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The Girl Who Fell To Earth (2012)

by Sophia Al-Maria(Favorite Author)

3.41 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

006199975X (ISBN13: 9780061999758)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Harper Perennial

review 1: For a woman who does not seem much older than me, her memoir of growing up between a farm in the Pacific Northwest and Qatar is a fascinating, well-written, intellectual, cross-cultural coming-of-age memoir that expands and breaks your ideas of "the Middle East" with regards to gender expectations, cultures, freedom of expression, etc. Starts a little slowly (it's not clear it's a memoir at first except from the title because it starts with the love story of her parents), but picks up.
review 2: Sophia Al-Maria has written a marvelous memoir about her life straddling two different worlds. Born from the union of American and Arab parents Sophia never quite fits in. Her American mother eventually ships her off to live in the Middle East with her fathers family wh... moreen the tenuous teen years become too much to shoulder. Navigating the tribal expectation as an Arab women creates opportunities for clandestine rendezvous. Teen age resistance to adult authority seems to permeate all cultures. Living for the past two years in Qatar makes this story resonate for me. I appreciate that Sophia does not hide the truth of existence behind the "everything is wonderful" rhetoric espoused by Arab society. She speaks candidly about the pull of tradition and the reality of modernizing. I can see parallels from history as people are forced to give up a life style encroached upon by population expansion and economic jackpots. I understand how patient I should be. In the end Sophia's struggle frees her to become her own unique conglomeration of past and future. This gives hope for a future where we can all get along in spite of our differences. less

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