bookwormbecky's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

book_concierge's review against another edition

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5.0

Audiobook read by Archie Panjabi

The subtitle says it all: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
Adapted from the book cover: When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out,. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. She not only lived, she thrived and went on, at age sixteen, to be the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.

My reactions
What an inspiring and enlightening story. Malala gives the historical background of Pakistan and the Pashtun culture, as well as that of her own family. Her father’s life-long dreams to run a school and educate the children of his valley were but the beginnings of this family’s saga. Their strength of character and courage in the face of political and religious unrest is admirable. In a society that values sons, her parents encouraged and praised their daughter’s ambitions.

For me, in particular, this became an intensely personal story. My mother’s favorite saying was: Educate a man and you educate an individual / Educate a woman and you will have educated a family. So it was appropriate that I picked this audio to listen to on the long drive back from my mother’s funeral in Texas to my home in Wisconsin. I couldn’t help but think how much my mother would have loved this book, endorsed this cause, and applauded this young woman. Malala Yousafzai has taken my mother’s favorite saying one step further; she is educating the world.

white_dragon_tea's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

3.0

madeline_schmidt20's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring

5.0

adeselnaferreira's review against another edition

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5.0

The review is huge so follow the link:
http://illusionarypleasure.wordpress.com/2014/01/15/eu-malala-2/

spencervail's review against another edition

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5.0

Amazing Book

I had heard about her news and followed it a little bit but finally got around to reading her story. She is such an incredible person and I feel very lucky to read it.

izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5/5

I had only recently really heard about Malala and some of her story so I found her book and decided to read it as soon as I could. I found the book very interesting and informative.

rsuray's review against another edition

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5.0

I went into this book with no expectations. All I knew was that Malala was the girl who got shot in the head by the Taliban for attending school. I was ignorant of her accomplishments and surprised that she was a known activist before the attempted murder even occurred. I listened to the story on audiobook while running and am so glad I did. Though Malala herself does not narrate further than the introduction, Archie Panjabi's narration was so poetic that she brought Malala's words to life in clear, vibrant way.

The book is what is promises: a story of a girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban. But what I really enjoyed was that so little of the book focuses on the shooting and the aftermath. Malala winds us through her childhood through the lens of the Taliban's rise to power in Pakistan's Swat Valley, her homeland. She had the immense blessing of growing up close to her father who encouraged girls' education and had very progressive ideas for the country. The book really focuses on their relationship, and she tells us his backstory and arduous journey to open a girls' school in Swat. Even when she describes what went on while she was flown to Birmingham, it's told almost as a dual-narrative between father and daughter. This helps cement Malala not only as a social activist but as a teenage girl. She narrates in a way a child would--by asking questions. This childlike innocence heightens the severity of the crime committed against her and her valley, and it heightens the entire reading experience.

I highly recommend this book. Though critics thought the co-writer thinned down a lot of Malala's substance, her voice still rings strong. It's a quick read and introduces a perspective most Westerners only read about second-hand in papers. Malala is refreshingly raw, and I will likely turn soon to her recent book on refugee displacement.

heyhayley's review against another edition

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hopeful informative slow-paced

karinanne's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0