Infidel

It was a compelling and fascinating read. She really gets into that wedge in tolerance that's right at Individual Liberty vs Religion. And she pushes it further than "your rights stop at my nose" into religious rights stop at individual human rights. If we consider self-determination a human right, then we have an obligation to stand in the way of religion (and government) imposing practices that would stand in the way of a person's right to decide their own marriage partner, for instance. It is a harsh look at Islamic practices in Islamic theocratic countries, and how those norms are spread with emigration.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7181401

3 1/2 stars The political stuff got kind of uninteresting but I enjoyed the rest of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's story.

Completely honest, arresting, and brave. Ali tells her story with conviction. The book focuses on the author's triumph over the dogma and brutality that ruled her as a Somali girl and young woman. It is a compelling story that provides deep insights into the lives we ignore when yielding to a certain kind of moral relativism -- that which which overlooks sadism, irrationality, and enslavement cloaked in tolerance of all religions, however practiced. A book of enlightenment. A must read.

The book details the life of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, born Ayaan Hirsi Magan in Muslim Somalia and how she ends up with a political career in the Netherlands. It's a book of a painful life as she struggles through cultural and religious oppression and achieves her freedom, a freedom that costs her dearly and places her life in mortal danger. It is not a light, easy book and will instead force you to think about some potentially controversial subjects.

Overall, it was a fascinating read and a look into a different society and way of living. Hirsi Ali presents her story very well and makes you sympathize with her plight. You learn a lot about the Somali lifestyle, about Islam, and about how women are treated in other parts of the world. It's a book that makes you think about human rights and religion in the modern era.

A full review can be found in my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2014/10/book-review-infidel-by-ayaan-hirsi-ali.html

This book captivated me from beginning to end. As one of the westerners Ayaan references in the book, I take life for granted and I'm shocked that people have to live the life that she's lived and that girls and women today are still living this way.

There is a dangerous tendency among civilized peoples to overcompensate for our richness: we’ve got it good, we have a responsibility to help others, but oh we shouldn’t judge their cultures. In the chilling second half of this book Ayaan Hirsi Ali demonstrates, with vivid first-hand experience, just how spectacularly that can backfire. What if, I wonder, what if we had some sort of historical example we could point to—something within living memory, say—as a canonical example of appeasement not working?

This is an insightful, informative, and deeply disturbing book that not enough people will read. Who wants to hear that Islam is evil, that we should be careful in how we welcome Muslims into our (Western) countries? That’s what the right-wingers say, and we want nothing in common with them! Well, dear one, will you listen to an ex-Muslim? More than that, a woman? Ali grew up Muslim in Somalia, with everything that entails: FGM, subservience, shame, abuse we can’t imagine. I dare you to read this book without tears. Ali was lucky: she questioned, survived, then thrived. Now, at tremendous risk to her life, she warns us: Islam is intrinsically evil. It is incompatible with civilization. Why can’t we acknowledge or even question that in polite conversation? Ali is speaking out, trying to make sure we address that problem before it’s too late.

While I’m at it: Christianity too is a dangerous, evil superstition. We should do something about it before bands of ignorant, brainwashed Fox-watchers elect a hate-spewing moron to high office.

What an amazing woman! I greatly admired the tenacity, integrity and vision of the author and I would recommend it to anyone who cares about how women are treated in the world.
I was raised Mormon and I strongly identified with Ayaan Ali's struggle to free her mind from the inconsistencies, sexism, cruelties and most of all irrationality of religion. Having read much of the Koran and all of the Bible, I think it is fair of her to ask practitioners to take responsibility for the slavery, perversion, cruelty and misogyny these books endorse. As long as people continue to literally follow backwards and ridiculous books written by angry half-educated men who didn't even have the benefit of seeing the middle ages or the enlightenment how can we expect the world to improve? Why is it helpful to be tolerant of intolerance? Women deserve better and men can be better.
I gave this five stars because her actual life story is interesting without any of the philosophy or politics. Her logic is taut and I hope she has great lunches with Rushdie. I'd like to put a fatwah on the jerks that want to kill her, but I feel sorry for them. You must know your religion is pretty indefensible on its own when you have to kill the people that criticize it.

This is an inspiring and beautifully written memoir of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her journey “from the world of faith to the world of reason." In a clear and concise way she present the need for Muslim women to reject their traditionally submissive role. In her short career as a politician she forced Dutch government to to keep statistics on honor killings in Holland. The number came as a shock for the public and politicians.