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mariareviews's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Malala tiene un alma muy linda y es en definitiva alguien a quien admirar. Con tan solo diez años ya aspiraba a cambiar el mundo que la rodeaba… espero esté viviendo una vida pacífica rodeada de quienes la aman.
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Malala is a beautiful soul and truly someone to admire. Barely 10 years old and aspiring to change the world around her… hope she lives a peaceful life surrounded those who love her.
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Malala is a beautiful soul and truly someone to admire. Barely 10 years old and aspiring to change the world around her… hope she lives a peaceful life surrounded those who love her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Stalking, Violence, War, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
dominic_t's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
It was a frightening and sobering look at what religious fundamentalism can lead to. It has a lot of cultural and historical background on Pakistan that gives context for what happened to her. Her voice shines through discussions of prime ministers, war, and natural disasters. It's a beautiful and important book, and it is so important in this global context of right wing fundamentalism.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Gun violence, Medical content, and War
bexi's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
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
betsygrace's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.25
It is so evident she loves her homelands. She also was such a feminist from a young age.
It’s also so fascinating to read about her father’s quiet and strong resistance to Taliban rule for continuing to teach and run his school. Also fascinating to see the way children are so adaptive to the world around them, and so aware of their political environment at a young age.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, and Gun violence
pumpkinpit's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Violence
jmanchester0's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
4.0
For so many reasons, it was really hard to get into this book. It was a bit of a slow burn. (Though part 3 - living through those life-and-death moments with her - was riveting.) It wasn't really any fault of the book or the author or the reader (I got it on audio); just because of anything she talks about makes me think about so many other things.
I couldn't help but draw parallels between the Taliban and evangelical Christianity.
It was chilling to read about the rise of the Taliban. The state is meant to protect the rights of its citizens, but it's a very difficult situation when you can't tell the difference between state and non-state and can't trust the state to protect you against non-state.
While I was scared of the parallels between the Taliban and evangelicals, it's more their ideology. But there were things that divested me of that fear. I don't think they could marshall the same forces - at least, I think they would have more opposition here in the U.S. Plus, I think they're too selfish to be suicide bombers. They'd be happy to kill other people, but wouldn't die themselves. Mainly, I think, because their whole ideology is selfish - they wouldn't sacrifice anything for it - much less their own lives.
And some of the same quotes could be used here in the US; again I compare the Taliban to Christian evangelicals.
How will you accept Christianity if I put a gun to your head and say Christianity is the true religion? If they want every person in the world to be Christian, why don't they show themselves to be good Christians first?
(This is a direct quote. Except I replaced Islam with Christianity and Muslim with Christian.)
And before you argue I'm exaggerating, remember that last month Alabama nearly elected a Senator because he would wave a gun on stage and because he was known for breaking U.S. law in favor of his own personal interpretation of Christianity. If that's not pretty damn close to terrorism I don't know what is.
Plus, 3 days ago (3!) my very own representative in Alabama introduced a bill that would allow for someone in a church to shoot someone else if the first person merely perceived a threat. That's insane! So, if I am carrying a gun inside a church, and I see a young white kid bullying a younger kid, and I think the older kid might pull a weapon, I can shoot him. WTF? [Again, I don't think I'm exaggerating - these laws state that if you believe you or someone else is about to come to bodily harm, you can use deadly force on (i.e., kill) them to prevent it.) E.g., George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin because he thought he was about to be hurt. Or something. (Yeah - with Trayvon's skittles.) This is the kind of thing "Stand Your Ground" Laws support. Supporters say they are not "Shoot First" laws. But in the wake of George Zimmerman, how are they not?]
And she does a fantastic job of describing how the United States government created the Taliban. And interesting analogy between this and the Republicans creating the hateful religious right.
And other parts were thought-provoking. For example, this section made me think about the illusion of ownership, particularly land ownership:
The Yousafzai divided up all the land among the male members of the tribe. It was a peculiar system called wish, under which every five or ten years all the families would swap villages and redistribute the land of the new village among the men so that everyone had the chance to work on good as well as bad land.
But learning about other cultures is also fascinating. Like why the people where Malala is from do not say thank you, I find both fantastic and horrified.
