This is happening in our lifetimes (Princess - Jean P. Sasson)

Member Name: Pamela M

Product:	Princess - Jean P. Sasson
Date:	07/09/03 (758 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting, Well written, Informative

Disadvantages: A bit of a culture shock, Not suitable for young children

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 quite marked. On the one hand, the women have no status, they can suffer extreme punishment at the whim of their father or husband. While the behaviour of two young girls, Wafa and Nadia, (Chapter 8) is unwise even in our culture, the treatment they receive from their families would be illegal in my country, with lengthy jail terms as penalties.

The men remain very remote from their families. Sultana, who as a child desires her father’s approval, does not see him very much, presumably because he is busy with other wives or concubines, and with the number of children he has, he simply does not have much time for each one. He is also a prominent member of the Saudi Arabian elite, and therefore would need to spend considerable time on business for the country or for himself. When Sultana does see her father, he favours her brother, the greedy and spiteful Ali who cannot even let his sister enjoy an apple in peace but has her severely punished (pp.25-26). Sultana bridles against the unfairness of the treatment she receives in comparison with her brother. Her desire for revenge lasts throughout the book, and her triumphs, which seem quite small to western eyes, are the only satisfaction she can get. She marries Kareem, the Saudi version of a sensitive new age guy, and while he is an
improvement on many of the other husbands in the book, he falls a long way short of what a western woman would expect from a husband.

The book is confronting if you have not been exposed to such extremely male dominated cultures before. Even if you have, it reminds you what can happen in a society once some people have absolute power over others.

The book provides factual information in appendices, e.g., a glossary of terms which explains terms like abaaya, the cloak the women must wear. There is also a chronology of significant events in Arabian history, and the very revealing appendix on the laws of Saudi Arabia. That is a culture shock in itself, sounding like something from the Middle Ages rather than the twentieth century when the book was written. I wonder if they will still be the same at the end of the twenty-first century?

The book is sometimes a set book in schools. It is an excellent, thought provoking book.

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