My Forbidden Face: Growing up under the Taliban: A Young Woman's Story FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
This haunting book details daily life inside Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. It is both a horrifying and
extremely poignant journal, written by a young woman coming of age in 1996 as the oppressive
white Taliban flag is first raised over Kabul. "Latifa," a lycée graduate, has just taken her
exams to enter the university; she wants to be a journalist. Her father is prosperous, her mother a
doctor. Their lives are good ones -- Latifa reads movie magazines, watches videos, plays games
with her family, and has high hopes for her own future.
And then, in one fell swoop, her entire world comes to a halt.
What vivid, lively dramatic images she gives us! The book, an act of defiance and
resistance, gives us entrﾽe to a world little known and almost unimaginable in the West.
Literally overnight, Taliban Radio orders all women to remain at home until further notice. And
then the dreadful repression begins in earnest: Women may not work, may not walk outside
alone. All health care for women ceases. Schools are shut, books hidden away, televisions
destroyed. There are edicts against all music, singing, all Western influences; the list is endless.
The worst symbol of destruction: the birka, a garment that completely covers the female form and
only allows limited visibility. Once it is on, all women are put in a kind of immediate visual
prison.
At first, Latifa is overwhelmed and depressed, and takes to her bed for weeks. Then
she begins to fight back: She runs an illegal school for girls and boys out of
her apartment and keeps her dreams alive. Anyone who needs inspiration in these uncertain
times should read this book: It is a cautionary tale, powerful in its telling, and ultimately
uplifting. (Elena Simon)
Elena Simon lives in New York City.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In a moving tale of oppression and courageous defiance, sixteen-year-old Latifa tells her story of growing up in war torn Afghanistan. She was a prisoner in her own home as the Taliban wreaked havoc on the lives of Afghan girls and women. The regime banned women from working, from schools, from public life, even from leaving their homes without a male relative. Female faces were outlawed as the burka, or head-to-toe veil, became mandatory. Like a contemporary Anne Frank, Latifa was forced to observe, absorb, and make sense of what was happening to women, to her country, to her family, from the confines of her four walls. In 2001, after escaping to Pakistan, then to Paris, with her parents, Latifa's future finally opened up. Written during exile, this book is an extraordinarily powerful account of a teenager's life under terrible circumstances and a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit.
FROM THE CRITICS
Entertainment Weekly
It chronicles one Afghan family's 'nightmare in broad daylight' with an intimacy you won't find in newspapers. Grade: A-
Washington Post
The stories of the women of Afghanistan are at once individually dramatic and collectively numbing.
Los Angeles Times
[My Forbidden Face] is her story, told with a young girl's unflinching faith in the future.
Publishers Weekly
Readers who want to know what life was really like when the Taliban ruled Kabul should turn off CNN and read this book. Latifa (who writes under a pseudonym) was a 16-year-old aspiring journalist when her brother rushed home one day in late 1996 with word that the white flag of the Taliban flew over their school and mosque. She writes, "We knew the Taliban were not far away... but no one truly believed they would manage to enter Kabul." The bizarre edicts of the women-suppressing regime slowly become a reality: women weren't allowed outside the home unless they were shrouded in a "chadri" (which covers the face and arms, unlike a burka, which covers the entire body and according to Latifa is worn only in distant provinces) and accompanied by a male relative. "A girl is not allowed to converse with a young man. Infraction of this law will lead to the immediate marriage of the offenders." No wearing of bright colors or lipstick; no medical care from a male doctor. And women doctors were not allowed to work, essentially cutting off medical care for women. Latifa's story puts a face on these now-familiar rules, and conveys the sheer boredom of the lively teenager-turned-hermit and the desperation of not knowing if she'll ever complete her education in such an upside-down world. Despite its rushed ending (the family fled to France in May 2001 with the help of French Elle) and the occasional reminder that the author is now only 22 (there's talk of Madonna, Brooke Shields, fashion and Indian films), this memoir is one instance where a thousand words are worth more than any picture. (Mar.) Forecast: Although the first serial was to be in now defunct Talk, this book should sell well. It's not as heavy as many of the other Taliban tell-alls, and will appeal to the Oprah reader and even curious teens. Watch for the review of another very similar book, Zoya's Story: An Afghan Woman's Battle for Freedom (Morrow) in Forecasts next week. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
From the moment the Taliban entered Kabul, young Afghani women experienced oppression; head-to-toe veils (burkas) became mandatory and the women weren't allowed to go out in public without a male relative as escort. At the age of 16, Latifa had planned to attend a university with the intention of earning a degree and telling the truth about the power structure (which seemed to change weekly) in her country. When the Taliban took over her hometown, the author and her family were forced to stay within the confines of their small apartment to insure their safety; in May 2001, they escaped to Pakistan. Latifa wrote this memoir la Anne Frank's; her use of language is vibrant, reinforcing the sense of her family's terror and bewilderment. Latifa's story, brought to life by actress Edita Brychta, while ultimately triumphant, is an acute reminder of the ways in which women are treated as chattel. Recommended for libraries with large audio collections.-Pam Kingsbury, Florence, AL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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