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Driving by Starlight
| Title | Driving by Starlight |
| Writer | |
| Date | 2024-08-25 05:54:43 |
| Type | |
| Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
A Publishers' Weekly Flying StartA 2019 CCBC best-of-the-year recommendation by the University of Wisconsin-Madison "Leena's commanding voice conveys her desperation, courage, and intellect in a riveting, ultimately exhilarating page-turner." —Publishers Weekly, starred review "The fast-paced narrative and unexpected twists make for an engaging yet educational novel with a powerful message about the complexities of being a woman in a man's world." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review16- year-old Leena navigates the high-stakes terrain of friendship, education, and cultural police in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Leena, whose dissident father is imprisoned, studies law and longs for college. Living in a home without men, Leena practices a risky custom called boyat, dressing as a man to escort her hardworking, tight-lipped, "full of secrets" mother on errands. Leena's friend Mishail, a government official's daughter, seeks adventure, wearing contraband lingerie, walking outside without a male escort, and flirting with boys, seemingly oblivious to the potential consequences: "Colored clothes could get you sent to the headmistress's office. Boys got you beheaded."
Review
Leena is about to graduate high school...an exciting time for most girls, but Leena lives in Ridyah, Saudi Arabia, where women live lives dominated by and segregated from men. With her political activist father in jail, her mother struggling to keep them fed, and her best friend recklessly breaking all the rules, Leena has enough on her plate thinking about now instead of a future comprised of either fleeing the country to freedom, going to university on a scholarship, or getting married to a man she doesn't love. Then half-American Daria arrives, and turns Leena's world upside down.Ever read one of the feminist books from the 1950s and early 1960s? Where the housewives feel caged, stuck and unable to escape the confines of society but don't know why they feel such a deep, burning anger? This book is that multiplied by a billion, with a heavy dose of extremist religion added. Think The Handmaid's Tale combined with The Feminine Mystique.As another reviewer said: it's a theocratic patriarchy dystopian, but this isn't sci-fi. It's present-day Saudi Arabia.Leena is filled with anger—at society, at missing opportunities, at the unfairness and ridiculousness of everything. This isn't about covering up and wearing a veil, or even really being segregated and modest around men. It's about choice and freedom. The ability to choose simple things for oneself, to make decisions and go places without being chaperoned by a male relative. To learn to drive—and to travel without a guardian. To have your cell phone untracked and its camera left intact. To not have to walk the balance between staying fashionable for your friends (all women) while projecting modesty to avoid being sold out to the police. To not have to worry about being shaved or stoned for immodesty.This is such an amazing book about the lives of girls in Saudi Arabia, one that I really recommend everyone pick up. I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.
