Waris Dirie is a Somalian born model who now lives in Europe. This is the autobiographical tale of her childhood in Somalia (including a graphic recount of her genital mutilation with a broken piece of glass in the desert as a traditional nomadic girl) and her eventual move to London and discovery.
It's an interesting book. I found a lot of her comparisons between the country of her birth and England quite annoying - she is pretty negative about Western culture for someone who chooses a life in Europe - and she spends a little too much time recounting how beautiful everyone thought she was for my taste. What is intriguing and engaging however is the story of her childhood - the life she lived is such a contrast to mine. The struggle she has dealing with the psychological and physical aftereffects of her circumcision are also sickening but it's an issue that is currently being raised in Australia as African refugees arrive here and so it was very interesting to read a first person recollection.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment