I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced

Fairly short for a memoir, but long enough to paint a horrifying picture of arranged child marriages. Nujood was a little girl of merely ten years old when she was given in marriage to a man three times her age who regularly beat and raped her. She was a very strong young lady who bravely stood up for herself, and successfully petitioned the court for a divorce, becoming the youngest person in the world to do so. She also inspired other girls in similar circumstances to do the same. An inspirational story that shines a light on this heinous practice, something that I hope, over time, will be relegated to the dust bin of history.

This is a profound true story. And while the book ends on as good a note as it can, researching the “after” a decade later is heart-breaking. Due to the laws of the country (the same one that let the marriage happen in the first place, and still allows this horrible practice of child molestation and rape to be, essentially, legal), the royalties from the book, money ear-marked for Nojoom’s (Nujood changed her name) education had to be given to her father, who squandered it while the world watched helplessly. The same country won’t allow her to leave, so there’s almost no chance she’ll ever be legally entitled to the money from the book. Delphine Minoui, who helped write it (literacy being important when writing a book), is probably still getting her royalties though at least. Credit for trying? At least some difference was made? Maybe enough time hasn’t passed for the wave of change to be evident. So, while yes I would recommend that everyone read it so as to understand the need for change, I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone buy it. (Because some of your money will go to one of the “villains” of the story.) I borrowed this from a friend who got it as a gift when it was on sale.

The cover is good and does go with the story. The title sums the book up perfectly. I wanted to read this book because I remembered hearing about it when it first came out. It sounded compelling and heart-breaking, which it is. And learning about how and why these things still go on in the world, educating oneself, is the path to stopping it. (Stopping eager child molesters from claiming children for spouses. Granting divorces in these cases is good. Though, apparently, not nearly enough protection.) I read the whole book in one sitting because I wanted to know as much as possible about the situation. I don’t read many books like this. But I care about ending child-trafficking, child abuse, child molestation, and pretty much anything that allows children to suffer great horrors.

That’s really the lesson, or theme, of this book; that there are people who need help and there are several reasons why getting them help is so difficult. There’s red-tape from the religion, culture, lack of education, current laws, lack of public safety, and economics. Which means it’s not just a little help, it’s an entire upheaval, and those are hard to come by and even harder to get people to agree upon. (What does it say about the world when we can’t even unanimously agree that sexual relations with pre-pubescent children is wrong?) The book filled me with anger that these things happen, sorrow for those who suffer such horrors, rage toward those who advocate in favor of such evil atrocities, and resentment that there’s so little I can personally do about any of it. Had I not done a Google search for updates, perhaps I would have been left with a tiny glimmer of hope. Still, I think this story is a beneficial read as more people should think about these situations.

It is well edited and translated. There were, however, parts where I believe the translation may have caused parts of the story to fall a bit flat. Perhaps this is because it’s non-fiction. Or perhaps it’s because this is by a ten-year-old. (With a literate adult obviously helping. I mean, it’s in first-person, but the book mentions more than once that the author can only read and write a few words. So it’s clearly more of a dictation situation. It’s still marvelously well-done, overall.) But, for example, when she talks about having been upset with Hamed in chapter seven, it’s telling not showing. There isn’t much of this though. For reasons I am unaware of, the translation of “P” becomes “B,” as she eats “bizza” and drinks “bebsi” soda. And if Nojoom writes another book in a few years, if something changes and her life gets a new and better direction, I’d want to read it. It’s clear the author, at the time of the book, was passionate about education. It was heart-warming and uplifting to hear her talk about her love of school.

Mona’s story in the book is just about as bad as Nojoom’s. I’m glad it was included. It shows yet another problem that too many people face when “marriage” is little more than a slave sale. It’s a chilling, inspiring, haunting, educational story. And yes, she does talk about the pain, fear, and disgust of the monster who believes molesting a child is fine if the child is your spouse. The mother-in-law is also written as an antagonist, though one has to wonder if she went through the same thing and just doesn’t have pity because none was shown to her? Or if she has to fear that showing pity for a molested child will get her beaten? Perhaps she just isn’t as brave as Nojoom? (Considering how life went after the book, maybe it isn’t about bravery, but resignation that a bad situation isn’t likely to get better but could easily be worse?)

The setting descriptions were fantastic. Bab al-Yemen, in chapter four, is especially well painted. All of the people were brought to life on the page. In chapter nine, when Mona is recounting what happened to her and Monira is “watering a bush,” I was a little lost as to how Mona could wear a niqab, which hides all but her eyes, yet a smile could be seen around her lips? The order the book was told makes sense, as it seemed to be organized for suspense and page-turning.