BOOKS FROM EGYPTWoman at Point Zero
Tags:
Set in Egypt
Female author
Description:
So begins Firdaus' story, leading to her grimy Cairo prison cell, where she welcomes her death sentence as a relief from her pain and suffering. Born to a peasant family in the Egyptian countryside, Firdaus suffers a childhood of cruelty and neglect. Her passion for education is ignored by her family, and on leaving school she is forced to marry a much older man. Following her escapes from violent relationships, she finally meets Sharifa who tells her that 'A man does not know a woman's value ... the higher you price yourself the more he will realise what you are really worth' and leads her into a life of prostitution. Desperate and alone, she takes drastic action. -- Publisher description.
Reviews:
(10 months ago) |
03 Dec, 2024
Read 18 Nov 18
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(6 months ago) |
18 Mar, 2025
It's easy to see why it's a classic. It's a "me too" book decades before the phrase was coined. El Saadawi didn't just take aim at hypocritical muslim men like Firdaus' father, but also at the male managers manipulating female office employees to sleep with them, or else their career will stagnate and their hard work go unnoticed. Plus, with the shots El Saadawi took at politicians in this book, it's unsurprising she was jailed, "And because the world was full of lies, she had to pay the price."
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(2 months ago) |
08 Aug, 2025
From her prison cell, Firdaus, sentenced to die for having killed a pimp in a Cairo street, tells of her life from village childhood to city prostitute. Society's retribution for her act of defiance - death - she welcomes as the only way she can finally be free.
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