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A review by youngling80
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
slow-paced
3.5
3.5 ⭐ rounded up.
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. Some observations/thoughts ...
1. The real hero of this story is Malala's father. Without his tireless commitment to education for girls in the Swat Valley, Malala would not be the young woman she is - which is nothing less than remarkable. His commitment, to the rights of girls receiving education, in the face of the Taliban's invasion and takeover is inspiring. The fact that his and Malala's activism elicited such a great price from her and their family is heart-breaking. One can only hope that the international platform it has given them, will help them to accomplish more in this area.
2. Malala's story is incredible, but I struggled with the writing. It reads somewhat like a stream-of-conscious narrative ... almost as if she was just sked to talk about her experiences and someone just captured them on paper. You know how sometimes when you tell a story and often add extra information that isn't really necessary to the story? "Last week when I was headed to the grocery to shop for rutabagas and asparagus, I saw a dog riding a unicycle!" (Do we really need to know what you were shopping for?) ... This book felt a bit like that, complete with many asides and tangents that aren't particularly necessary or relevant to the larger story. Much of it felt like a slog. Though the story was mostly linear, there were moments where the author jumped time in her memory/recollection. I feel like better editing could have helped make the story linear and easier to follow. Complicating the story further is the fact that the political world of Pakistan is a complicated thing ... there are many players from many parties and sects, all with seemingly differing ideologies that interplay into the complicatedness of those politics. As a reader, it was incredibly difficult to keep track of all the parties, to know which names/characters were playing a larger role and which were part of those aside that weren't truly necessary. When the story starts to truly zero in on the attack on Malala (this is somewhere around 70%), it gets much better - at that point the characters seem contained to Malala's family and friends, the team of doctors treating her, and very few political figures. When I hit that section, I felt relief because, prior to that, there were several times that I considered a DNF on this one.
I would be curious to see how the editing differs in the version of this book that was written geared toward teens. Is the editing better to make the complications a little more clear? I've thought about checking that out.
Regardless, Malala's story is an important one and one that I hope will continue to help pave the way for girls and women across the world to receive the education that they deserve.
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. Some observations/thoughts ...
1. The real hero of this story is Malala's father. Without his tireless commitment to education for girls in the Swat Valley, Malala would not be the young woman she is - which is nothing less than remarkable. His commitment, to the rights of girls receiving education, in the face of the Taliban's invasion and takeover is inspiring. The fact that his and Malala's activism elicited such a great price from her and their family is heart-breaking. One can only hope that the international platform it has given them, will help them to accomplish more in this area.
2. Malala's story is incredible, but I struggled with the writing. It reads somewhat like a stream-of-conscious narrative ... almost as if she was just sked to talk about her experiences and someone just captured them on paper. You know how sometimes when you tell a story and often add extra information that isn't really necessary to the story? "Last week when I was headed to the grocery to shop for rutabagas and asparagus, I saw a dog riding a unicycle!" (Do we really need to know what you were shopping for?) ... This book felt a bit like that, complete with many asides and tangents that aren't particularly necessary or relevant to the larger story. Much of it felt like a slog. Though the story was mostly linear, there were moments where the author jumped time in her memory/recollection. I feel like better editing could have helped make the story linear and easier to follow. Complicating the story further is the fact that the political world of Pakistan is a complicated thing ... there are many players from many parties and sects, all with seemingly differing ideologies that interplay into the complicatedness of those politics. As a reader, it was incredibly difficult to keep track of all the parties, to know which names/characters were playing a larger role and which were part of those aside that weren't truly necessary. When the story starts to truly zero in on the attack on Malala (this is somewhere around 70%), it gets much better - at that point the characters seem contained to Malala's family and friends, the team of doctors treating her, and very few political figures. When I hit that section, I felt relief because, prior to that, there were several times that I considered a DNF on this one.
I would be curious to see how the editing differs in the version of this book that was written geared toward teens. Is the editing better to make the complications a little more clear? I've thought about checking that out.
Regardless, Malala's story is an important one and one that I hope will continue to help pave the way for girls and women across the world to receive the education that they deserve.