Woman at Point Zero

The book is what every women should read atleast once

Amazing read. Saadawi's work is seminal for studying non-Western and anti-colonial feminism.

The book wasn’t well printed

It’s a must read. Reality is harsh and difficult to swallow. I kept putting it down only to come back. A must read for everyone

"I have triumphed over both life and death because i no longer desire to live, nor do I any longer fear to die. I want nothing. I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. Therefore I'm free. For during life it is our wants, our fears, our hopes that enslave us." Its been a long time since a book has compelled me to pause between the pages, sink in whatever is happening. Author, psychiatrist, activist Nawal El Sadaawi attempted to interview a prostitute, Firdaus, who was awaiting execution for murdering a pimp, and refusing to file for a mercy petition. After some resistance Firdaus finally agreed to tell her story few hours before she was hanged. Sexually abused and raped at a tender age, mistreatment and abuse followed Firdaus wherever life took her. Robbed of basic rights she always ended up in hands of menwho wronged her, who entrap her, exploit her, sexually abuse their 'power' over her, masquerading as a relative, husband, lover or helping hand. Firdaus thought she got a hold of her life when she learnt the power of having agency over her body, but it took some more time and pain to realise that there is no end to female oppression in this patriarchal society. She embraced death sentence as a relief from her excruciating pain. Reading this book you kind of expect the cycles of abuse might be finally ending, but they don't. They just keep getting more heartbreaking. The intensely hard hitting language feels like diving deep into Firdaus's mind and drowning in her emotions. Its raw, it's dark, it's haunting, and unsettling. I couldn't belive all this was happening to a single woman, and god knows how, how many of such stories are unheard. One of the most incredibly powerful piece of literature I've ever read.

I bought this book with great expectations, however found it very repetitive and not at all gripping . This book also left me feeling cheated as frankly it did not deliver the promised story of a woman cheated of life and fulfilment.

Excellent Product Quality and Prompt Delivery. A++++++

"Everybody has to die. I will die, and you will die.The important thing is how to live until you die. Life is very hard. The only people who really live are those who are harder than life itself. Life is a snake. If the snake realizes you are not a snake, it will bite you. And if life knows you have no sting, it will devour you." Woman at point zero was written by Nawal El Saadawi and was translated to English by Sherif Hetata. This novel, or rather creative non-fiction, takes the reader into the cell of a woman, called Firdaus, the night before her execution. Firdaus was a prostitute. I've already told this before and I'm telling this again, no woman will never ever wish to become a prostitute. Circumstances forced her to become one. Firdaus had so many horrors, maybe only horrors in her life. She had a bitter childhood, her father always rude, poverty, no education. After her parents and siblings death her uncle took her to his home. She got primary and secondary education, then she was married to a rich man, Sheikh Mahmoud’s. He was already over sixty and she was ninteen! She couldn't tolerate the torture from her husband so she left. She met men who wanted her body! Eventually she became a prostitute! Right from her early days her father, uncle, husband, all of them, taught her to grow up as a prostitute. This book is all about Firdaus life journey. And because the world was full of lies, she had to pay the price. But what I couldn't accept about this book was all the men she met in her life was behind her body. Is that what all men want from a woman?!

Pretty good read

This book is a masterpiece! I devour every single page of it. While closing the last page of the book, I promised myself to never let no one take my freedom away.

Yesterday was the celebration - in Italy anyway, of Women's day. I do not usually celebrate this as I believe that women should be celebrated everyday. This already should tell you what effect this incredible story had on me. I was horrified, angry, feeling impotent and once more made aware how much we still live in a man's world. Yes, very often in European countries and in The USA and Canada, what seem to be countries where women have equal dignity and rights, really are not. Italy has horrific statistics for women killed by their 'companions' every year and I suspect that things are not that much better in many other countries.. The story of Firdaus should be read and kept in mind by every woman and be compulsive reading for mothers of sons. For we are the ones who teach them and lead them to be what they are.

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"How many were the years of my life that went by before my body, and I became really mine, to do with them as I wished? How many were the years of my life that were lost before I tore my body and my self away from the people who held me in their grasp since the very first day?" • "I knew that my profession had been invented by men, and that men were in control of both our worlds, the one on earth, and the one in heaven. That men force women to sell their bodies at a price, and that the lowest paid body is that of a wife. All women are prostitutes of one kind or another." • A woman's voice rises from her prison cell. It is that of Firdaus. This semi-biographical tale that El Saadawi has woven gives you a close look into the life of Firdaus, a former prostitute about to be executed for murder. Amid the many lives, she has lead, she was first and foremost a woman grappling with the challenges and limitations of her condition in a conservative Egyptian society. • Firdaus is unapologetically herself. She bares it all for us, and you can not help but be moved beyond words. We are invited into the deep recess of her mind. We witness her joys, her pains, her struggles, her moments of clarity, and realization. This intimate foray into her life makes the story inevitably compelling. • I could not help but be haunted by Firdaus just as El Saadawi was. I felt as if Firdaus became the vehicle of every woman that like her suffered the realities of gender inequality in a conservative Muslim society where men are at the top. It felt like El Saadawi elevated her to the ranks of symbol with this story. • It was a short read, and I blazed through it in a few hours. El Saadawi's prose was quite simple and to the point, but I had some issues with the translation at times. Nonetheless, I adored the parallels and imagery that El Saadawi used which reminded me of poetry, thus it was a near-perfect read for me. • 4,5/5 ~ #fridayinaprilbookreviews •