Book Review- Not Without My Daughter.

I dedicate this book review to:-

1) Asha- For giving birth to this idea that I should do a book review for the Culture section of TRHS..

2) To all the women on this planet. You are one amazing species. After reading this book your respect for women will only increase manifold. It makes you realize how strong they are, mentally. It makes you realize, as men, you can only try to match their will power and moreover it makes you realize to what extent a mother can go to save her child. Respect. 

Book– Not Without My Daughter
Author– Betty Mahmoody with William Hoffer
Rating– 7.5 out of 10

Attention- **This review does not contain any spoilers**

Image Source: www.campaignindia.in

When I held this book in my hand i believed I was holding a masterpiece. As I finished the book, it confirmed my belief. There are books which you just should not  miss. There are books which you should not be reading for its literary genius but for its sheer honesty. Not without my daughter is one of them.

This story starts in the year 1984 when Moody promised his wife, Betty Mahmoody and his daughter Mahtob, that they will be returning to the States after a two week vacation in Iran. He lied. From thereon, the book deals with Betty’s struggle to adjust with the Iranian culture, her uneasiness as she slept with her worst enemy and finally her grit and determination with which she tries and tries hard to get her daughter and herself out of Iran.Whether she succeeds in this or not forms the crux of the book.

As I said, the writing cannot be classified as a literary masterpiece. But it has an inherent simplicity which makes the book endearing, You would never know when tears would roll down your cheeks as you get acquainted with struggle, the hardships which a mother has to face while trying to rescue her daughter from a foreign country, Iran in this case. The story unfolds at a slow pace and against the backdrop of Iran-Iraq war. The slow pace can be a deterrent to some, but eventually towards the end you unknowingly start praying for Betty. You start praying for cute Mahtob, you feel an unrelenting anger towards Moody. Characters like Amelh, Hamid and others are also endearing. 

Iran is shown in the most condescending way ever. It is shown as the country where women are considered as machines to produce babies. They have all possible restrictions on the way they dress, talk and socialize. It also shows an increasing number of incest marriages in Iran resulting in deformed babies. For some of the readers this may be disappointing as it portrays Iranians as filthy and unclean people to the extent of not having a shower daily and repeating the same clothes for days altogether.  

The perseverance and the strength that Betty displays is indeed commendable. Although this qualifies to be a biography, it still is a compelling drama. William Hoffer, a successful writer himself, makes this book an interesting read with almost no dull moments. This book can surely be categorized as an epic. More than that it is a victory of great human qualities. Revealing any more details would be an injustice to this book. You now know what your next task should be. If you haven’t read this book, just get going, order this book online or grab it from a bookstore. Happy Reading!!

P.S- I told the story of this book to my mom sans fine details. At the end of 5 minutes, i found she was crying. This makes you realize how emotionally draining this book can be. But in any case you just done want to miss it, do you? 

– Tejas Nimbargi

Taken from – https://tejasnimbargi.blogspot.in/2013/12/book-review-not-without-my-daughter.html