Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

Yo soy Malala by Christina Lamb, Malala Yousafzai, Julia Fernández

10 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. 

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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

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.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Islamophobia, and War

mirajuliee's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, War, Gun violence, Grief, Hate crime, Islamophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

cstockey's review against another edition

dark informative reflective fast-paced

3.5

I didn't like that this book jumped around so much, I couldn't really keep track of what what happening in the world because of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and War

bexi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Misogyny, War, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Classism, Child death, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Animal death, Grief, and Sexism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Rape, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Torture, and Domestic abuse

balfies's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

4.5

I mean, what can you say. What an incredible woman. And a really beautifully, artfully written book. The politics leading up to her attempted assassination are laid out clearly, and are infused with her warmth and passion and humour.

Key takeaway quote "Sometimes I think it is easier to be a Twilight vampire than a girl in Swat" really dates her experiences as a teen girl in the early 2010s.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Torture, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Islamophobia, Gun violence, Gore, Death, Child death, and Blood

mandi4886's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, and Vomit

bayleereads's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Wow… what a phenomenal story. I listened to this on audio and enjoyed every minute. Malala’s story is unbelievable and it’s hard to believe she’s only one year older than me. I also loved that it wasn’t just about her and the shooting, but she included stories about her mother and father, and even some historical/geographical information about Pakistan that I didn’t know. This was such an informative book and I highly recommend (especially on audio!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, and War

mayanisma's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Islamophobia

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I’m ashamed to say that I really had no clue about Malala or what happened to her. I’ve obviously heard of her because she spoke at the US COVID graduation thing they did, but I didn’t know her story. She is so brave and smart. This was very interesting and inspiring. I learned so much. I highly recommend this! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, and Xenophobia