Review of Stolen Lives:Twenty Years In A Desert Jail
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SWilder
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Review of Stolen Lives:Twenty Years In A Desert Jail
Sienna recommends Stolen Lives - Twenty Years in a Desert Jail (from my Author blog on Goodreads)
Stolen Lives is an unforgettable fairy-tale-turned-horror story with a relatively happy ending. It's very well written, and the tone is compelling.
Despite how painful it must have been for Ms. Oufkir to recount this story, and then, with Ms. Fitoussi's help, to shape it into a palatable novel, the story succeeds in dipping into some of the darkest places of the human psyche without losing its reader in the tormented circumstances of the narrator and her family.
In a nutshell, Malika Oufrir tells her story of spending almost her whole life as a prisoner, albeit, a greatly privileged one. Selected by the King of Morocco to be a playmate for his daughter, Malika was adopted by the royal family of Morrocco, and raised in the King's harem. That in itself is a fascinating story. But then, after only three years of freedom at aged 19, her father, who worked for the King, allegedly attempted to assasinate him. The assassination failed, and General Oufkir was executed. His wife and five children, the youngest of which was only three, were arrested and imprisoned in a penal colony. Five years later, they were each put into solitary confinement, where they remained for ten more years. It's not a spoiler, since Malika obviously published this book (safely after the King of Morocco died in 1999), to tell you that she escaped. Very dramatically, in fact, ultimately releasing her entire family from custody by playing her cards right politically.
It's an eye-opening book, and a peek into a very unusual and privileged life; one that's part medieval and part European jet-set royalty. It is also, however, a tragedy.
I read this book three weeks ago, and it inspired me to do a complete research download on Islam, North Africa, Moroccan royalty, and so forth. So it's a bit of a door into a completely different world.
One thing that struck me, that I continue to grapple with after reading this book, is this: what is freedom? At what point can one say one is free, or not free? It seems to be such a continuum, one that Ms. Oufkir has experienced firsthand. Yet, even so, we are not yet completely free, are we, Ms. Oufkir and Ms. Fitoussi?
I gave it four stars, and not quite five. The reason is that Ms. Oufkir's self-aware cleverness and self-congratulation, although valid, bug me just a teeny bit. She has nothing but gushingly positive memories towards people I suspect were killers or otherwise ruthless, when she could have criticized some of them, whereas she does not hesitate to eviscerate those who closed the door in her face. Therefore, I feel this novel has some kind of political motivation gain behind it. Then again, she did save her family with her storytelling prowess, and she did have an important story to tell, so I am being a bit nitpicky.
Memoirs, and autobiographies are not normally genres I enjoy, but this is a whale of a "true" story. I highly recommend it.
Stolen Lives is an unforgettable fairy-tale-turned-horror story with a relatively happy ending. It's very well written, and the tone is compelling.
Despite how painful it must have been for Ms. Oufkir to recount this story, and then, with Ms. Fitoussi's help, to shape it into a palatable novel, the story succeeds in dipping into some of the darkest places of the human psyche without losing its reader in the tormented circumstances of the narrator and her family.
In a nutshell, Malika Oufrir tells her story of spending almost her whole life as a prisoner, albeit, a greatly privileged one. Selected by the King of Morocco to be a playmate for his daughter, Malika was adopted by the royal family of Morrocco, and raised in the King's harem. That in itself is a fascinating story. But then, after only three years of freedom at aged 19, her father, who worked for the King, allegedly attempted to assasinate him. The assassination failed, and General Oufkir was executed. His wife and five children, the youngest of which was only three, were arrested and imprisoned in a penal colony. Five years later, they were each put into solitary confinement, where they remained for ten more years. It's not a spoiler, since Malika obviously published this book (safely after the King of Morocco died in 1999), to tell you that she escaped. Very dramatically, in fact, ultimately releasing her entire family from custody by playing her cards right politically.
It's an eye-opening book, and a peek into a very unusual and privileged life; one that's part medieval and part European jet-set royalty. It is also, however, a tragedy.
I read this book three weeks ago, and it inspired me to do a complete research download on Islam, North Africa, Moroccan royalty, and so forth. So it's a bit of a door into a completely different world.
One thing that struck me, that I continue to grapple with after reading this book, is this: what is freedom? At what point can one say one is free, or not free? It seems to be such a continuum, one that Ms. Oufkir has experienced firsthand. Yet, even so, we are not yet completely free, are we, Ms. Oufkir and Ms. Fitoussi?
I gave it four stars, and not quite five. The reason is that Ms. Oufkir's self-aware cleverness and self-congratulation, although valid, bug me just a teeny bit. She has nothing but gushingly positive memories towards people I suspect were killers or otherwise ruthless, when she could have criticized some of them, whereas she does not hesitate to eviscerate those who closed the door in her face. Therefore, I feel this novel has some kind of political motivation gain behind it. Then again, she did save her family with her storytelling prowess, and she did have an important story to tell, so I am being a bit nitpicky.
Memoirs, and autobiographies are not normally genres I enjoy, but this is a whale of a "true" story. I highly recommend it.
