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Burned Alive: A Survivor of an "Honor Killing" Speaks Out | 
 enlarge | Author: Souad
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
Buy Used: $4.94
You Save: $10.05 (67%)
New (32) Used (21) from $4.94
Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 35330
Media: Paperback
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0446694878
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.8292092
EAN: 9780446694872
ASIN: 0446694878
Publication Date: May 13, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Note: Ten pages are slightly wavy from water, but no stains. Seven pages have been folded. The first page has light marks. Covers have noticeable edgewear. A couple cover corner tips are bent, curled; some creasing evident at corners. Covers show some curling. Cover has noticeable surface wear. Binding is very good. This book is still very readable. Book Store Sticker on back cover. PaceSetter Books ships almost all items within 24 hours of when they are ordered. Each order ships in a padded envelope or sturdy box; delivery confirmation is provided free. If you need an item quickly, we will make every effort to meet your needs. Customer service is our passion! We accurately and carefully describe each item, so you know exactly what you
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Product Description
Souad was a 17-year-old woman living in a small village in Jordan when she made the mistake of falling in love--an event that would lead to unspeakable acts of violence and a lifetime of exile from her homeland. Desperate to leave her abusive childhood behind, Souad begins a relationship with a neighbor--one that would leave her pregnant, and her family shamed. Now, Souad faces the only punishment her society deems acceptable: death. Her survival of her family s attempt to kill her, leaving her with burns over 70% of her body, her dramatic escape, and her resolve to build a new life is a tale of heartbreaking drama and remarkable courage.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 43 more reviews...
 horrible but true July 15, 2005
Kendra
42 out of 47 found this review helpful
THis is a true story despite the fact that some of these reviewers don't want to admit it. Even the reviewer from Egypt knows this happened.
Unfortunately, it seems as if people just do not want to face the truth about a culture that minimizes or degrades the role of women in society. Souad's story is NOT the exception to the rule. Honor killings happen more often than we know. The problem I think the reviewers are having is that Souad lived and is drawing attention to a problem that exists, usually silencing the victims. Here's a case where the victim wasn't silenced afterall.
From day ONE, boys are welcomed and girls are not. Furthermore, men can have up to four wives. They do not consult their first wife and ask her if they will accept wife number 2,3, or 4! One can argue that it's a cultural preference and he or she would be correct that it's a cultural preference for the men. From what I've read, it's usually not the preference for the women involved although, admittedly, many do not question their fate. Practicing monogomy increases the woman's value in our society. Although Souad's father did NOT have other wives, the value system those in these countries have specifically devalue women. The Taliban in Afghanistan was borne from orthodoxy in Islam. Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia is also extreme.
The author's retelling of her story was moving. She freely admits that some memories are unclear. She's tormented about the fact that she cannot remember her sister's name. She recounts her life, however, with extreme honesty. She's emotional, yet removed. I am happy that this woman is living happily presently and has reunited with her son, noting that she still has to deal with her literal and figurative scars of her former life.
This might not be a usual story, but it is indeed representative of this repressive and misogynistic culture.
 I Just Want to Thank You - The Torture WILL STOP August 23, 2005
Barbara Rose (BornToInspire.com)
25 out of 30 found this review helpful
I want to thank you for writing this book. It is a horrific account of one woman, who is also an example of many women around the world whose human rights are less than that of an animal. I am so sorry for all you have been through.
It is because of the stories that I have read that have caused me to join hw.org - Human Rights Watch - Defending Human Rights Worldwide. The barbaric torture of women, the honor killings, the rape, stoning, burning alive will come to an end. Your story along with a few others was the major catalyst in my decision for helping to bring this to an end in any way I can.
Reading about what this girl endured was chilling. It is a book like this that causes humanity to take a stand for humanity. Souad is a hero. She speaks out. Because of her words and courage she is a catalyst for humanitarian change, especially for women and children around the world.
This is a book that I feel should be required reading in every school, in every land, until this torture comes to an end.
Read this book! This is a story where you might ask "why" something like this could happen. Maybe the reason is so we see to it that it never happens again.
 Offensive Orientalist Propaganda November 10, 2004
Nina
18 out of 46 found this review helpful
This is one of the most offensive books I've encountered in recent memory. It attempts to tar Palestinian society as backward, misogynistic, and tribal which it is not. I have lived and worked with Palestinians for decades and never encountered any with personal stories such as this.
I do not doubt that horrific honor killings occur, but they are not "daily occurrences" by any stretch. The author herself states that only 8 women are murdered per year and only two-thirds of these are honor killings.
Let's get real. The only purpose of this book is to demonize Arabs and Palestinians in particular, and to cash in on the gulliblity, ignorance, and hysteria of Americans given the current "war on terror" environment.
Did James Frey write this book? June 1, 2006
Carol (Walnut Creek, CA. USA)
18 out of 39 found this review helpful
I became suspicious of this book when Souad said that she didn't remember the name of the village in which she was born or of the town near which she lived for many years. Later in the book she says that it would be dangerous to give the name of her village. Well, why can't she give us the name of the "city" she visited and with which she was so impressed? (I read the hardcover version; maybe she's remembered it for the paperback.)
She also says that her mother smothered her younger baby sisters and might have fed them to the dogs along with the sister her brother strangled with a phone cord. What dogs? She talks about all the family animals at length, but doesn't mention any dogs. Is she talking about wild dogs? Since she tends the family sheep, I'd expect to hear about such dogs, but there's nothing.
She also says that when a policeman came to the house it was the first time she'd seen someone in uniform. Oh, really? After living many years in the Israeli-occupied West Bank? You would never know that an Israeli had ever set foot in the West Bank from this book.
How could she survive in a hospital with hostile or indifferent doctors and nurses with such extensive burns? What was the name of the hospital?
Many of the events are narrated in the first person. This is an indication that the events are being invented rather than remembered.
About half-way through the book, I googled it and read other criticisms of its veracity.
This is a work of fiction and it lays it on so thick that it isn't even enjoyable as fiction.
It's a fraud May 2, 2005
Bill (Texas)
17 out of 28 found this review helpful
As an American who spent his childhood in Jordan including the West Bank I am aware that honor killings happen. I regret that at the age of twelve I came upon the body of a girl who had just been shot for dishonoring her family. Yes, this is a problem and one reason it is well known is that local people at all levels of society are working against the phenomenon.
However, I'm sorry to say that this book is a coarse forgery, akin to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Whoever made this up had an agenda of demonizing Palestinian society, with the technique of grossly exaggerating and distorting a real problem. Anyone who has spent any length of time on the West Bank will recognize that this is not only fiction, but poorly written fiction. The most blatant error is found in the notion that with so many people allegedly wanting her dead she managed to survive long enough to give birth and get out of the country.
Sorry if this is this first bursting of the bubble for those of you who were taken in but you'll be hearing more. I just ask that at some point you give the Palestinian people a fair reading of the good along with the bad.
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