Kindness I can only be repaid by kindness. It can't be repaid by expressions like "thank you".
The dark side of that?
...we rarely say thank you, manana, because we believe a Pashtun [Pashto-speaking person from NW Pakistan] will never forget a good deed and is bound to reciprocate at some point, just as he will a bad one.
(That last emphasis is mine.)
But what happened in the lives of the people here is horrifying. And it's a lesson for us today. What an amazing girl. Giving interviews in resistance? Writing against the Taliban?
Of course, reading a book like this makes you wonder what you've accomplished in your own life - after reading about a girl who addressed the UN on her 16th birthday.
But I guess there's still time. Read about this brave girl.
I couldn't help but draw parallels between the Taliban and evangelical Christianity.
It was chilling to read about the rise of the Taliban. The state is meant to protect the rights of its citizens, but it's a very difficult situation when you can't tell the difference between state and non-state and can't trust the state to protect you against non-state.
While I was scared of the parallels between the Taliban and evangelicals, it's more their ideology. But there were things that divested me of that fear. I don't think they could marshall the same forces - at least, I think they would have more opposition here in the U.S. Plus, I think they're too selfish to be suicide bombers. They'd be happy to kill other people, but wouldn't die themselves. Mainly, I think, because their whole ideology is selfish - they wouldn't sacrifice anything for it - much less their own lives.
And some of the same quotes could be used here in the US; again I compare the Taliban to Christian evangelicals.
How will you accept Christianity if I put a gun to your head and say Christianity is the true religion? If they want every person in the world to be Christian, why don't they show themselves to be good Christians first?
(This is a direct quote. Except I replaced Islam with Christianity and Muslim with Christian.)
And before you argue I'm exaggerating, remember that last month Alabama nearly elected a Senator because he would wave a gun on stage and because he was known for breaking U.S. law in favor of his own personal interpretation of Christianity. If that's not pretty damn close to terrorism I don't know what is.
Plus, 3 days ago (3!) my very own representative in Alabama introduced a bill that would allow for someone in a church to shoot someone else if the first person merely perceived a threat. That's insane! So, if I am carrying a gun inside a church, and I see a young white kid bullying a younger kid, and I think the older kid might pull a weapon, I can shoot him. WTF? [Again, I don't think I'm exaggerating - these laws state that if you believe you or someone else is about to come to bodily harm, you can use deadly force on (i.e., kill) them to prevent it.) E.g., George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin because he thought he was about to be hurt. Or something. (Yeah - with Trayvon's skittles.) This is the kind of thing "Stand Your Ground" Laws support. Supporters say they are not "Shoot First" laws. But in the wake of George Zimmerman, how are they not?]
And she does a fantastic job of describing how the United States government created the Taliban. And interesting analogy between this and the Republicans creating the hateful religious right.
And other parts were thought-provoking. For example, this section made me think about the illusion of ownership, particularly land ownership:
The Yousafzai divided up all the land among the male members of the tribe. It was a peculiar system called wish, under which every five or ten years all the families would swap villages and redistribute the land of the new village among the men so that everyone had the chance to work on good as well as bad land.
But learning about other cultures is also fascinating. Like why the people where Malala is from do not say thank you, I find both fantastic and horrified.
Kindness I can only be repaid by kindness. It can't be repaid by expressions like "thank you".
The dark side of that?
...we rarely say thank you, manana, because we believe a Pashtun [Pashto-speaking person from NW Pakistan] will never forget a good deed and is bound to reciprocate at some point, just as he will a bad one.
(That last emphasis is mine.)
But what happened in the lives of the people here is horrifying. And it's a lesson for us today. What an amazing girl. Giving interviews in resistance? Writing against the Taliban?
Of course, reading a book like this makes you wonder what you've accomplished in your own life - after reading about a girl who addressed the UN on her 16th birthday.
But I guess there's still time. Read about this brave girl.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, and Xenophobia
jojo_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry and Hate crime
Moderate: Death, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, and Child death
Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Misogyny, and Murder
memorable's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
Malalas Lebensgeschichte ist auch die Lebensgeschichte Pakistans und des Swat-Tals. Ich habe viel gelernt.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism
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