Woman at Point Zero

Nawal El Saadawi, 1975 (published in English in 1983)

Date read: 3/10/26

This is a fictionalized version of a true story related to the author by a death row inmate. I do not know much about life in Egypt except for what I learned from a doctor I used to see who was Egyptian. He said that in his country, men were in charge, but in this country, women are.

Having read this novel I now understand why he felt that way. Women in the US have rights and autonomy, and recourse to the law and help. Women in Egypt do not.

The protagonist, the death row inmate, killed a man who took her money and tried to keep her prisoner as his sex slave to sell. I cannot imagine a jury in the US convicting a woman for killing such a man in those circumstances. In Egypt, she was hung.

I have a terrible cold and feel dreadful, so this probably wasn't the best time to read such a graphically wrenching story. I am so lucky to have been born where and when I was.