Princess - Jean P. Sasson

Princess is a real-life-story unlike any that I have ever read before. From the moment I opened the cover I was hooked. From start to finish the book is a testimony to a woman of indomitable spirit and great courage and Jean Sasson truly captures the flavour and reality of life as 'Sultana' the Saudi Princess. 'Sultana's' birth nor death will ever be recorded, for she is a woman. A woman who lives in a society where only men have worth. 'Sultana' lives her life like a prisoner is a gilded cage, she has unlimited funds at her disposal yet she lacks the one thing she desires the most. Freedom. Wherever she is she is totally at the mercy of the men ...  Read the complete review

Princess, by Jean Sasson, is the biographical and often disturbing account of one woman's life in a relatively modern Saudi Arabia; which still believes its women are inferior to its menfolk. The author, Jean Sasson, spent over ten years living and working in Riyadh and was incensed at the inequality of women within the country, and the power that men hold, and it was during this time that she met Princess Sultana. The Princess, the youngest in a family of eleven surviving children, including only one boy, begged Sasson to write her biography, based on her diaries even from childhood. Sasson was reluctant to write this biography at first; and it was not until ...  Read the complete review

I guess the majority of women wonder what it is like for the women behind the veils. You know what it is like, walking down the street and then suddenly you see half a dozen females walking towards you and sometimes looking pretty scary as they are dressed from top to toe in dark, heavy clothing with veils covering their faces. Often I have thought that they must be pretty stupid to let men and religion dictate to them in such a fashion. After all, it must be pretty unbearable to wear this clothing especially on hot summer days and I have always thought that their pretty faces are locked away behind the veils. Throughout my years I have heard bits and ...  Read the complete review

Princess by Jean P. Sassoon The title, Princess, is a translation of the feminine version of sultan, which is described in the Oxford Illustrated Dictionary as the mother, wife, daughter or concubine of a sultan. The book is the biography of a Saudi Arabian woman who comes from a wealthy and influential family. To protect her identity, for reasons which become obvious in the book, she is simply called Sultana, or Princess. She told her story to a foreign friend, Jean P. Sassoon, who wrote the biography for her. The size of the Saudi families of the wealthy and influential men would make it difficult to trace her. The difference in cultures is ...  Read the complete review

It is difficult to appreciate the privileges that we have until we acknowledge the cruelty around the world. Before reading this indictment, admittedly, and I am shameful to say this ? I never really gave much thought about suffering that many many women endure from around the world. ?Princess? is a biography written by Jean P Sassoon about a Saudi Arabian Princess whose name has been changed to ?Sultana? to protect her identity. Jean P Sassoon writes as though she is the Princess, and despite the fact that the author of the book isn?t actually the character narrating the ?story?, Sassoon does a very good job of making the readers believe that it really was ...  Read the complete review