Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi, Sherif Hetata (Translator)

Woman at Point Zeroby Anonymous

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September 13, 2004:

I would highly recommend this book to future readers. Nawal El Saadawi caught my attention when reading the back cover of this book being a first time reader of her work. She has put me in suspense for other books done by her.

It does open your eyes to things you never thought of and how someone can have different occupations but come to the same conclusion. Except for the type O?s she sends you a vivid picture of how Firdaus lived her life and the journey she has gone through. It is true when they say, ?that the truth hurts? and Firdaus had that power and that is what scared people. The truth about men and how sex can be the root of all evil. I could not put this book down for a minute even at the dinner table until I finished it today.

So if you want something light to read and interesting pick up this book today.

Woman at Point Zeroby Anonymous

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December 11, 2003: Woman at Point Zero is a thin little book, yet its message for the audience is incredible. From an interview with Firdaus, a prisoner who was charged with murdering a pimp, we can see the Egyptian women??s lives and how they manage to survive in a male dominant society. Firdaus is executed in the evening on the same day of interview. I think the book??s name reveals the emotional situation of Firdaus as a woman who withdraws from human beings. She simply has neither love and hate nor fear and her heart is empty. In other words, there is no positive and negative, she is at point zero. Firdaus is different from other prisoners; she neither shows a great response to the execution nor tries to appeal for clemency. She was sitting in the prison quietly and waiting for the time to come. It is understandable. In Fridaus?? experience, frustrations and disappointments happened gain and again as if a cycle of her life. As a child Firdaus was sexually abused by her uncle and a boy. Since sex is a forbidden topic in the society, she did not know what was going on. Growing up as a submissive girl, she was coerced into an arranged marriage with an old man, and life gets worse from that point. Firdaus experienced sexual and physical abuse from different men and eventually become a prostitute. As a prostitute, the novel shows us, her life is better. Even though prostituting is not a respectable job, Firdaus earned freedom and a degree of respect from it. She learnt about the price of her body. In all parts of the world, there are a lot of women who are doing the same thing in order to survive in the world or in the work place. At the end of the story, --well, you??ll just have to read it yourself to find out what happens. We may think terrible misogynist things will only happen somewhere far away from us. I recommend this book because if we think again, we see the disrespectful attitudes and immoral trade everywhere around us. Things that happened to Firdaus are reflections of our lives too. Women should re-think if they are being deprived in the same way. Immoral trades are waiting for women who are not able to realize the existence of the traps in our societies. As a result, we too may pay ??the highest price for things of the lowest value?? (p.76).