In I Am Malala readers will begin to understand rural Pashtun life in Pakistan, some ways that Taliban operatives seize control of local government, and the detrimental effects of Taliban authority on the freedom and expression of women. On the surface, the publisher bills this book as a memoir. But I would argue that it is half memoir and half a narrative history of the Swat Valley during the post-9/11 years.

I think the publisher's rushed this book into publication given Malala's prominence in Western media a couple of years ago. The first third of the book is a disjointed narrative that transitions between Malala explaining her childhood in the Swat Valley and extensive histories of twentieth-century Pakistani politics and the rise of the Taliban. Even when Malala's voice begins to come through in these chapters, her prose is very jumbled. Often two sentences will have no logical flow, and thus there are many seeming non-sequitur throughout.

Malala's voice becomes more distinct in the closing third of the book as she describes her educational experiences, her notable climb in Pakistani politics as a spokeswoman for women's educational rights, the assassination attempt that nearly took her life, and her long convalescence in Birmingham, England.

I'd recommend this book, but caution readers that the first roughly 100-120 pages will be tedious.