many others). But the best way to empathize with people and understand where they are coming from is to learn their history and see things from their perspective. I also got to know Malala much better than any third-person summary of an interview that I’ve read previously. It’s interesting to see our similarities and differences and think of what I was doing at the same age, just in a different country.
There are only two critiques I want to mention. First, there are sections that drag a bit because they are essentially lists. They vary from lists of accomplishments to people to hardships. As an audiobook listener, I was able to tune these out and never really lose the narrative. I also found the narration of the book to be a bit flat. While the narrator’s pitch and intonation fluctuate, they seem to move in the same cadence with every few sentences, making for a long and somewhat repetitive 10 hours.
Overall, I still enjoy the book and would recommend it to anyone looking for other viewpoints on the Taliban and conflicts in the middle east that are not 100% biased towards the United States.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Moderate: Misogyny, Body horror, Confinement, Grief, Violence, War, Colonisation, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Islamophobia, Death, and Deportation
Minor: Animal death and Sexual harassment
shaynasiakimotu's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, Violence, War, Child death, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Child abuse
andalucia's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Violence
steffilietzke's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, War, and Violence
brittkbooks's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
meghan1111's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Classism, Death, Grief, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Animal death
rmdange's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
I’ve contemplated reading this book ever since my mother told me about a Pakistani girl my age being shot in the head by the Taliban and, somehow, eking her way to a miraculous recovery. Through I Am Malala, the author reclaims her own story, providing a clarity and comprehensiveness untouched by the frantic news reports of the time. Part I is rather slow and tedious, as she painstakingly retraces her familial ancestry and the political history of the Swat Valley in Pakistan. Though this provides necessary context (and is important and impressive as a political chronicle), her habit of mentioning so many one-off players, as if out of compulsion to include their names and brief sketches of their stories, detracts from the focus and flow of her narrative. Once the Taliban come into the picture, in Part II, the book’s pace certainly picks up, becoming steadily more riveting throughout. Overall, I Am Malala is an impactful literary debut telling a very necessary story. The author’s age (15 years) is strikingly evident in the writing, and the plentiful passages about God’s greatness are a little much for me (one would have sufficed). I have to wonder how she would have written it differently – if at all – twelve years later.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Islamophobia, and War
passionatereader78's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Murder, Violence, War, Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma
sheralbeereads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
This book is inspiring through and through. We get to meet Malala, the person, the young girl who loved going to school and learning. She gives details about her world and life while providing context about the happenings in her hometown, region, and country. I was constantly impressed by Malala's capacity for empathy and ability to reflect deeply. She showcases herself honestly in this memoir and I am grateful to have had the chance to read her book, because she was able to write a book in the first place. Her cause is dear to my heart, and I wish only success for her. I couldn't help but think of her as a little sister after reading her book. It is a pleasure to get to know her before she became renowned for surviving a shot to the head. While I thought some of the book was slow, I would recommend it wholeheartedly, especially as a casual/leisurely read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence and Violence
rhiannon814r's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Grief, Death, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Incest